Monthly Archives

September 2019

Security with a Smile

By | news

Gerald is the newest addition to the Irovo family. Vitalis calls him ‘security’ but he is so much more than that. I like to think of him as the welcoming face of Shalom Academy (although he does look a little forbidding in the pic above).

He is the first person at school each morning—opening up the school gate and staff room, preparing the kitchen for the arrival of the cook, chopping firewood for the stove, reminding the children to wash their hands after… everything.

He has grandchildren at the school so knows absolutely everyone and commands the respect of all: children, teachers, parents, neighbours, and the occasional visitors from Lancashire.

Hey Mr Postman look and see…

By | news, Partner Schools

The children at Shalom Academy received their first pen letters from the pupils of St Francis school, Goosnargh. They created quite a stir in Irovo because the children heard firsthand how their contemporaries lived in Britain.

The letters were followed by a terrific scrapbook from the pupils of St Gregory’s, Preston, (pictured above) which featured self-portraits from every pupil and class photographs. It is now kept pride of place in our new resource room.

Led by headteacher Mr Bondi, the children reciprocated by writing their own pen letters, which we distributed to Lancashire schools on our return.

It promises to be the start of some beautiful friendships.

Education Way

By | news

With no street signage in the region, it is always a challenge to find exact addresses. It requires lots of stop-and-ask — no problem, but it does slow you down.

We have had a similar problem whenever we try to describe the location of the school to visitors. So we took the issue into our own hands and gave the little dirt track that leads to Shalom Academy a name: Education Way.

That’s two more English words the children have learned!

All Things Bright & Beautiful

By | news

Just in case anyone needs a reminder of how to write the alphabet…

The signwriter spent a couple of days painting everything in sight—including the walls of the school, the school signs, the goalposts, the inner walls of the staff room.

It certainly brightens up the place and announces to the village ‘We’re open for education!’

Uniforms For All

By | news

It has been apparent lately that the children at Shalom Academy in Irovo were noticeably scruffier than their counterparts in other schools in the area.

But we’ve put that right by bringing a new look to the sky blue uniform—polo shirts for all, emblazoned with the new school badge in the colours of the Kenya flag. They each got two shirts—one on and one in the wash—so there is no excuse for not showing up in blue. We’re just looking forward to hearing the excuses!

They looked great for a short time before they were covered in a thin layer of dust and grime from the school playground.

But for those 7 minutes, heck, they looked sharp!