Hi All, The KCPEs are the set of examinations which are taken by every student in Kenya once they get to the end of primary school.  Despite 'only' being the end of primary school exams they are a very big deal in Kenya and can make a huge difference to the trajectory of a child's life. The KCPE result is used to decide which level of secondary schools you will have access to (National, Provincial or District) and which specific schools will offer you a place!

This is obviously a huge amount of stress in a child's life but we are pleased to say that Mtwapa Elite (where most of our children attend primary school) seem to get the balance right between encouraging the children to get good grades and not piling on too much pressure. They are able to do this by treating each child as an individual and setting achievable goals which stretch the child a little but give them a realistic target which they can work towards. If you ask any child in Standard 8 at Mtwapa Elite, they will be able to tell you what their target result is and how they plan to achieve that result - usually by ensuing that they score highly in the subjects in which they excel and being pragmatic about those where they struggle.

At the end of 2017 both Thomas and Emmanuel took their KCPE exams and completed their time at Mtwapa Elite. Both of the boys did incredibly well scoring well over 70% across all subjects and being given places at prestigious Provincial level schools.

Emmanuel is staying within coast province and has taken up a place at Emmanuel Kai's old secondary school - Malindi High School. Thomas has opted to move across to the other side of Kenya and attend Orero High School, another well respected provincial level school.

Thomas on his first day at his new school

We are obviously very proud of them both and I hope you'll join me in wishing them the best of luck at their new schools.

Richard

Last year Riziki started at Mtwapa Elite in KG2, as an 8 year old she was already much older than her classmates but her inconsistent schooling meant that she was unable to manage the work for a higher class. At the time, her teacher even expressed some doubt that she would be able to progress into KG3 at the end of the year. Prior to 2017 Isaac had been studying at Victory academy - a community school close to where he lives with his mother and brother. Once Isaac completed all of the classes Victory had to offer he took the entrance exam for Mtwapa Elite and was accepted into KG3 at the start of 2017.

We are now a year on from when Riziki joined the school and 9 months in to Isaac's first year and I'm pleased to say both are doing so well.

Riziki's confidence and ability has grown leaps and bounds and in her most recent exams she was top of the class - something which we absolutely did not expect and something which she should be very proud of. Mtwapa Elite is a huge school compared to Victory Academy and this seemed to overwhelm Isaac at first but he has now settled in and he is also right at the top of the class.

We would like to say a big thank you to their class teacher Madam Margaret who has provided all of the support they needed to make this fantastic progress. Riziki also received some extra tuition from Madam Emma at the end of 2016 which gave her the best start to her school life and helped her progress into KG3.

Madam Margaret with Isaac and Riziki

In the third installment of the catching up series we have been seeing how Linet, Peris and Tamira are doing at boarding school. Tamira started boarding school around a year ago; she was the first of the Milele children to join the school which must have been a little daunting for her but she quickly made friends with the matron of the school and settled in well. Tamira has really started to hit her stride over the last few months, she seems very much at home in the school environment and her confidence is improving everyday.

When we met Tamira this week we were very lucky to be able to give her some truly lovely gifts that her sponsors has sent. Tamira is such a wonderful girl and instead of hastily rummaging through her goodies (something I would have done at her age) she really took the time to appreciate everything which has been sent and carefully write replies to the letters included. We will dutifully be delivering the letters once we are back in October.

Tamira with her smart new bag

Linet and Peris joined the same boarding school as Tamira at the start of 2017. When they arrived they were greeted by Tamira who showed them the ropes and helped them settle in to life at boarding school. The three girls were always quite close as they are similar in age but living together at school seems to have really cemented their friendships.

When we arrived, Linet was her usual smiley self. She has always been one to wear her heart on her sleeve and she is clearly enjoying being at her now school and has even taken on the role of school bell ringer. Amy gave Linet a gift from one of her sponsors which she absolutely loved and following Tamira's lead, wrote a lovely reply to the letter she received.

Peris has always been a bit quieter than Linet (although it would be hard for anyone to match Linet's boundless energy) but she too seemed settled and contented in the school and seems to be coming out of her shell more and more. Amy gave Peris some reading books which were very well received. Peris told us that she has been borrowing reading books from children in Standard 7 and 8 because they are more interesting than the one she gets to read in Standard 5 so she clearly has a talent for English.

Linet (left) and Peris (right) at their school.

It was great to catch up with the girls and wonderful to see them all so happy in their new surroundings.

Stay tuned for the fourth and final installment, with news updates of the last few children on our programme!

In our last post we caught up with Amina, Isaac, Riziki, Saidi, Steven, Edward, Emmanuel and Josephine who all live in Mtwapa. Over the years some of the children Milele supports have started to attend boarding schools (this is the norm for Kenyan Secondary schools) which means the past few days have been spent travelling across coast province tracking down sponsored children and finding out how they have been getting on. The eldest sponsored child in boarding school is Charo who is coming towards the end of Form 3 (of 4) at Chasimba high school. Charo is doing well at school and has really thrown himself into school life being an active member of both the student council and the Christian Union. As head of the Christian Union he often leads prayers in school assembly and holds services with the other students showing his natural aptitude for being a great leader. He is also now a prefect, which apparently means he gets to wear a special blue shirt instead of the normal white uniform!

Charo

We got to experience Charo's confidence and leadership when visiting Chasimba. Charo was excited to have use visit his school and was keen to show us his classroom. He strode confidently into the classroom which to our surprise was still full of students (the lesson having finished a few minutes ago). When Amy asked about the swahili words on the board Charo immediately instructed a class mate to give Amy a summary of what they had been learning and to our even greater surprise all his classmates happily went along with this!

Chasimba High School

As well as seeing Chasimba, we also visited Kilifi Township Secondary School, which is where Safari and Kaingu have been attending. We were so pleased when they got into the same school - these brothers have been in classes together since they were 7 and 8 years old and it is lovely to see them continuing to support and look after one another through high school too.

Kilifi Township Secondary School

Kaingu and Safari were both very smart in their uniform, albeit with Safari's shirt slightly more untucked and his tie slightly more lopsided than Kaingu's! Both boys appear to be settling into Kilifi Township well. They are now coming to the end of their first year there in Form 1 and have had a big transition from primary to secondary school. The first thing for them to get used to is the very strict rules and regulations which secondary schools in Kenya typically have. I'm sure you can all imagine how this can be a bit of a shock to the system coming from a small, nurturing primary school - I have to say I can remember my first days as a new year 10 student in a vast college, feeling like a very small fish in a very big pond!

Safari and Kaingu

Despite this, both Kaingu and Safari have made lots of friends and are getting to grips with their new school - learning the rules of the dormitories or 'pods' and the new canteen. They are taking Biology, Chemistry and Physics separately now as well as some new subjects such as History and Geography. The sciences seem to be causing them some difficulty, but we are confident this is just the new experience of learning them separately. We are going to try to get hold of some subject specific resources which Rieder could use to help scaffold their learning over the long December break. Kaingu is particularly good at maths and we feel he is likely to have a natural aptitude for physics too when he gets used to the subject.

Kaingu

Safari

Thank-you to sponsors who sent gifts for all three of the boys (Charo has started carrying his torch around in his shirt top pocket already... he will be the king of the school when the power cuts out!)

Stay tuned for more updates including the next child to join the Milele family!