As we come to the end of yet another academic year here at SBM, it is with great pride that I can look back at the many achievements of the children. They have worked so hard and with every changing demand made on us by our challenging curriculum, they have strived to be on top always. The many values that have been on display throughout the year have particularly come to the fore as we end the term – resilience when tackling a tricky problem in class or outside, courage in coping with problems, love and honesty towards all the members of the school community; appreciation and happiness for each other and all the opportunities they are given within the school – which all strengthen their character and their ability to make the most of every aspect of school life.
In January with a new guard at the helm @ SBM School the entire teaching and non-teaching staff committed themselves to creating an endless opportunity for the children to learn, laugh, aspire, thrive and fly to the highest levels of academic excellence and school ethos. Our goal of transforming the school environment never faltered and as we take a look at our transformative agenda for the year we can only thank God for the far we have come. The children love the school and what they do in school! The teachers have good relations with the students and are securing fast academic progress for the students.
We have received recognition from the ministry of education when the Kilifi County Director of Education visited the school and was so impressed with our standards. I was privileged to attend an awards ceremony in Nairobi with Harrison Mgoti for showcasing his exemplary writing skills in a national essay writing competition in which he came second nationally. We were able to take our students to the national music competitions to Kakamega county 880 kilometres thereabouts away from Mombasa for the hugely enjoyable event where students were able to explore their talents just to highlight a few of the many successes we have had this year.
The school felt it was important to create a whole week of sports and fun activities for the children christened kids festivals. Each holiday break, we have students back in school for special custom- made games and activities for them. In April the kindergarten section had the most of fun as for the first time they felt recognised fully as we marked Easter celebrations with them in the school. The August holidays saw our lower primary section attending a sports packed week for them. The December holiday saw us engage in community building as we marked the end of the year school party for our students, teachers and support staff collectively recounting how we worked as a team realising many achievements together. Sadly too, it was ‘an end of an era’ for Madam Pauline who left us after serving the school for seven years as well as being the head of the kindergarten section.
The year 2017 saw a more settled learning environment. The school continuously cultivated an open- door policy for the students and nurtured our school values from the class levels. On a weekly basis, four students were invited for a special lunch with a teacher of their choice for living and practising our values fully. This made the students more engaged in an open discussion about living our values. We invited professional counsellors to tackle key issues affecting teens like sexuality just to create a better learning environment for the children. Although professional training in Kenya is costly, we invited the Amani Counselling trainers to train our staff on handling counselling sessions with our students effectively. It is our quest to always create a positive learning environment for our students irrespective of the background challenges they face.
In academia, we have seen many positive changes. Handwriting activities and the mathematics hour played a key role in boosting the students’ performance throughout the term. Our struggling classes seven and four got stability as they received support from their teachers and as the year comes to an end we have more academic involvement from all the students in all the levels of learning. Our candidates sat for their national examinations from 31st – 2nd November and it is our prayer that they will excel having successfully prepared them for the whole year. On Saturday 18th, hosted an end of the year dinner party for the teachers marking the end of 2017 academic year. What an incredible end to our year!
Lots of swimming, recollection and fun filled the evening as the entire staff from the school and the orphanage whiled the evening away. We now look forward to yet another successful year 2018 next year. Sincere thanks to our partners, donors and directors for making the school a real centre of hope for many children. Thank you & Bring on 2018!!!
