Minutes:
GILL MARSHALL-ANDREWS VISIT TO KALUMU 25 SEPTEMBER 2014
Present:
Stephen Kasovo Principal
Peninah Trustee and
parent
Stephen Kameti KWS /
TAS
Gill Marshall-Andrews TAS
School update:
The school came 2nd in the district for the mock
KCPE exams last month. This is a
tremendous achievement.
Number on roll in July 2014 was 364 including the
nursery. There has been a slight drop in
numbers in Sept due to the drought and families moving away.
Numbers are as follows boys/girls:
Nursery
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
28/26
27/19 21/20 32/24
27/16 20/19 18/17
12/10 7/16
There is perhaps the start of a new trend to watch for. With the girls dormitory in place more boys
are dropping out than girls. With the
drought they see no prospects and so leave home to look for work.
4 teachers now stay in the staff houses and pay rent to the
school to help maintain the buildings.
There are no gutters on the dormitory or the staff houses
which is an oversight. School will
pursue CDF for this.
Power – the school will soon be on mains power. The solar will still be used in some parts of
the school.
Water – the borehole is not working. This is the County Government’s
responsibility.
Sports – the school wants to become a Centre of Excellence
for Sports and needs more sports equipment.
There was a presentation by the Student Council including a
poem and a ‘wish list’ to improve the school.
Each one was asked what his/her manifesto was. The ‘wish list includes:
library, bus, good quality classrooms, desks, more trees, more story books.
The ‘President’ was a boy in Class 7 called Stephen
Mwungangi. He made a very impressive
speech – quiet, persuasive and thoughtful.
He will go far!
When asked what the students will do to improve their school
he talked about them digging the holes for seedlings which the county
government will provide. Also maybe visiting
the County Governor in Kitui to ask his help with the borehole which is not
working.
New proposals:
Proposals for a Library, Trips and Sports equipment will be
prepared.
The benchmarking proposal already received by TAS will be
re-considered. It involves the best 60 students and 3 teachers spending
2 weeks in the holidays at a very good
school which is thought to be very motivating for students and teachers.
