Friday, September 26, 2014

St. Mary’s Primary School

Background on the Ugandan Education System:
There are three levels of education for children. The first is equivalent to pre-school and kindergarten referred to as Nursery School with a Baby (age 3), Middle (age 4) and Top Baby Class (age 5). Children then enter Primary School usually at age 6 and attend grades P1-P7. Near the end of P7, students take an exam to move on to Secondary School usually around age 13 which has ordinary and advance level ordinary stops at S4 and advanced level up to S5 and S6 meant for students to gain experience geared towards college. The average age to finish secondary school is 19 to 21.

When we first arrived at site we went to visit one of the local primary schools, it’s actually a few steps from our home and one that our organization originally founded but now is under its own operation. The protocol in Uganda is always following the chain of command. We first had to meet with the headmaster; nothing can be done without his consent. Then we were introduced to the head teachers, teachers and students. We discussed being allowed to come in once or twice a week to hold classes. For Ashley she will teach English to baby and top baby class (her favorite ages) as well as for P3 and P4 classes. Matthew will be doing health education in various classes.


Today we had our first time to officially go to the classes and Ashley taught English to the nursery students. Matt even joined in and did some singing and dancing. We are really looking forward to working with the students over these next 2 years, after all these children are the future of Uganda .


Teaching Nursery School

Matt singing and dancing with students

1 comment:

  1. Nice. The kids look so happy. What an adventure. Good job Ashley and Matt. So proud:))))

    ReplyDelete