The school at New Canaan, Nakuru continues maintaining student numbers at around 100. The teachers are working on adding on more art activities like music, clay, and painting for the children. They have also expressed an interest in organising annual school outings to explore the local area, starting with Lake Nakuru. Many children have not seen it, despite living so close to it.
The newly refurbished staff room is being used for regular staff and parent meetings and the teachers are also working on creating a library area in that space. Some books for the library have been purchased from the The Austin Montessori School elementary after-school club Christmas bazaar sale donation and bookshelves are being made by the carpenter employed by St Ann’s.
A recent visit from Public Health Department officials showed that the school was doing well. They suggested some minor changes in the kitchen that the teachers are working on.
The fence around the school compound will be replaced by a perimeter wall built with quarry stone so as to withstand the heat and rain. Due to a possible dispute related to the land where the teachers’ toilet was to be built, it has been decided that one of the stalls in the existing children’s toilet block outside will be converted for the teachers. The CDN contractor is working on quotations for this work.
The school land registration is progressing well. The papers have been filed with the Land Registrar’s office and the land survey has been completed. The CDN land officer, is carefully tracking this process and expects to have it done by the end of the year.
The school at Kisima, Njoro is also maintaining steady numbers with around 80 children now attending everyday. The schoolroom was fully refurbished over the summer and shows a marked improvement. The floor of the former cowshed was evened out, the windows lowered and protective mesh was installed on the windows and the celing to keep the room secure from birds and insects. A strong metal door was also installed. The room is now bright and airy and the children, parents and staff are very happy with the space.
Construction of the kitchen shed and teacher housing is underway and progressing well. Three 2-room houses are being built and the toilet block is being split into a children’s block near the school and an adult toilet and shower near the houses. Two additional toilets will be built for the community in the area near the school as it is very crowded but has just one temporary sack tent toilet for everyone. It was agreed, that all structures would be built with iron sheets since the government has asked the community not to build anything permanent in the area until the land dispute is settled and the subdivision is done.
The kitchen shed is almost complete and it is hoped that the feeding programme will commence as soon as it is ready.
Modules 5 of the Elementary Course took place in April 2016 and Module 6 in August 2016. Eileen Spalla joined team to assist Jean Miller from August onwards. Eileen is an experienced Montessori elementary teacher from the USA and has recently completed the AMI Training of Trainers programme with the Washington Montessori Institute. She has kindly volunteered to work on the remaining modules of the Course since Poinsy Pino will not be able to continue on the Course due to other personal and professional commitments.
Both modules focused on material making along with lectures, discussions and practice sessions. After completing the painting of their charts and timelines, the students have moved on to woodworking guided by Eric Gumah and supervised by a professional carpenter.
In order to make up for classes missed due to teachers’ strikes in Kenya and the new government mandated term dates, it was decided to have 2 additional Modules (in November 2016 and April 2017) on the Course to allow time for students to compete material making as well as for reviews and revision before the exams. It is hoped that no further term date changes will be announced.