Last week, maize from the school farm was harvested and brought to school, to be threshed by a small threshing machine.  Many of the students lent a hand in the process that you see below.

First, sacks were filled with the cobs of maize and carried to the threshing machine.

There, the maize was transferred into buckets so it could be poured into the thresher.

As the threshed maize came out the chute, our school gardener, Gitonga, caught it in sacks which he passed on to the students.

The sacks were topped up until full, and here is the finished result!  We have harvested enough maize for more than a term.

The work was not yet over, however, as the empty cobs had to be collected and wheeled to the firewood store as they can also be used as fuel for our cookers.  And even James joined in with the final sweeping!

Best wishes to our Form Four students who are about to sit for their K.C.S.E. (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education).  In the run-up to the exams there have been a number of activities taking place.  First was a class trip to Kenya Cooperative Creameries and Thomson’s Falls here in Nyahururu – a special chance to relax and enjoy being together as a group.

Then on Friday 9th October we held a special service to pray for and encourage the Form Fours.  Our guest speaker was Bishop Lesuuda from Maralal who spoke from Joshua 1, urging the students to be courageous and to trust in God.  Also present were a number of parents and guardians and some former students who all came to show their support for the Form Four class.

Now with just one day to go, the candidates have been preparing the exam room and cleaning their desks to make sure they have no graffiti that could lead to them being accused of cheating!

If you would like to follow the students’ progress, please see the exam timetable below.  Kisima students do Biology or Physics, History or Christian Religious Education and Agriculture or Business Studies, plus the other five subjects.

With the national exams just around the corner, the Form Four Agriculture students have harvested the napier grass that they grew for their assessed project.

Over the last five months, each student had tended the plants on their 4m by 3m plot.  After a slow start the grass did really well, growing from small cuttings to plants up to 1.7m high.  Each student harvested and weighed their crop, with the most productive plot yielding 432kg.

During the course of this term, the students have been out on an unusually large number of trips.  Just some of them are as follows:

On 23rd May, a group of thirty six Form Three and Four students went to another secondary school to take part in a humanities contest.  Congratulations to the teams who came third out of forty nine schools in History, fifth out of fifty six schools in Christian Religious Education and second out of forty six schools in Geography.  Overall they were position three and position one out of the private schools.

On 30th May there was a sponsored walk in aid of the Red Cross, attended by representatives from each class, who had collected money from family and friends.

On 25th June the Form Threes had a class trip to Olkaria geothermal power station and Hell’s Gate national park – a case of second time lucky as their first attempt three weeks previously came to an abrupt end when the hired bus broke down.

Most recently, on 7th July, the Form Four Agriculture students plus members of the Young Farmers’ Club visited the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, just a short drive from school.  They learnt about pasture and fodder crops, farm machinery, dairy production, pig rearing and more.

It was a joyful occasion as we celebrated Kisima’s tenth anniversary.

Many visitors came to share with us – former students, parents and guardians, representatives from feeder primary schools, and other friends of Kisima.

The day began with a thanksgiving service, with an encouraging message from Psalm 136; ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever’.

This was followed by speeches, performances from each class, presentation of gifts and cutting of the cakes.

A number of trees were then planted around the school grounds before everyone enjoyed a meal and the chance to interact.

Congratulations to last year’s K.C.S.E. candidates on their excellent exam results.  Their four years of hard work – and that of their teachers – has been rewarded.  The majority are assured of a place at university, while those who miss out have excellent grades for applying to colleges and other opportunities.  The class results are as follows:

Preparations are underway to celebrate the results this weekend, alongside commemoration of Kisima’s ten year anniversary.  The kitchen staff are getting ready to cater for the many visitors we are expecting, and the students are having the final rehearsals of the songs and dances they will perform.

We now have a full school, following the arrival of our Form One students.  They reported to Kisima on Monday 26th January and were first interviewed to confirm that they are indeed in need of sponsorship for their secondary education.  There was then a meeting in the hall for the new pupils and their guardians, where they met staff members, heard from the Principal and Director about what is expected of them at Kisima and had the opportunity to ask questions.  The forty new pupils have now settled in and are already hard at work.

The new school year has begun and we have a new set of prefects.

For the first time in Kisima’s history, some of these were voted in by the students rather than being selected by the teachers.  The interested candidates had been campaigning since the end of last term, and the elections were held on Saturday 10th January.  Everything went smoothly and it is hoped this will now become an annual event.