by Jairus Kaylo – Head Teacher SBM School
This year has been another very challenging one. We’ve had to cope with condensed school weeks,shortened holidays, national examinations at unusual times, delayed enrolment for pre-schoolers and Ministry of Health restrictions on the global Covid–19 crisis. We may not have had any choice in these circumstances but we can choose to end this year on a high note.
As we reach the end of another unusual year, we do so with a lot of pride at how our students have navigated all the changing advice and guidance. As we look at 2021, there are a few things that I would like to highlight.



(i) LEARNING ADAPTATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The global Covid-19 pandemic has huge changes and impact on normal life. We remain committed to the safety of our students and staff and fully understand that by following government’s guidelines&regulations, we’re contributing to a national effort to save lives. We keep on monitoring the news about emergence of Covid-19 variants and continue working with our local health officials. Like all of us, we as a school are on a steep learning curve when it comes to adapting to life during Covid-19. We’ve been able to use group /class bubbles and restrictions without disruptions or change to the timetable. We’ve operated with split breaks for students and other necessary precautionary measures whilst not losing any teaching time.



(ii) KCPE (NATIONAL EXAMS) SUCCESS

The school a child attends affects both his/her personal and professional life long after completion. Kenya has a wide range of secondary schools ranked as National, extra–county,county and sub-county schools. The government through the Ministry of Education places candidates to different secondary schools majority depending on the performance in the KCPE. Most top performing students compete to join national and extra-county schools as they’re considered prestigious.

SBM school is not an ordinary institution. The artistic philosophy that drives this school makes it special. SBM school provides free primary education to the most vulnerable children, children from low- income and single /broken families, many of them are orphans, partial orphans and children who live in impoverished conditions . SBM gives a chance to all deserving children who cannot afford fees to nurture their academic prowess in Mtepeni, Kilifi County. It’s at this anvil of education that destinies and fortunes hitherto un-imagined are honed, re-imagined and negotiated, a fact many SBM beneficiaries will attest to. Our mean score of 343 in the latest KCPE from 318 Shows SBM, a refuge for the potentially dispossessed and hopeless is on the rebound. 10 of the 29 pupils who sat for the 2020 KCPE were selected to join the prestigious national schools. Every year, over 75% of these schools` graduates get admission to universities in Kenya and abroad. Over 10 others were selected to join extra county schools. Admission to these schools is also highly competitive and only excellent students with a high performance in KCPE are selected for admission, a feat that several SBM pupils have been able to achieve before and continue to achieve.



(iii) PP 2 CLASS OF 2020/2021 GRADUATION

Our children in pre-primary 2 had such a beautiful graduation ceremony on 16th July 2021. They were excited and are now in Grade 1. Fr. Harrison Yaa graced the event and was super proud of them. As a gesture of goodwill from our directors, each graduand received a graduation gift including a new school bag. This paved the way for another chance for deserving children in the community. We received a total of almost 80 applications for only 33 spaces. Here the children are guaranteed to get quality free primary education, new school uniforms every 2 years, all school supplies i.e. textbooks, exercise books and one meal a day. These children are lucky as they’ve escaped the vicious cycle of educational deprivation and poverty in the region.



(iv) SCHOOL BAGS AND SWEATERS FOR PRE- SCHOOL

Most of the children in remote regions of Coastal Kenya do not own school bags. They have to walk with books under their arms or in plastic/polythene bags carrying them for hours the whole way to reach school. Now these little ones will be able to keep their books, pencils, writing pads and other school essentials for their studies safe. It is with joy that I convey sincere thanks to you all especially St. Bedes School. May the good Lord continue blessing you for the good you’re doing.

(v) LOSS OF MD. PHELISTER
It’s been nearly 10 months since the loss of our staff member Md.Phelister, colleague and a friend. Apart from being a pre-school teacher, one notable aspect of her work involved fostering our home- school partnerships. Schools build on the successful learning provided at home by the parents. She was very good at enabling parents and teachers working together especially in language development at home.99% of the children speak a local dialect called “Mijikenda”. When the children join the school in PP1,majority have never uttered a single English word. Just months prior to her unexpected passing,she released a song titled “ We are the way we are because of you” thanking our sponsors and donors for their goodwill and financial support. We thank our directors Kevin and Mary Maguire for supporting the family of Phelister in the form of words of encouragement, donation and finances. Her husband is forever thankful. He wouldn’t have been able to cope without your care and support. To ensure that we’re fully staffed, Dolrosa Mboya joined the teaching staff. I’m sure our supporters and friends have noted the presence of Dolrosa in the pre-primary section. Dolrosa didn’t need a lot of orientation as she has been a hard working staff member at the Good Life Orphanage (GLO) for a good number of years and felt established in our school very quickly.

Part 2 to follow ………