Introducing...

Anna and I would like to introduce to you all to the newest member of our school team. Samuel comes to us from Tema (which sits right outside the capital of Accra  - about two hours from Asikuma). Prior to coming to the Kingdom Cares Community School, he served as the head teacher at Lyon International School for six years. We are very excited that he has agreed to relocate to Asikuma and use his experience to help move the KCC School toward success. 

In the following month Samuel will work very closely with us to take over some of the tasks that we have been completing as well as collaborate with us on additional ideas and projects. Some of his primary responsibilities will include monitoring student and teacher behavior, assisting with the bi-monthly teacher seminar and additional teacher training, reviewing lesson plans, and providing teachers with feedback. Additionally he will be handling all of the administrative paperwork to ensure that the school is following the requirements detailed by the Ghanaian Education System (GES).

Samuel officially started his role of headmaster this past Monday. He spent the majority of the week observing our teachers and students and discussing with us his findings. We were very pleased that he has quickly picked up on and identified many of the same concerns that Anna and I share. On Friday he had the opportunity to formally address the teachers for the first time and outlined some of his policies and expectations (which reinforced many of the policies and expectations we had already put into place with them) and a few things that he will be already begin putting into place.

Some of the things that we will be working together to begin implementing include a 30-minute morning reading clinic, teacher and student learning targets and progress reports. Students will be encouraged to start arriving at school early (many of our students already do) and will be able to spend time in the morning reading a variety of books. Many of our students do not have regular access to books and it is not something that is built into a school day the way it is in the U.S. so this will give them the opportunity to practice and develop their reading skills. Samuel will be helping the teachers set goals for themselves and students as a way to hold them accountable and so he knows what they are wanting to improve on in order to best support them. Finally, he will be working on developing a way for us to report to parents and document how the students are performing academically.

We are very excited to have Samuel on board as another trained teacher who will be committed to making progress even after we return to the U.S. (which surprisingly is only just over four weeks away).

We will be working to meet a few more needs before we leave so stay tuned as to how we are spending the donated funds. Of course it is never too late to donate :) . We just once again want to express how thankful we are to you all for your support over the last seven months and for how you have made education a reality for many of these kids. Let’s finish strong!

We couldn't do this without all of you!
~Mary