Celebrating Kipsamo

Some happy news all the way from Nandi Hills: a special event was held yesterday at Kipsamo School to celebrate its students and thank its teachers for the school's good performance in the recent KCPE examinations.

Elimu rep. Sally Sang sent this report:

'The day was organised by the headteacher, school committee and parents of Kipsamo. This was a way of thanking teachers for the good performance. All pupils who did well from Standard 1 to Standard 8 of last year were also awarded prizes.

The guests were the District Education Officers, the chiefs and the school patron who brought presents to the teachers, students and the school. Mr Kerich appreciated Elimu and Charles Darwin School for the dictionaries because this is what boosted the mean score.

It was a wonderful celebration that has never been done before.'

Many congratulations to all the staff and students at Kipsamo School!

Photos to follow.

Save the date: African Evening coming up!

We are holding an African Themed Evening to benefit Stalion nursery school on Saturday, 5th May - think music, food, auctions, artwork, photography, fun and laughter inspired by Africa.

Here's a quick look at the flyer designed for us by artist Lucy Strutt.

Stay tuned for details!

Congratulations to The Priory School!

Elimu would like to formally congratulate The Priory School, our long-time partner, on last month's Ofsted inspection which rated it as 'Good with Outstanding Results'.

This represents years of hardwork by so many people and we are delighted to see The Priory recognised in this way. It means a great deal both to the school and to the surrounding community.

More about the inspection and final report can be found on the school's website
http://www.priory.bromley.sch.uk/

Congratulations and well done to all the staff and to everyone else involved!

Jo

Invitation to an evening reception celebrating Britain's new radicals

Elimu is delighted to be attending this event on Thursday, 1st March:

NESTA, in association with the Observer, would like to invite you to an evening reception to celebrate being part of our search for Britain's New Radicals.

Our aim has been to discover inspiring people or organisations that are coming up with new ideas that have the potential to make our lives better - and you were one of them!

We hope therefore that you can join us for a fun, relaxed, celebration reception.  We’ll hear reflections from our judges Geoff Mulgan – NESTA and Martha Lane Fox - UK Digital Champion (via video) plus other keynote speakers.

Date: Thursday 1st March 2012
Time: 18:00 - 19:30
Venue: NESTA, 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE

The 50 finalists in the search for Britian's New Radicals, for which Elimu was nominated, are due to be announced in The Observer on Sunday, 19th February. Please click here for more information http://www.nesta.org.uk/home1/assets/features/britains_new_radicals 

Updates on our Kenya trips - and an interview with Jo!

As a wintry half-term break beckons in the UK, a few updates from Elimu.

First up is the news that one of our partner schools, Charles Darwin School in Bromley, has decided not to take part in a trip to Kenya this year. I have had many conversations about it with the school's headteacher, Sunil Chotai, who stepped into the role last September and who has shown much grace and integrity on this issue and in his dealings with Elimu. I know it has not been an easy decision.

Whilst it is disappointing for the students who were looking forward to going and to their partner school, Kipsamo, who were ready to host them, the governors felt, and Elimu also recognises, that it is the right decision to make in the life of the school at this time.

Charles Darwin remains a partner to Elimu and to Kipsamo and we are currently exploring ways in which we can develop the link between the two schools in other ways.

A trip for Charles Darwin will hopefully take place later on in the future.

In the meantime, our other UK schools are travelling to Kenya with us in July: The Priory will be making its third visit and Bishop Justus, its first!

Students have been busy with various fundraising activities including bag packing at a local branch of Marks & Spencer which raised an impressive amount towards the trip, while a fashion show is also being planned at Bishop Justus.

Elimu's annual sponsored walk is scheduled for Saturday, 24th March. It is an 18 mile walk to the Kenyan Embassy in London and usually good fun involving all the students and teachers who are taking in part in our Kenya trips, and any other supporters we can rope in, two legged or more!

Please email if you would like to join us for all or part of the way joanne@elimufoundation.org.uk

In other news, I was interviewed recently for the Goldsmiths alumni magazine all about Elimu and working in the charity sector. The article is available here - last item on the page!http://www.gold.ac.uk/student-news/

I also had a very productive meeting with the university's head of careers service about the possibility of working with them, for example, by speaking at networking and careers events and using their considerable outreach to help promote Elimu's work - and attract that big sponsor we'd like!

Watch this space! It would be lovely to partner with Goldsmiths in some way.

Half-term is now filled with funding applications big and small... wish us luck.

And finally... if you are on Twitter, or know anyone who is, don't forget to follow us @elimuforafrica

Jo