HABARI NEWS: JULY – AUGUST 2018
Both teachers and students were busy in the last two weeks of July preparing for end of trimester examinations. These examinations test mostly the trimester’s syllabus covered during the three months even though there was a midterm examination half way through the trimester.
The end of trimester examinations may be done jointly with other zonal schools for this helps a number of teachers in such schools to assess the coverage of syllabus because all schools in Kenya must follow the same curriculum. Teachers have guidelines for marking or grading the exams that involve six subjects or courses. Teachers grade on the courses they teach and then they all compile the report on what points each student has. They further study their reports on the ranks of students and can find out the students who have made improvement and those who will not have done well. Each student’s report is then recorded in their report form that must go to parents. Parents may on their next visit to school, such as when the students are reporting back, decide to meet with a class teacher and discuss the report of their child. A class teacher may find it necessary to request to meet with a parent for the same.
Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School has grades 3 through 8 which means a child who enrolls with us as a third grader will spend six years before they graduate or leave for High School. Currently our 5th, 6th and 8th grades are double meaning each is split into two classrooms. This means we have nine classrooms occupied each time a class is being taught this year. There are 13 teachers in the school who share in the teaching program. We have two sisters, one as an accountant and one for catering. There are two cooks assisted by a server and a school matron. There are two maintenance staff – one is a driver, there is a librarian and an accountant assistant. We also have a night watchman, and this comes to 24 employees who earn their salary from School and are able to help their families and take their children to school because of the employment they have with us.
SCHOOL LIFE: Generally, there has been good report on school life and activities during the second trimester that ended in the last days of the month of July. There were two trips made with our students that were very successful during this second trimester. One on school activities that took our students to compete at inter-county level and the second was an educational tour mainly for our final class (grade). Parents’ visiting day was also very successful and it was reported that they are happy with the school. Students have taken their work seriously and behavior and attention to proper school life was reported to have improved. We all know it is a challenge to have 274 children of different ages and grades in the same compound following one timetable but on the other hand Father Ntaiyia School is not the only school with the same challenges.
WHILE ON HOLIDAYS: Most teaching staff and other staff leave the school compound for their homes after students have left for a break. Parents come for their children early in the morning of closing day. Members of staff who want to go home to their families either leave after all the children have left or on the following day. About three teachers choose to remain in the compound but will have no school business assigned to them. Maintenance people, however, remain doing any kind of repair work that needs to be done while children are at home such as fixing broken desks and chairs. Places in the dormitories, dining room tables and benches all are inspected to make sure they are ready when the children return. Sometimes teachers may be invited to a workshop or seminars organized by the Ministry of Education on various reasons to improve or train them on certain aspects of teaching career. In such cases the school pays the fee for those who may attend.
WEATHER: As I had mentioned in another letter, schools face cold weather in the second trimester of each year in most parts of Kenya. This is because during the months of June and July the sun moves north of the equatorial region leaving cool and rainy climate. During the second trimester most of the new students are usually used to the weather in the school area, but rains may bring common cold and malaria.
Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School has good relationship with the neighbors and the community surrounding it. The stone perimeter wall secured the school inside it and for that reason we have no friction with the neighbors whose animals and chickens use to come into our compound through the unstable fence we had before. We can say we have had students who do not interfere with the neighbors and have never had any complaint from our neighbors about our students.
NEW CURRICULUM: Our readers will recall that I kept reporting on the development of talks and notifications that Kenya Ministry of Education was releasing regarding a new curriculum. There was a pilot project on it in some selected schools in Kenya with the aim of other schools implementing the new curriculum by last January. Things seem to have taken a slow pace on this. It is understood that first, second and third graders are in the new system. In Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School we bought new text books for third graders and teachers are using them. This means for the next six years we shall be buying new text books each year as the new curriculum replaces the current one.
School website: https://mhl.hxi.mybluehost.me/website_e30e867a or Google Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School Also Face Book
Fr. Symon Peter Ntaiyia
5823 Walworth road
P.O. BOX 499
ONTARIO, NY 14519
1-585-613-8187