Headmaster Reports on St. Lawrence School's Achievements and Challenges in 2014

(Although this report is from July, it presents an overall picture of CALU's impact. Jean Semler)                                                                          

School Report (Presented to US visiting team)

Dear guests, we are so privileged to host you once again to St. Lawrence Migeera R/C Primary School. The level of excitement we possess is high due to your coming here today. We wish you all the best during your stay in Uganda and in particular the time you will spend at our school.

Current School Enrollment

GRADE	GIRLS	BOYS	TOTAL
1	53	60	113
2	37	40	77
3	34	35	69
4	35	28	63
5	37	27	64
6	36	39	75
7	19	31	50
TOTAL	245	270	515

Teaching Staff by Qualification and Sex

GRADE III	GRADE V	GRADUATE	UNTRAINED	TOTAL
M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
6	5	2	2	1	0	3	0	12	7

St. Lawrence School is the luckiest school in this district for having got genuine sponsors to provide education to needy children in our school and to change lives of many in our community through different services something that has been achieved over the past seven years. The school has undergone surgical restructuring reforms with the support of Change A Life which has led school to progress in many aspects and we have confidence that we shall achieve the school’s vision. We thank Change-A-Life for keeping the candle burning for the eighth year. 

Before 2007, St. Lawrence Migeera R/C School faced acute financial crisis coupled with inadequate support and participation by the stakeholders. During this era our school suffered low enrollments, disinterested parents, poor infrastructure i.e. lack of supply of clean and safe water, unmotivated staff and poor grades. When Change-A-Life intervened the school was constrained to venture on innovations geared at setting appropriate policies, practices and culture for the school. The school undertook these innovations as a strategic response to numerous challenges it was confronting.

Achievements

As a practical consequence of the reforms at St. Lawrence School since 2007, the following have been realized: 

   i)  The accomplished Water project has answered the longtime suffering of St. Lawrence school community. We have now received constant and reliable supply of safe and clean water. We have been saved from sharing water for domestic use with animals. We thank CAL, schools, individuals and organizations in United States that have generously funded this project.

   ii)    A staff house that can accommodate six teachers is under construction and when completed will bring the number of staff members housed by school to eleven. Housing teachers motivate them and brings their services readily available to the children.

 iii)  The initiation of journal writing by Change A Life to our learners has made our learners learn to write about their personal lives. They can document their strengths, interests, weaknesses, fears and suggestions on how they would wish to be treated by their communities.

   iv)     The Chess project was introduced in school last year and since then learners participating in it have gained a lot of skills such as concentration, critical thinking, calculating, appreciation and copying with stress and emotions among others. Therefore we thank Tim and family for initiation and continued support to the project. 

    v)     The pupil population dramatically expanded from 80 pupils in 2006 to 515 pupils in 2014 representing an increase of 84.5%. This has been a result of the transition from an elitist school to a school that is responsive to the needs of our community.

    vi)      Internally generated income is growing steadily from UGX 2.7 million in 2009 to UGX 60.4 million per annum in 2013, making an increment of 95.5%. Implying increase in community participation in school and we are looking forward to create self-sustaining school. However this is still very low revenue base for the school because it facilitates one-half of our annual budgets; but it is vital in meeting daily expenses and the largest part of teachers’ compensation. We thank change-A-life for supporting our budgets and capital developments.

    vii)      The present physical appearance of the school is evident of infrastructure development .The number of classrooms has risen from eight in 2007 to ten in 2013 and one staff house to two. Other capital developments include a dual sex dormitory, kitchen, water storage facilities, electricity, acquisition of 80 single seater desks, and school fence among others.

   viii) The quality of academic performance is gradually improving steadily over the years. The pass rate in grade one has raised from 0.00% in 2008 to 58% in 2013.Teaching and non-teaching staff has expanded from 9 in 2007 to 29 in 2014.

    ix)  The provision of scholarship by Change-A-Life to needy children is a privilege to  our school. The fees received as payment for education service we offer them has led to the transformation of this school. The project has also prompted friends in the U S to generously donate towards the construction of the dormitory block, completion of the health unit and the water project for Migeera.

     x)   The loan scheme extended to some of the parents of the sponsored learners has been a great opportunity to our school; there is a great improvement on school requirements provision to learners by their parents in comparison to past years in addition to what Change-A-Life provides. Also the learners’ projects an initiative by CAL has helped our children to develop skills in entrepreneurship and farming.

   xi)       Our school is participating in challenge 20/20 in which children shared their views and findings on Education for all in 2012/2013 and on Deforestation in 2013/2014. This project has enabled our learners to develop skills on computer and internet usage and promoting links between them and their counter parts in USA. We thank Ann Murdock and RCDS students for their cooperation.

  xii)  Staff development scheme initiated in 2009 is helping teachers to upgrade their skills in pedagogy and management. Training is vital to our institution since it increases the confidence and commitment of staff, gives a feeling of personal satisfaction and achievement broadening opportunities for career progression.

  xiii)  Teaching staff productivity is increasing because of a better- facilitated work environment. For instance the availability of the computer lab has enabled some learners to attain basic skills in computer usage. Teachers are using computers to prepare their schemes of work and lesson notes. And those who have fully adopted the use of ICT assert that the availability of computers in school have added value to their career.

  xiv)  About library project there is gradual stocking of our book store with texts books matching Uganda Primary School Curriculum. Last school year, we received over 200 text books for teaching English and science subjects in upper primary. The readers Change A Life provided to our school have helped children to develop competence in reading and comprehension. We thank Ramson Country Day School for the readers they gave us and Colts Neck Congregation Church for supporting this project.

  xv)       CALU is meeting the medical bills of sponsored learners which has improved the health of these learners. We thank Karen for supporting St. Francis Health Unit where our learners go for medication. We also express gratitude to Karen, Susan and the entire medical team for the medical mission which is going on. A number of diseases have been diagnosed by the team among our learners and community at large and advice on treatment has been given. The administration will use the data generated to take up measures to control these infections in our learners.

St. Lawrence School Challenges:

 a)   Change A Life sponsors 123 learners in the school which constitute 23.9% of the total enrollment implying that we cannot use funds from only sponsored learners to provide services to the remaining 392 pupils in the school. Therefore we charge small fees from non-sponsored learners to supplement what Change A Life gives us and not many parents in our community are willing to foot this cost. This is the reason for having stagnant enrollment since 2011.

 b)   Internally generated income is still very low because we are devoted serving the poor communities in Nakasongola. We are still committed to serve Migeera community. However the consequences are that we miss out wealthier parents who would contribute more revenues to the school and diversity of skills from learners we would get from all over the country.

 c)    The school lacks adequate accommodation for teachers. We can accommodate five out of nineteen teachers. This has a negative impact on our staff motivation and contentment at work. 

 d)      The school’s capacity to adequately compensate its employees is still limited yet the wage bill is high. Therefore there is need to look into their financial rewards in order to motivate them work.

 e)  Much as a great deal of work has been done on infrastructure development, a lot is still needed to put in place for example; a store for keeping school property, dining hall and main hall. 

School needs in order of priority:

a)  Staff quarters for teaching and non-teaching staff.

b)  School store for keeping school’s property.

c)  A dining hall/main hall.

d)     Fencing the playground.

e) Play materials for the young children.

It is indeed very hard to itemize all the good things our school has got from Change-A-Life, but most significant we thank Jean, the president of CALU, and father Lawrence for their vigilance on CALU activities and the fruits of their efforts are visible to each one of us. And we are deeply thankful to our visitors for the time you devote to us when you constitute these annual visits to our school. It is a sign of love you have towards the children you sponsor and the entire community of Migeera. Thank you very much. May the Lord bless you!

…………………………….

WESIGE ANDREW

(HEADTEACHER)