End of school year report

We have come to the end of the year 2012.We thank you all for everything that you are doing for us. We are most grateful to our friends and family for standing with us throughout the 3yrs that we have been operating. You are very important people in our lives. Because of you we have been able to overcome most challenges that come our way.

The kids are a happy lot due to the great support that they get from you our friends. They are always looking forward to when visitors came to the school. They were taught a Norwegian song about the parts of the body and they always sing it to all our friends. The kids in our class four wish that they don’t have to go to other schools for their class five. Unfortunately they have to move to other schools because we don’t have enough classrooms and other facilities that can enable them to stay on. We also wish that they could stay because we are used to having them around.

Next year we are hoping to enroll new kids in the baby class because the kids in that class are moving on to the nursery class. We hope and trust that we will be able to provide for them quality education and also provide the feeding programme. We are thinking of adding one more teacher to the members of staff so that the teacher pupil ratio will be appropriate.

The licensing process for 2013 should be done during the December holidays because the government and the city council inspectors are demanding that all learning institutions should have their licenses ready when schools open on 7th January 2013. This should be done early for learning conveniences next year.

We did not do the pre unit graduation ceremony due to our limited resources. We do not have gowns and many more items that are used for the ceremony. We hope that next year will be able to perform the ceremony so that our kids can be motivated as they get promoted to the primary school classes. We congratulate all our pre-unit class for moving on to class one. We wish you all the best.

The Christmas season is here and we are thinking of holding a Christmas party for the kids, staff and parents at the school. If all goes well we will hold the same on 23rd December 2012 so that they can be able to celebrate Christmas day with their families. All of us are looking forward to that day.

This year we faced many challenges, but we also learnt a lot from them. Three of our kids from the same family went to stay upcountry after they lost their father through a fatal road accident. We at Happy Day wish them all the best in their lives.

We still have some kids who do not have the school uniform and school bags though we are getting some of them from family and friends.

Many parents have not been able to pay the small amount of money that they are asked to because of the high cost of living. However we never sent their kids away and this has helped them a lot because they know that their kids are getting education and some food from the school.

This year we bought books, pencils and sharpeners for the kids. We also got some crayons and water colours from our friends in Norway. Thank you very much because you put a smile on a kid at Happy Day Junior School.

Teacher Faith left in September and went for further studies at the Kenyatta University and in her place we took in teacher Ken. We wish teacher Faith all the best as she pursue her education. Thank you for the good work you did for the children.

We have been attending refresher courses as the Happy Day Junior school staff and this has enabled us to cope with the new school curriculum.

All schools in Kenya have to get new text books due to the changes made in the constitution of Kenya and also due to the new syllabus that has been made by the Kenya Institute of Education. This is a big challenge but we believe that we will jump over this hurdle with your help and our determination.

Happy Day Junior staff members thank all our supporters and sponsors for the salaries that we get every month. Thank you very much for your noble cause. We always look forward to going to school everyday because we have been given the moral by the love extended to us by you. Thank you once again

We closed school for the x-mass holiday on 16th November, 2012 and will be back to school on January 7th 2013. We got some school uniform from my sister, Zubeda, and the kids who got them and their parents were very happy.

We also got 5 bags which will be given to those who don’t have bags in January.

The feeding programme was also a big challenge and we thank each one of you who in one way or other helped with the feeding programme. Thank you very much.

We wish all our partners, staff, children and their families a MERRY X-MASS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Har du lyst til å være med å sponse en barnehage i Kenya?

Happy Day Junior School er en barnehage i utkanten av Nairobi som blir drevet hovedsakelig på midler samlet inn i Norge. Initiativtakerne til dette prosjektet er Christin Reinbakk og Annelene Rør. Annelene har familie i Kenya og det er tanta til datteren hennes som driver barnehagen. Pengene fra sponsorer i Norge blir satt inn på en konto i Annelenes navn og pengene går i sin helhet til drifta av barnehagen. Det går 57 barn på tre aldersbestemte avdelinger/klasser. Pengene som samles inn i Norge går til å dekke løpende utgifter, lønninger og mat til ungene. For noen av ungene er maten de får i barnehagen den eneste maten de får i løpet av en dag.

De fattige i Kenya har blitt rammet hardt av tørke og finanskrise de siste årene. I løpet av få år har prisene på helt ordinære matvarer steget til det tredobbelte. Barna som går i denne barnehagen kommer fra familier som sliter med å få endene til å møtes.

Både Christin og Annelene er pedagoger. Maggie, som er sjefen for Happy Day Junior School er utdannet førskolelærer og har flere års erfaring med å undervise førskolebarn. Hun har ansatt tre andre lærere og sammen med en kokke og en vaktmann gjør de alle en kjempegod og dedikert jobb. Annelene har jobbet flere år i UNESCO og Norad og har jobbet med mange Early Childhood Care and Education-prosjekter rundt om i fattige land. Vi gjør alle så godt vi kan for at Happy Day Junior school skal være et godt sted å være og å lære. Barnehagen følger forøvrig Kenyas retningslinjer og pensum for barnehager.

For å klare å opprettholde prosjektet og for å møte stadige nye utfordringer, trenger vi alle de sponsorene vi kan få. Alle monner drar og både engangsbeløp og månedlige bidrag tas imot med stor takknemlighet. Vil du vite mer om prosjektet, sjekk ut “Happy Day Junior school” på facebook, les rapporter på http://happydayjuniorschool.blogspot.no/ eller kontakt Annelene på mobil 40497911. Vil du støtte dette prosjektet, er kontonummeret 1080 47 30856. Husk å merke innbetalingen med navnet ditt :-)

Photos

You'll find more photos on Happy Day Junior school facebook account :-)

HAPPY DAY JUNIOR SCHOOL TERMLY REPORT 2012-07-03

Hello friends, greetings from all of us at Happy Day Junior school. We are all fine and doing everything possible to make it.

We started this year well and we are very grateful to you all for everything you have been doing for us. Our staff is a happy lot due to the good support that you give us. The kids are happy too. There are now 57 kids attending Happy Day Junior school. The school is very popular and we have to turn away kids whose parents want to send to our school due to lack of space and facilities.

In earlier reports, we have shared some stories of the children. In this report we will tell you a little about our teachers: Teacher Kellis takes nursery and pre-unit and she has twenty kids in her class. She has to make sure that they are good in academics and also social issues. She is a good teacher and interacts well with all the children. She has been with us for two years.

Teacher Faith is the youngest of all and though she is an untrained teacher she does her work with passion. She is joining the university in September this year for further studies. She takes the six to seven years old. She has been with us for two years also.

Teacher Millicent is trained teacher in early childhood development and growth. She is a dedicated teacher. She takes three –four years old and they like her very much.

Most of the parents have not bought the school requirements for the kids because the requirements are expensive. The requirements include text books, exercise book, pencils, sharpeners and rulers. We are trying to provide some of the basic needs to most of the children and we hope that we will be able to provide the requirements to all those who cannot afford. We are facing challenges with confidence because we know we have friends who care about us. We are still requesting for small school bags for the kids since most of them carry their books in paper bags and the books are not well taken care of.

The ingredients we got for the modelling clay helped us a lot and all the materials that were brought by the Sund students. Thanks once again for everything.

The cold season has started and one of our classrooms has no door. The windows are made of mesh wire. We plan to put glass on the windows and have a wooden door fixed in that class.

Our children will participate in the athletics competitions with other schools. We want our children to gain both academically and socially. School uniform is also a challenge because most of the parents have not bought uniforms due to financial difficulties. We bought school uniforms for some of the children in the year twenty ten and they are already torn and old.

With all these challenges we are one big happy family.

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN DEAR FRIENDS AND WE LOVE YOU ALL. If you have any questions about the school or the people involved, please post your questions on our facebook wall: Happy Day Junior School.

                                FINANCIAL REPORT

BUDGET FIRST TERM 2012

JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH (EXPENDITURE PER MONTH)

FOOD                                                                        SALARIES

Maize flour_3bails at 1300= 3,900                         Teacher Kellis       5,000

Cooking fat _5kg at     160=     800                         Teacher Faith        4,500

Charcoal 1 sack at   1,500  = 1,500                         Teacher Milly        5,500

Milk 20 packets at        45 =      900                         Cook                     4,000

Sugar 4kgs at               120=     480                          Care taker             4,000

Tea leaves 1packet at    150=    150                         Teacher Maggy      6,000

Paraffin 5ltrs at              200= 1000

Vegetables at  1000             =  1000

                  TOTAL              9,730                                  TOTAL          29,000       =38,730

APRIL

FOOD(2 WEEKS)                                                            SALARIES

One and half bail maize flour at 1,300  =1,900                  teacher Kellis      5,000

Cooking fat two and half kg at       160=     460                 teacher Faith        4,500

Charcoal half sack                at         750=    750                 teacher Milly      5.500

Milk ten packets                   at            45=    450                cook                    4,000

Sugar 2kgs                            at          120=     240               caretaker              4,000

Tea leaves 1packet                at             70=      70               teacher Maggy    6,500

Paraffin 2 and half litres        at            200=    500

Vegetables                              at           500=    500

                             TOTAL                              4,810           TOTAL          29,500      =   34,310

FIRST TERM TOTAL EXPENDITURE 

INCOME                     EXTERNAL                      INTERNAL                TOTAL

JANUARY                   32,000                                8,000              =          40,000

FEBRUARY                 36,000                                6,800             =           42,800

MARCH                        32,000                                8,200             =           40,200

APRIL                           34,000                                                       =           34,000

TOTAL                                                                                                       157,000

                                FINANCIAL REPORT (2^ND TERM 2012)

MAY, JUNE, JULY (EXPENDITURE PER MONTH)              SALARIES

Maize flour 3bails at 1,300=3,900                                 Kellis          5000

Cooking fat 5kg at        160=   800                                 Faith           4500

Charcoal 1 sack at      1500= 1500                                  Milly          5500

Milk 20 packets at          45=   900                                  Cook           4000

Sugar 4kgs at                120=  480                                   Care taker    4000

Tea leaves 1packet at    150 =  150                                  Maggie         6500

Paraffin 5liters at          200= 1000

Vegetables  at             1000=  1000

TOTALS                                9,730                          TOTALS           29,500        =37,230

INCOME                 EXTERNAL                           INTERNAL                TOTAL

  MAY                      38,000                                      5,600                            43,600

Report from Happy Day Junior School January 2012

We are back to school. We thank all our friends and partners for their great support.

Last term was very tough for us due to the high cost of living that has been experienced all over the world. Food prices tripled and was almost unaffordable. We had to reduce the ratio of food in our feeding programme so that we could be able to feed the children.

This not only happened to us but to most of the learning institutions that have feeding programme. The parents were not able to buy all the food that a child needs even at home.

Most parents really depended on the porridge that we offer at break time and the lunch that we give the children. Unfortunately we had to do away with the porridge thus the children had to wait until lunch time so that they could get their first food everyday.

This had a negative effect on their learning because of hunger. Flour for the porridge was initially selling at 100/= per 1kg, then it went upto 200/= per 1kg; the sugar was retailing at 100/= Per kg, went upto 300/= per kg thus; making it impossible for us to buy.

Lunch was very expensive but we had to give the children lunch to keep them in school. We had requested for some assistance from the government through the World Food Programme but to date we have not received any feedback.

The children are never-the -less learning and enjoying it due to the many learning materials that we get from our friends in Norway. The teachers also improvise their own teaching aids thus making leaning enjoyable.

Due to the high cost of living all the school staff including the teachers, care-taker and the cook have requested that they be given a salary increase. We hope that this will be possible as from January 2012.

The government has prolonged the school terms from 13 weeks to 16 weeks per term. This means lots of learning.

The school curriculum and the syllabus are also changing due to the constitutional changes that have been done.

This has had an effect on the learning because we have to buy new text books all over again and also change the time-table. We are taking our teachers for refresher courses so that they can learn more about the changes in the constitution and also the educational system. This will enable us to teach the children according to standards. The courses are not very expensive and they are good sources of giving some moral to the teachers.

Our kindergarten is growing and the parents whose children are in class 3 have requested that we construct another class for class 4. We are hoping that this would be possible by the end of January.

We have started 2012 on a higher note and the staff are all back and ready to start work. Some children are not yet back but it is due to travelling which is expensive since they had gone up country for the festive season. We are looking forward to their come back.

We hope that 2012 will prove to be a good year for the children and for everybody who is a   partner of Happy Day Junior School.

We printed out 60 calenders with the school name on them, we hope you appreciated them. We distributed them to our parents, family and friends. We were not able to print school pictures on them because it was next year.

All the monetary assistance that we get from Norway goes into staff salaries and the remainder helps us a lot in the running of the school. Thanks very much for the   assistance. The money that is paid by the parents goes into the feeding programme.

Thanks also for the crayons, papers, ingredients for the modelling clay (it makes very good clay) and also thanks for the clothes. All the girls got one or more clothes from Norway and the parents and the children say "Thank You Very Much."

As the administrator I would like to ask if the kids can get some small school bags because  most of them carry their books in paper bags, this will enable them to take care of their books and pencils this will really be appreciated.

We are a school with a difference due to our friends and we thank everyone of you for all that you do for us. Thank you very much.

FINANCIAL REPORT.

External.                                        Internal.

September- 30,000                         10,000

October- 25,000                              8,000

November-26,000                            7,500

December-30,000                                0

                Total-137,100

EXPENDITURE.

Sept -salaries=25,000

          salaries=5,000

                food=10,000

Oct -salaries=25,000

              food=10,000

     stationery=3,200

Nov -salaries=25,000

               food=12,500

     stationery=4,000

Dec -salaries=25,000

Expenditure    144,700-137,100=7,600

BUDGET.

Jan -licence=12,400

       salaries=25,000

              food=14,000

    stationery=5,400

            Total=56,800

Feb -salaries=25,000

               food=15,000

     stationery=4,000

              Total=44,000

March -salaries=25,000

                   food=15,000

         stationery=5,000

                 Total=45,000

April -salaries=25,000

                 food=7,500

       stationery=2,500

            Total=35,000

TOTAL        =180,800