Minutes:
Mivukoni
Secondary school trust Meeting October 15th 2012
Present
Francis Koma (chair), Sam Mutetei (BOG),
Juliana Muthui (BOG), Lilian syanda (Principal), Stephen Kameti (TAS), Harriet
Matsaert (TAS), Arimi Kinyua (teacher), Mr Maithya Samuel, Mr Kimathi,
Boniface(Computer teacher).
Apologies: Student representative, PTA
Representative, DEO representative.
Minutes taken by: Harriet Matsaert
1.
Introduction
Meeting opened at 11.30 am
2.
Approval of agenda
Approved
3.
Matters arising from previous minutes
Action
completed:
Not
yet completed: ACTION NEEDED!
- School magazine: Luke Kinyua to follow up
features on TAS in forthcoming school magazine to be circulated to
trustees by October 27th.
Kinyua to contact Peter to request article for Hampton
academy. Electronic version
of school magazine to be sent to
trustees and friends of the school.
- Lilian to continue following up grading of sports
field – to contact Angeline Mbula.
- KWS school trip to Meru park postponed due to
lack of transport. We hope it may
be possible after the election.
- No progress on accessing girl’s sanitary pads.
Lillian to write to DEO to remind him of government commitment to provide
these. The BOG to discuss action
needed. See also discussion below
under proposals.
- Report on Trust Finances
See attached report.
5.
General report on school progress since last meeting
Construction/new
equipment
Dining room floor will be completed by end
of October. Boys dormitory will be
complete by the end of the year. Library
now has shelves, tables and chairs and two sofas and a librarian’s table. The library is stocked with a few donated
books as books have not yet been purchased.
Televisions are installed in 3
classrooms. Teachers have a supply of
DVDs to support the syllabus. DVDs can
also be burned from the internet and used in the classroom.
Academics
57 form 4 students will be starting the
KCSE exams on October 26th.
The school has separated boys and girls
into separate classes in Form 2 – 4. This seems to be having a good effect on
girls’ performance.
Computer
Lab
Computer lab now has 26 computers
(government and Camara). Students have
computer classes twice a week. Form 3
and 4 have unlimited access to computers.
The computer teacher, Mr Kimathi requested
more training to help teachers develop the skills to make full use of the new
equipment. He also requested lap tops
for teachers to use to prepare classes.
After discussion it was agreed that the school should make full use of
the existing computers before thinking of purchasing others. Technical training will be prioritized at
this stage. It is also important that
the school completes its IT strategy.
Stephen and Francis offered to assist with this.
Trustees were concerned to see that the
government computers were left open and vulnerable to dust (particularly as
windows are broken in the computer lab).
A key priority is to make covers for the computers and to identify a
local technician who can do maintenance and repairs. Fans should also be installed (this was a
condition of Camara installing the computers).
Stephen noted that Camara will cover maintenance of their own computers
for 3 years.
The school also plans to move three
computers to the library and will lay a cable to the library for internet
access.
NIE
The NIE project is now up and running with
daily newspapers being received for each Form.
We did not see newspapers in the library
and were told that this is because there is no suitable shelving.
Library
Books are not catalogued and there is no
system for checking them out. There is no staff member allocated to the library
so use seems to be very limited at the moment.
The plan is that each form should have access at least 4 times a
week. The school would like to hire a
librarian to manage the cataloguing/loan system and to be present in the
library. The school also needs to go
ahead and purchase books. 49,000 sh
remains in the library furnishings budget and will be used to purchase books.
New
Projects
Funds have been received from TAS for
funding half the salary of a maths teacher (BOG to fund the other half), for a
field trip for Form 4s and for meeting costs.
The field trip to Mombasa was cancelled due
to political problems at the coast.
Lillian proposed a shorter trip for the class before the exam.
Outcomes
Teachers noted the following ‘outcomes’ at
the school:-
“Between 4 and 6 you see students working
on computers or in the bandas reading, where before they would all be in their
dormitories”.
“Computer classes are more interesting now
because we have computer content to work with”
“We are beginning to see the development of
a reading culture”.
Action
- Lillian to send proposal for shorter field trip
to be forwarded to Gill for approval.
- Sam to organize follow up to look at how Newspapers
are being used in school – by end of October.
- Lillian to arrange transfer of newspapers to
library (and new magazine racks/shelves to place these on).
- Lillian to develop a proposal and seek funding
for computer covers, fans for the computer room – by end of October.
- Lillian to identify technician for maintenance
and repair of computers – by end of October.
- Lillian and Mr Kimathi to develop IT strategy for
the school (Stephen and Francis to assist). This should be presented together with
the proposal above. – by end of October.
- Stephen to talk to Camara about further training
for teachers – by end of October
- Harriet to transfer funds for maths teacher (and
field trip?) to Mivukoni school account.
- Lillian to arrange purchase of books with
remaining library funds.
6.
Completion reports
Lilian provided a summary of costs for the
library furnishings and purchase of TVs and DVDs. She will mail this to Harriet
to forward to TAS UK.
Action
- Lilian to send soft copy of completion report and
receipts for library furnishings and TVS/DVDs to Harriet. (Send library completion report once
books have been purchased).
- Harriet to forward completion report to TAS UK
7.
New proposals
- Supervised
discussion groups for exam
revision.
- Gas and
water supply for the new chemistry lab.
- Renovation
of classrooms.
- Employment
of librarian (BOG to discuss paying half this salary).
The trustees agreed that Lillian and school
staff should go ahead and develop these proposals.
The trustees discussed how Trademark funds
(70,000) should be used. A number of
suggestions were made.
- Sanitary
towel manufacture (project being developed in another TAS school) – to be
funded with Trademark funds?
- Funding
for work experience internship scheme for Form 2 or 3. (to local
businesses, NGO, government offices, health centres etc).
- Books on
business/economics for library.
Action
- Lillian to prepare proposals for 1 – 4 and
circulate to trustees.
- Stephen to get more details on sanitary pads.
- Lillian to compile list of potential internships
for students (assisted by Stephen and Francis).
8.
AOB
Bird
Sanctuary
School wildlife club to create a bird
reserve behind the library. If they find
they need extra resources they can make a proposal to the trust.
Communication
Trustees agreed that we must all work
harder on communication. Trustees and
school staff agreed to check and respond to emails promptly. School staff agreed to send regular updates
on activities and to proactively communicate with partners e.g Hampton Academy
and ISK.
Trustees should be copied in on all correspondence.
Proposals and completion reports should be
copied to all trustees and should go to Stephen and Harriet before being
forwarded to TAS UK.
Trust meeting minutes should be circulated
to participating teachers, PTA, students and should be posted on the school
notice board.
Date
of Next Meeting.
Library opening is planned for January
2013. If possible we should hold another
meeting before then.
Meeting adjourned. 2 pm.
