After receiving an invitation from The Aga Khan Academy Nairobi, We travelled on Wednesday 20th. The exhibitions were being conducted at the academy on Thursday 21st. We were warmly received at The Riara University by professor John Mbuthi, International Baccalaurette chief coordinator in Kenya. We were the taken to The Aga Khan Academy where on arrival, the headteacher of the Primary Years Programme, Mr Peter Ndung’u was at hand to welcome us. Our children were very pleased to be in Nairobi, this being the first time they were travelling from the coast.

AGA Khan PYP Exhibition

Their excitement and wonder knew no bounds after we started to visit the exhibition tents. The Aga Khan grade six children had prepared exhibitions based on eleven key topics affecting the society. As a culminating project, each student demonstrates engagement with the five key elements of the programme: Knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes and action. It is a trans-disciplinary inquiry conducted in the spirit of personal and shared responsibility as well as a summative assessment activity that is a celebration as students move from PYP to the middle years programme of schooling. The exhibition played a vital role as an eye opener to our children since they interacted directly with these children as they were doing the presentations. These are children of the same age and they are able to express themselves well and articulate solutions to most challenges facing our society and I bet our kids acquired a good number of skills from their counterparts at Aga Khan.

Exhibitions at Aga Khan

This exposure to our children had a number of purposes; our children have seen other students of their age engage in an in-depth collaborative inquiry. It has provided our students with an opportunity to see their peers demonstrate independence and responsibility for their own learning. It has also demonstrated to our children how they can take action as a result of their learning and finally the exhibition served to show our children the value of unity and teamwork in learning since each group of students was composed of five students who were supposed to create a simulation of the problem they are trying to solve, write a 600 word essay on the same, develop a photo gallery, a skit and finally state what they have done and intend to continue doing to solve the problem.

Enjoying the trip

After the exhibitions on 21st, we were invited to attend a musical at the Visa Oshwal academy on the 22nd. We arrived at around nine thirty and the musical ended at noon. The children had a chance to interact with their peers up to two thirty. We then boarded a cab to The Rift Valley view point at Limuru. This was a great academic achievement for the kids since they learn about This phenomena in their social studies lessons at classes five and six. The students also had a chance to see the highland plantation farms of tea, coffee and horticultural farming. The trip was a huge success and am hopeful that the working alliance we have developed with the Aga Khan Academy, will serve not only to enlighten our kids but also empower them to face life with a different definitive story, They too can do it.

Mr Joe with the pupils

Thanks to the generosity of our school donors and the ongoing support of everyone who together are making such a change to these children’s lives by the power of education.

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