The number of children at the school in New Canaan continues to grow with 34 new children starting in 2015. There are now just over 100 children with two teachers per classroom. Two of these teachers are attending the Elementary course and will start the Elementary classroom when they complete the training.
A visit in April this year showed that some maintenance work is required, especially after the recent rains. The Education Committee will provide assistance in repairing the roofs, replacing a couple of classroom doors, creating troughs for vegetable planting, creating workspace for teachers and material repair.
The school has become very popular and is attracting a lot of visitors who travel great distances to find out more about the construction, classrooms, training and Montessori education.
The housing project is progressing at a steady pace. In addition to the 12 completed houses, there are 6 more that are nearing completion. The community chose to allot the houses to the teachers first and then the key builders and parents most in need.
A new Corner of Hope school has been established at the IDP camp at Kisima, following residents from New Canaan who moved there when they were allotted farming land by the government. Kisima is located in Njoro town that is 20 kilometers away from Nakuru. Four teachers from have set up 2 Children’s Houses, complete with furniture made by the local carpenter and full sets of materials. They started in February 2015 and welcomed 17 children on the first day. The number has since grown to 32.
The community is very happy and has extended their full support. They have offered to set aside a plot of land beside the school to grow vegetables exclusively for the school meals. The parents are also assisting with the maintenance and repairs required to improve the school building and the area outside.
The new Elementary (6-12) training programme started with the first module in November 2014 with AMI 6-12 Trainer Jean Miller from the USA and lecturer Eric Gumah from Ghana. The second module took place in April 2015. Poinsy Pino, Elementary Lead Teacher from Maria Montessori School – Bayswater, assisted on the course.
There are now 31 students on the course: 10 Tanzanians and 21 Kenyans, including one from the northwestern region of Pokot, a very barren and remote part of the country that is in dire need of basic facilities and good education.
A full set of Montessori elementary material was shipped from The Netherlands and arrived just in time for the start of the course. Carpenters from the Corner of Hope community made the shelves and furniture for the environment at the College.
The course is gaining a lot of popularity and enquiries are already coming in for the next one!