I am writing to update you on the school’s progress and also
to give you some exciting news.
Cece Primary School is fast approaching the end of the
school year. Next year we will need to
have a new classroom to cater for a Primary 4 class. At the moment we have four classrooms, for a
Pre-Primary class, and Primary 1 to 3.
The end of primary education in South Sudan is Primary 8, so we still
have a long way to go. There will be a
need to employ more teachers next year to cater for the new class.
As there is no storeroom or teachers room, and we will again
need to build more classrooms next year, we have decided to build a foundation
ready for four classrooms (which will be the complete number of classrooms when
the primary school is complete). As
funds for that whole block are unlikely to be available at once, we will then
build just the first two classrooms on the foundations. This will allow us to have a spare room which
we can use for storage and a teachers room.
I am feeling very happy with the school’s progress over the
past two years since June 2015. We have
moved from a very small school of 60 children in two Primary 1 classes in a
loaned building, to a school of four classes with stable teaching on our own site,
in purpose-built classrooms. The current
teachers are the best we have had, giving stable teaching compared to any other
local school. Those children who have
been with us since the beginning of the school are far more advanced than those
at other Nimule schools.
We have a substantial meal for the children provided by Far
Reaching Ministries every school day. I
cannot overstate the importance of this, as many of our families struggle to
provide feeding at home at all. I attach
a link to a Guardian
article which gives the picture of the impossible situation here with regard to
feeding.
The big news is that I have decided to resign as headteacher
with effect from the end of December.
The main reason for this is that Cece Primary School is intended to be a
local community school and to become a stable school which can manage without
foreign input as far as possible. Another
reason is that I am not getting any younger.
I want to ensure that the school can be sustained without me and can
continue into the future whether I am there or not. Given the volatile situation here, it is
impossible to know what may happen next.
We employed a wonderful teacher two terms ago, called
Patrick Gore. Patrick is a very active,
reliable and experienced teacher. He is
very concerned about disadvantaged children and has shown a real heart for our
children in the time he has been with the school, even visiting sick children
at home to check that they are alright.
Outside of school, he is a pastor with the Africa Inland Church, so he
has leadership experience. I have no doubt
at all that he is the right person for the job.
I am intending to take a sabbatical for the first term of
next year (from January to May) to allow Patrick to get on with his new role without
feeling undermined by me. I also, will
find it hard to put myself under a new headteacher, so that term away will help
both of us to adjust. In June I will
return as English teacher. I will
continue with my role as fundraiser.
Please can I ask you to continue to support the school as we
move ahead both physically with our construction work, and to support the
education of the children.
Our bank details are:For UK tax payers, please send through the Sean Devereux Children’s Fund so that we can benefit from 25% tax relief from the UK government. Please contact me by email for the gift aid form, if you are able to donate in this way. My email address is rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk.
