We celebrate and thank God for another fantastic performance in the national exams.

The KCSE results were released on 20th December, and included the news that Kisima was ranked position 6 out of the 9,350 secondary schools in the country!  Congratulations to our students and their teachers for working so hard to achieve the following results:

National figures show just how difficult these exams were, with only 11.38% of candidates achieving the university entry grade of C+ and above.  We are delighted that 100% of our students have reached this level and therefore will be able to continue their studies at university, supported by a loan from the Higher Education Loans Board.  They will be joining university any time from May next year and we look forward to hearing which courses they will be going to study.

Thank you so much to all our sponsors and other supporters for the great part you play in changing lives here in Kenya.

Congratulations and thanks go to one of our long-term supporters, Ebbe Westergren from Sweden.  On 23rd September he took part in the “Lidingöloppet”, the world’s largest cross-country run, held in the outskirts of Stockholm.  Ebbe entered the main 30km race and finished in 3 hours and 32 minutes, two minutes faster than the last time he did it twelve years ago.  Along with this impressive accomplishment he also managed to raise a significant sum of money for Kisima which we will use to buy new desks and chairs for one of the classrooms – thank you to everyone who supported him.

We look forward to hearing more of Ebbe’s endeavours next year, as this race is just the first of four that make up the Swedish Classic.  He hopes to complete the 90km ski in March, the 300km cycle in June and the 3km swim in July, each time raising more money for Kisima.  Ebbe, we are in awe of your fitness and so grateful for your commitment to supporting the school.

1st July was one of the most active Saturdays of the year, at least for those students with an interest in athletics, as we held our annual inter-class sports competition.  The day began early (6.30am), with the longest races – 10,000m for boys, 5,000m for girls and the walking race.  Then came the field events – javelin, discus, shot put, high jump, long jump and triple jump – and the middle-distance and short-distance races.  By this point some students were feeling the pressure, having been in many events, but their classmates did their best to cheer them on.  Students from the Red Cross Club were on hand to treat any injuries and supply spoonfuls of glucose to restore lost energy!

The 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relays were among the most exciting races to watch, and there were also some more light-hearted (but still hotly-contested) events such as the sack race, egg and spoon race, skipping race, hula hoop and tug of war (in which the Form 3 girls were delighted to beat not only the other girls but also the Form 3 boys!).

Afterwards, everyone gathered in the hall for prizes to be awarded, with several top performers getting as many as five or six prizes each.

It was a day of enjoyment for participants and spectators alike.

Over the weekend of 24^th and 25^th June, we enjoyed spending time with Gillian Bullock, who was making her third visit to Kisima.  Gillian and her organization CHADIK (Children’s Health and Development in Kenya) sponsor nine students here, as well as contributing to our agricultural activities in different ways.  Her visit was short but productive, and included meeting her sponsored students, visiting the school farm and attending our Sunday service.

A new chapter of life is beginning for last year’s Form Four students, as the time comes to move on to further studies.  Some have done so already and the rest will follow them in the next few months.  Every one of the thirty six students has qualified for a university place, and they are off to study a great array of degree courses.  The most popular one is Electrical and Electronic Engineering, which six students will be taking.  A good number have been admitted to health-related courses – Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Nutrition and Dietetics, Community Health and Development and Public Health.  The other courses are Construction Management, Education, Computer Science, Statistics and Programming, Purchasing and Supplies Management, Human Resource Management, Economics, Agricultural Economics and Resource Management, Commerce and Hospitality and Tourism Management.

We are also delighted that three students from previous classes have been awarded scholarships as follows:

David (Form 4 2014) will be heading to EARTH University in Costa Rica to study for a BSc in Agricultural Science and Natural Resource Management.	Elizabeth (Form 4 2011 and already a graduate of EARTH University) will be taking an MSc in Community Studies and Extension Services at Egerton University here in Kenya.  This is thanks to the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.	Almahdi (Form 4 2014) will be joining the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, to study for a BSc in Applied Sciences through the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme.

Congratulations and best wishes to all our alumni!

We are happy to be in the process of setting up a link between Kisima School and Hermods Gymnasium in Gothenburg, Sweden.  This has come about through our friendship with Frida Palmqvist, who first came to Kisima in 2013.  At that point she was training to be a secondary school teacher and spent time at Kisima working on her thesis.  She now teaches at Hermods Gymnasium and organised a return visit with three of her colleagues – Kajsa, Oscar and Pontus.

Everyone enjoyed the week they spent with us, during which they found out more about education in Kenya, taught some lessons, gave a presentation about Sweden, had discussions with the teachers and interviewed some of the students about how our two schools can work together for mutual benefit.  We look forward to developing the link further over the coming weeks and months.

On 6th January, forty new Form One students joined Kisima, ready to begin their four years of secondary education – a foundation that will enable them to build a better future for themselves.  Here are some photos of their first few days in school.

Some of the new students with their guardians

Teachers interviewing the students about their family and home backgrounds

Old and new students making friends

2016 ended on a triumphant note with the news of our students’ great performance in their K.C.S.E. exams.

The results were announced on 29th December, two months earlier than usual, meaning that the students had only had to wait one month since completing their exams and leaving school.  Our thirty six students achieved the following grades:

We had hoped for some A grades, but we are not too disappointed that there are none, given that only 141 students in the whole country achieved this grade!  As a school, we have a mean score of 9.94, which makes this year’s performance the second-highest in Kisima’s nine years of taking the K.C.S.E., just below the 9.97 mean score that was achieved in 2012.  It also makes us the top school in Nyandarua County and the fourth best school in the country!!

For the fourth time, 100% of our students have attained the university entrance grade of C+ and above.  Nationwide, it was only 15% – a major drop from previous years.  As a result, for the first time ever, all our students are assured of direct entry to university with the support of a loan.  The students will hear later this year which courses they have been selected for, and we hope there will be good news for our aspiring doctors, nurses, engineers, pharmacists, economists, teachers, computer scientists and more.

Congratulations to all the students, their teachers and everyone else who has contributed to their success.