Anyways, I would like to take a minute and discuss some of the major improvements at the school, following up on a previous blog about the challenges we are facing with the current education system. At the end of last year, we made some major changes in our teaching staff, bringing in some more qualified teachers with a greater understanding of English (since we are an English-Medium school). We were fortunately able to find these teachers due to the growing popularity of our school.
Thanks to these staff changes and continuing staff development, school is running much, much more smoothly this year. For two weeks before opening the school, we sat as a school staff, working to bring new concepts and techniques to the table, and discussed how these new ideas could be implemented in our school. We also agreed to rearrange our early years so that the students in our kindergarten, first, and second grades stay with the same teacher and aide for three years, creating consistency during incredibly important years of development. We have many new supplies for our classrooms, and we have recently had a math teacher from the States run a week-long seminar on math techniques and teaching styles. With all of this coming together, we are extremely hopeful for the year (and years) ahead. We have faith that our students will quickly rise to the top, and these systems we are using currently will be a model for many other schools.
And, just to mention, even though we ourselves viewed last year as one with many new challenges, we passed with flying colors by national standards. Our fourth grade had a 100% pass-mark on the national exams last fall, which put us on the radar on the national level for excellence in education.
I will write another post in the next few days about the progress being made with our documentary (the film crew is in Tanzania), but until then, I want to thank all of you for your continued support of JBFC. We would not be able to do what we are doing without you.
