You are a Cabinet Secretary granted two minutes to speak about Covid-19 planning with President Uhuru Kenyatta – what do you say? 

Earlier this month on April 9, the closing day of Term 1, our Kenya Form 1 and 2 students competed in a pitch competition to propose their solutions to the Covid-19 pandemic. This competition was a culmination of their research project on Covid-19 which students completed at home after our campuses closed in March. Throughout the project, students studied the impacts of Covid-19 on global health and economies, learning about the history of pandemics, the science behind viruses and their spread, and the role of the media in helping (or hurting) public awareness and perceptions. This background research then prepared them to propose solutions to the crisis through their presidential pitches.

Click on the link above to watch the competition.

In the first stage of the competition, over 70 students posted their 2-minute video pitches on a learning platform called FlipGrid. Their teachers then selected the finalists from each homeroom, and from the homeroom finalists, school leaders and deans from each school selected the final Cabinet Secretaries from each school. These 17 school finalists were then invited to deliver their pitches live to a panel of judges from our Nova Pioneer executive team on Zoom, with the event live-streamed to YouTube. Judges then gave positive and constructive feedback to finalists on their pitches (at Nova Pioneer, we call these Glows and Grows).

As you can imagine, there were some challenges to live-streaming a digital event like this. Maintaining a consistent internet connection proved to be troublesome for some finalists. Luckily, we had their earlier video submissions on file and were able to play these in place of their live pitches. In all though, the event went smoothly with the judges able to see pitches from all finalists.

Contestants were judged based on the organization of their pitch, their use of supporting evidence in their arguments, their word choice and grammar, and their delivery. The winners in each category were:

• CS of Trade: Ibrahim Ahmed, Tatu Boys
• CS of Labour: Nicole Rono, Eldoret Girls
• CS of Transport: Samuel Birech, Eldoret Boys
• CS of Education: Rachel Munyi, Tatu Girls
• CS of Health: Abigail Achola, Tatu Girls

The overall winning school was Eldoret Boys, followed by Tatu Girls in second place, Tatu Boys in third place, and Eldoret Girls in fourth place.

While there could only be one winner in each category, all of our students delivered compelling, well-researched, factually accurate, and thoughtfully articulated solutions to the Covid-19 pandemic, demonstrating our culture principles of High Expectations and Solutions First. You can watch their pitches on our YouTube page.

Given the success of this event, we are currently exploring ways we can have more collaborative competitions like this across our Nova Pioneer schools, including our primary schools and our schools in South Africa! 

Written by Kelsey Keech ( Global Director, Learning & Instructional Design)

Social Distance. Quarantine. Virtual Classroom. Fever Gun. Lockdown. Face Mask. Curfew. Zoom Meetings.  These are all words that in the last month most educators have shifted from rarely using to being part of their daily vocabulary. 

A French novelist Andre Gige once said, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”  For most of us, in our new normal we are currently in the middle of the ocean with no shore in sight.  This period is unprecedented, uncomfortable and uncertain and it is important to acknowledge that and allow ourselves the space to process it.  March 2020 is a month where life on The Continent and throughout the world became forever changed.  As a human race, we are left to grieve life as we once knew it and are tasked with rebuilding our new normal.  As educators, we are tasked with not only doing this for ourselves and our families but also for our students.  What story will we tell the next generation about what we did to shape a better future for them during this time?

The impact of the Corona Virus is universal.  This virus does not know nationality, nor tribe, nor race.  Where it does differentiate is along lines of socioeconomic difference.  As an education community, the onus rests with us to not leave children behind, to be their champions no matter their socioeconomic status.  The socioeconomic gap in education has the ability to widen significantly as we build a virtual instructional world.  These students are in more dire conditions than ever before and are at risk of being left far behind their more affluent peers as some students take the world of online learning by storm and others remain at home with no access, struggling to have their basic needs met.  I ask again, what story will we tell the next generation about what we did to shape a better future for them during this time?

We all have stories that illustrate this time for us – for me, a day I will never forget is March 17th, 2020. On this day, I had three different conversations, with educators on three different continents, all asking three different sets of questions about how we proceed forward for students:

 

• 8:00am EAT- Educator Group 1 – Have we ensured that all of our students have devices and data?  Do any adjustments need to be made to the new online timetable?  85% of our students were present in all of their online classes today – how do we get to 100% tomorrow? How are we ensuring that our culture principles are still a part of our students daily life? How are we going to ensure that we are able to coach teachers in the zoom classrooms?  How did online learning engagement go yesterday?  What can we fix today?
• 12:00pm EAT- Educator Group 2 – I hear we are going on full lockdown soon- do our families have enough water and food to get through it?  How do we raise funds to help?  There are 13 kids in that home where there is only one room – what can we provide to keep them engaged and learning during this time? How do we ensure that they don’t fall behind?  A packet will run out and where will the funds come from to keep printing them? How can we shift funds to make sure our kids at least have their basic needs met?
• 5:00pm EAT- Educator Group 3 – Why is everyone doing their own thing?  Shouldn’t there be a stance for all kids in our country during this time? Aren’t we one nation? Some of our kids can get online and some can’t. Is it really fair for me to just keep teaching online knowing that others are falling behind?  Isn’t this the definition of inequity?  

Three phone calls, from three different groups of educators on three different Continents with three different struggles came to my phone. Different, yet similar in that all were rooted in the idea of what does this new world means for our students. What does our support need to look like for them?  What is doing right by them?  The questions of equity versus equality on every call quickly bubbled to the surface. 

I have been asked the question – ‘Is Africa far behind the rest of the world in education in this new world?’.  The truth is not at all.  On many occasions, the innovations that I am seeing in certain schools on The Continent are far surpassing what I am seeing Stateside.  In this new world order collectivism is proving to yield dividends in ways that individualism cannot.  As we discover the new oceans that await us on the other side of COVID-19, we must ensure that our humanity rises to the forefront and not allow our children in the lowest socioeconomic brackets from across the world to fall behind and widen the already wide learning gap.  As you continue to lose sight of the shore I challenge us to discover new and more equitable oceans in the process.  I ask you one last time, what story will we tell the next generation about what we did to shape a better future for them during this time?

Written by London Moore (Director of Schools at Nova Pioneer – Kenya)

In 2019, all eyes were on Nova Pioneer boys secondary school. When I say all eyes, I mean ALL eyes! This was the year that we were fronting our pioneer class for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) national exam and it would be the first point of proof of our model of teaching. The pressure had been building up both from inside quarters and our neighbours on the outside. Despite our certainty on our academic model and the success of our students, we had no record to refer to, no priors to lean on and certainly no other school to check against given that we are the first school in Kenya and I dare say around the continent, that is at the forefront of delivering education differently. Therefore, when we scored a mean of 7.3 with about 70% of our candidates getting a direct entry to universities in Kenya and many others getting opportunities to study abroad, we celebrated to mark this and give thanks to God and all those who worked to support this success.

In addition, in line with our culture, we were also celebrating our most outstanding students from the 2019 school year across Form 1 – Form 3 who had exhibited remarkable growth in living out our 6 culture principles, outstanding sports and club members and exemplary academic achievement. This was a day full of colour and excitement as our alumni and their parents, as well as parents of our continuing students joined us for the celebrations. The atmosphere was full of vibrancy as the school community joined hands to celebrate our young men who proudly carry the Nova Pioneer banner as they scale to new heights. 

 

The Celebration

The prize giving day was set to start at 9:30am with all guests, parents, teachers and students settled at the event venue at the Tatu City Campus. If you were there you would think we were expecting His excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya, please don’t take my word for it, ask Sila, a non-Nova friend of the team who was working with us to prepare the ground… Those were his exact words. (Mr. President, if by any chance you get to read this, we would love to host you in our next Prize giving day as our guest of honor).

We kicked off the event with our National Anthem and thereafter, our East Africa Community Anthem, both being led by our scouts. This was a patriotic moment for me; watching and celebrating as the Nova Pioneer alumni young men begin to shape the Kenyan, African century. At that moment, I paused to consider just how lucky I was to be a part of this family and just how blessed our young men are to be at this time, in this generation, in this school, under this learning model. Our young men from the Christian Union then led us through a time of praising to thank God for all His faithfulness. This was another moment to think back and just lift our hands in utmost thanksgiving.

 

Thoughts from the Alumni

We were excited to have our unconditionally supportive parents join us for this event. They wore their smiles and came in numbers. The parking lot and the driveway was a beehive of activities. Our top ten candidates of the 2019 class also arrived in style; looking taller and more mature than when we last saw them. What pride this was for their teachers! They each had a story to tell of how they are already taking courses as they wait to join the university in the coming months. They also spoke about how they are fitting in well into the world systems as a result of the preparation they received during their time at Nova Pioneer, how the small things we used to sweat while they were still students are making a big impact in their everyday life!! It is impossible to have missed the air of confidence that they exuded in expressing their experience so far in what they call “the world out there”.

Our team of very capable teachers and of course the student body sharply dressed in honor of the day were extremely excited to be a part of this day. We were also graced by the presence of our former principal, Mr. Charles Tsuma, our Co-founder and Director, Mr. Chris Khaemba and our East Africa Managing Director Ms. K. Danae Pauli. Our Guest speaker was Mr. Nyambego, a father to one of our young men in Form 4. Mr. Nyambego is also a  Director at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and currently serves as the PTA treasurer at the boys school in Tatu City.  

 

Words of Wisdom

Mr. Nyambego’s speech was particularly encouraging to the young men as he shared his life story and how he grew to the position of director level at his current work place. The young men were surprised to learn that he has quite the humble background and it was out of sheer determination and hard work that he made it this far. His story depicted moments of struggle, triumph and hard decisions, all of which have made him to be who he is today. This brought home the aspects of our culture principles of always growing and joy of learning, as he had moments of learning from his mistakes. There were also aspects of high expectations portrayed by the way he let go of his first job, because he knew he could push himself to achieve more, aspects of servant leadership, when he started off at PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a trainer, serving others and aspects of solutions first when he had to make decisions and act on them to secure him a better future. He challenged the young men to take advantage of the many opportunities that they have at Nova Pioneer to shape their future. In his time, things were a little bit different, he said, and the enlightenment and support that students are getting at Nova Pioneer was far ahead from what he received during his time in school.

At Nova Pioneer, students get the 21st century classroom experience, engage in collaborative class work and projects, have a department in the school that is focused on helping them choose a career path (Post School Success team), teachers who are dedicated to their success and co-curricula activities that are intentional on bringing out their talents. In short, in this school, they are sure of advancement in character, capabilities and connections. Mr. Nyambego implored the students to make the most of what they have. He dared them to match their performance to the support they are receiving. He left them with the words of Collen Hlazo “When everyone is sitting, stand up! When everyone is standing, stand out! And when everyone is standing out, be the standard”.

 

Gratitude

Needless to say, the event was one that shall be etched in the minds of many Novaneers, for a long time. Given that this was our first of its kind, the standards, the joy, the pomp, the celebrations will only get bigger and better in years to come. 

It is always important to take a moment and celebrate each other and appreciate the efforts that everyone brings on the table to make our Nova Pioneer promise a reality every day, all day. The culture principle of Greater Together is one that carries a lot of weight when we consider all the strings that are pulled to make us the community that we are. The most enjoyable moment for the teachers was seeing their specific students being awarded. The student who made presentations was the greatest takeaway for most parents, especially the confidence with which they carried themselves. In addition to these, there was a resounding appreciation around the timeliness of activities and the evident organization of the entire event. 

Written by Brenda Ogutu (Dean of  Instruction & Learning at Nova Pioneer Boys’ High School – Tatu city).

Working with young people has allowed me the space to observe teenagers as they try to find their own bearings with regards to identity, friendships and values. 

I recall when I was a teenager, the journey of discovering myself did not always align with the vision that my parents had for me, and at times I would find myself in a bit of trouble. I was not the exception, this is the reality with many teenagers, especially as they transition to high school. 

Change can cause anxiety 

It’s natural for both students and parents to feel anxious about the transition process. Teachers encounter parents who go through different experiences every term and year as new students report to school. 

Surprisingly, most often than not, parents are more anxious about their child transitioning into High School than the students themselves and this feeling can be subconsciously transferred to the students and could manifest in a student feeling homesick.

Managing transitions well

Whether a student is joining a new school in the middle of the year or joining at the start of a new school year, this has an impact on both the parent and the student.

I believe parents know what is best for their children. Having said that, I would advise parents to also take the time to listen when children communicate their feelings about joining a boarding school. 

Here are some few pointers that could be helpful to assist your child in easing into a boarding school

1. Talk about it: Talk to your teen about how they feel, let them know that it is normal to be nervous, and other students will be feeling the same way. It might help to make a list of things they are looking forward to and the things they are worried about. Talk through any concerns and help your teen identify strategies to deal with them. It helps to also reassure them as they go through this process. 
2. Be Positive: If you are struggling with the idea of your teen going away, which is both normal and expected, try to stay positive and enthusiastic when speaking to them because some of these feelings will rub off on them. Teens are very perceptive when it comes to reading non-verbal cues from adults that is how they pick attitudes and learn. However, they are also very adaptable, and with support and time, most will grow to love the experiences at school.
3. Get organized: Involve them in preparing for school i.e. shopping, packing, picking items that will help in their transition (which are allowed to have in school like favorite blankets, shoes, etc.). You can start by sharing more information about the school they are about to join e.g by visiting the school’s website. This will give them a sense of familiarity to the new school and answer any questions they may have about their new school. Creating memorable experiences with your child as they prepare to leave for school is also important. Encourage them to take photos of these experiences as mementos from home too – they will be more comfortable and ready to learn if they feel at home while at boarding school.
4. Encourage Independence: At boarding school they will be responsible for organizing themselves and their things (perhaps for the first time). That responsibility begins at home – put them in charge of a few tasks, making the list of things they need to do such as, as making sure their clothes are labeled. Give them such responsibilities at home as well to help them get used to the idea of independence and responsibility.
5. Start making plans for keeping in contact: It is normal for teens to feel homesick when they go away for school, but it does not have to affect their learning. Knowing when you will be in contact helps, so make a plan keeping in mind the open channels of communication emails, calls and visits within the school bounds. They may want to make a calendar that you can do together with them. Keep your word, when this is done.
6. Encourage healthy learning habits: talk to your teen about the things they can do at boarding school to support their learning, like eating healthily, being active (participating in after school activities of their choice), balancing the two play and work, getting enough sleep.
7. Prepare for tough times: this is the most ignored of these steps, as mentioned in the beginning. Almost all teenagers will encounter problems, physical changes, feelings lost in subjects/activities. These are harder signs to pick up when you don’t spend time with your teen and get to see them every day. So ‘hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between’ (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings). 

 

Being a Dorm Father at Nova Pioneer Boys Tatu Campus has been a fulfilling experience. Seeing students join the school in January and watching their transformation and excitement in joining the after school activities. I can already tell that most of our teens are well adjusted and prepared for their journey. 

References:

https://www.learningpotential.gov.au/preparing-your-teen-for-boarding-school

 

Written by Fitch Kuri (Dorm Father, Nova Pioneer Boys’ High School)

 

On 9th December, Nova Pioneer ushered in a new dawn at the official opening of the Eldoret Campus. 

Ushered in by exhilarating traditional dancers, our chief guests PS Ministry of Education Belio Kipsang and the Governor of Uasin Gishu, Hon. Mandago, together with other distinguished guests including the Trans Nzoia Governor, Hon. Patrick Khaemba and world-renowned athlete Eliud Kipchoge, ceremoniously planted trees at the campus’ driveway to mark the new dawn for Nova Pioneer in Eldoret.

Keys to the campus were handed over to Nova Pioneer’s East Africa Managing Director, Danae Pauli, by the CPF Group Managing Director, Mr. Hosea Kili, marking the official handover of the campus from the contractors to the school’s management. 

Powerful speeches were delivered during the ceremony, and we were privileged to hear from two of our pioneer students from our Secondary Schools in Tatu City. The two students; Edel Cherono from Nova Pioneer Girls Secondary in Tatu City and George Chebii, one of our alumni students from Nova Pioneer in Tatu City, emphasized the impact Nova Pioneer has had on their lives. “I am ready to take on the world,” said George Chebii.

“The partnership between Laptrust and Nova Pioneer ensures that the school focuses its resources on its core strength; delivering world-class education to transform the lives of all students across its network. Laptrust, through the partnership, will enhance returns for its members and continue to ensure a healthy funding level for sustainability for the fund,” said Hosea Kili, County Pension Fund/ Laptrust CEO and Administrator during the ground-breaking ceremony.

The colorful ceremony was crowned by the cutting of a beautiful cake with the Moi University choir filling the auditorium with so much vivacity and cheer. 

In the spirit of High Expectations and Greater Together, we take this opportunity to welcome all Novaneers to make this world the place they wish to live in!

Above all, I must begin by saying Thank you. Not only have I been given the glorious honor of trauma, nausea and fear for the last few days and hours — as I prepared this address that has probably made me shed some weight—I have also been given, now as I squint at the words of my speech and take deep breaths, the privilege to address the World’s Largest and greatest pool of creatives, academics, playmakers, innovators and leaders ever to have existed in this universe—give yourselves a round of applause!

I have wracked my mind and run through all the tiny layers of my core as I sought out to find the right words that I ought to say to you today. I have since come to the conclusion that I might probably lose all of you to a trance as you reminisce about the great times that we shared and your moments together as graduates. Though if there is anything you should take away are these two words Desirable Difficulty.

On January 17th 2016 most, if not all of you took a risk, a ginormous risk. A risk to join the fairly new, unknown, unreputed Nova Academies. I like many of you had other agendas and goals to join the prominent schools that had often made history and that were well acquainted with ‘success’ as well as notable alumni.

Well, we all threw away that dream when we first put on our uniforms and reported to school that evening. Our school presented a vision that was easily sold to our parents but that may have readily made as sulk at the idea. Through the thunderclouds, a great opportunity to write our own legacies and break the shoulders of giants in a bid to stand on our own grounds was manifested.

That was the best choice and since then we have shaken the continent. In Form 1 with our very own ‘Class Calc’ or calculator Onesmus Muiru and Adrian Wanjau Being the best at our first ever ‘academic funkie’ The National Math Contest, followed by another great triumph that saw the Chemistry team in Form 3 lift the position three trophy at the National Chemistry Contest both events held at the Alliance Girls Highschool.

These achievements were just the beginning of our takeover. We absorbed 8-4-4 with a twist and saw our academic journeys take a leap, with highlights such as Bust-A-Nerve, Stag chat—by our very own now in your Android Play Store. 

Outside the classroom we were on another level. We had a story to tell.

The pitch was small, dusty unlevel, with little to no grass and to make matters worse we had the sacred cursed palm tree that saw most if not all our balls burst and even to this day I believe the ball Jason kicked is still at the top of the tree.

I remember the pains so vividly, we played basketball in the upper Dining hall, with only one post, the populations in soccer and rugby then saw many of us struggle for places in the school team. Surely after this we were set to conquer the world. I mean what can go wrong? /short pause/ Now ask your neighbor What Happened?!

Despite the persistence and determination. We were scared, we were not ready for the center stage. We lost dozens of times—the 6-0 defeat against Alliance in soccer, the rugby team getting destroyed time and time again and not forgetting swimming. Wow, imagine participating in swimming competitions with no swimming pool to train in.

Through the losses and difficulties experienced, we saw members of staff such as Mr. Wachira and Mr. Abucheri together with Coaches John and Kioko transform our ‘cerelac’ bodies into celestial championship beings with a thirst for victory. Today the hope is to see the likes of Calvince Kaunda and Andrew Jones swim for the Kenya Team, to see our very own at the NBA playoffs and even Dao and the pros battling it out in Homeboys, Sharks or even KCB. We dream of more plays at the Liverpool stadium and more signings to clubs all over the world. We can do it!

Above all the greatest takeaways are from the hearts that have been formed through the flames of difficulty and failure. That have shown us that we can grow that we can shine! 

This Class holds rappers, like Nigel and Alufwani, businessmen like Lonny  Irungu and Jeremy Muchina, Artists like Jameel Issa, Adrian Nderitu and Joseph Chege, who brought us the Agachi and Project N series of comics, Innovators and Inventors like Phillip Mburu and his team, Scientists like Blaise Nyange, Kimani Kamau and remarkable leaders like Branson Limo, Kuria Kasumba, Wahome Munyeria and the likes not forgetting Killian Rono, Naphtalie and even Arthur Kanai.

This class has all it takes to build the world.

We owe it to the almighty for giving us hearts of stone that have enabled us to endure difficulties in our journeys. We owe it to our extremely supportive and encouraging teachers that have prepared us well to face KCSE. We owe it to Jacob and his team, Christine and Sunford’s team in the Kitchen and Bwana Parmuya and Jacob in the dormitory for making school worth living and enjoying.

Let us now recognize that despite the difficulties coming to an end here in school, we now ought to search and hope for tougher choices to make, harder fights to win, more risks, more failures, and more chances and opportunities to prove ourselves fit for the job. Let us take the big risks, that they may scare us but that may allow us to break the limits that hold us. Because just like the phoenix we must burn to emerge.

May we embrace the friendships we have built over the years with our classmates, teachers, sub-ordinate staff and even our parents. We should be grateful. Let us take moments to recall highlights such as the bushes of Ondiri or the flight of stairs we had to climb every night with Mr. Ongera. Let us remember the Nova Tatu finals in Term 3 form 2, the devastating clearance, club boom. Mixed Church, the first time we did full papers. The opening of the swimming pool, IG’s Concert, KTN’s kubash on live TV, World Cup and Afcon and The great Sagana.

We have shaped this school Class of 2019 and are leaving behind a remarkable legacy. 

We must now recognize that it is difficulty and failure that give us a proper perspective on success—and that in order to enjoy the fruits, we must Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish!

Long live the Pioneers! 

Congratulations Class of 2019.

Speech delivered by Ryan Napo (Former student at Nova Pioneer Boys’ Secondary ) during the graduation ceremony in August 2019.

 

People are born with unique abilities. Take any two children, expose them to the same experience during their growth, there is a high likelihood that they will still turn out differently, regardless of the parameter you use to gauge their success.

Moving through the streets, I occasionally find myself looking at different people, with no particular bias, and cannot help but wonder what might have happened in their earlier lives that shaped how they turned out. Being an educator, I also ask myself what my contribution is towards how my students turn out.

Among many other issues, and subject to criticism, listed below are three opportunities where I think every one of us in an influential space can step up. For each of them, my challenge to anyone in the capacity to influence how a child becomes is to seek ways of empowering them so that we can see more of them grow up to be successful.

1.     Privilege

When a child is born into a privileged background, they get a head start in life than their peers from a less privileged background do not. This might look like one of those things easy to dismiss as fate. However, it is important to help students understand what privilege is and how to take advantage of it to develop their skills and knowledge. It becomes very unfortunate to see a child take for granted the privileges they have and let them pass for things they are entitled to.

 For the less privileged, it is important for any adult around them to help them understand and accept where they are in life and that they need to put in that extra effort to match up.

Most of the time, young people will want to compare themselves on the basis of constants, and then they end up depressed or lose hope in their efforts just because they see the same efforts work for their peers and not for them. This makes them form an opinion that probably they are the problem, while in the real sense the difference would simply be about the privilege that their peers might have that they don’t.

Privilege could make it easy for one student to connect with an influential person with the ability to shape the trajectory of their lives whereas another person would have to have strings pulled twice as hard to connect with the same person. Privilege is also the difference between that student that develops certain soft skills like effective communication and computer literacy naturally, through exposure and that other student that has to enroll into an institution and pay to acquire the same skills. You can guess what causes the difference between that student that goes through a system that allows them access to infrastructure that enables them to learn a concept by doing and the other that only learns the same concept in theory.  

2.     Enabling Education

Ever wondered how come students who have gone through the same curriculum still turn out differently after school? I have come to realize that it is less about what they learn and more about how they are taught.

 “A mind stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Most education systems teach students what to think instead of how to think. Structure is very important in any education system, however, those of us in the industry need to learn how to be more flexible to allow and encourage our students to experience the system while maintaining their uniqueness and develop in different ways.

This is, unfortunately, one of the most difficult things to achieve because we have made the system too rigid that any student we encounter who veers off from the norm is immediately labelled “struggling” or diagnosed with a learning disability.

Sometimes we as educators just shut down innovative learners simply because we know it is too much work. Too much work to walk by them through the wild goose chase. Too much work to walk them through a failing project just to allow them to learn from the failure. Too much work to differentiate instruction so as to get to every learner at their level of understanding.

My challenge to all educators is to make it a life mission to make a difference in their students’ lives at whatever level they can. Let us fuel their curiosity and stretch their minds to limits they could not imagine. This teaches them the necessary skills they would need even after school.

 

3.     Belief

Growing up is not the easiest thing to do. Especially for teenagers, when a lot is going on in a child’s world and there is a lot to process and figure out. This is a stage in a child’s development when they need a lot of support to get through.

What we, in influential spaces, need to do is be there when they fail and need encouragement. We can intentionally show interest in what they are passionate about and show them that we care. We need to make them see the great person we see in them. We can trust them more, even when they fall short of expectations, we can find compassionate ways of communicating to them and helping them earn back the trust and guard it. They need to see and feel that someone believes in their abilities and has some expectations of them. It is only then that they find purpose to be the best versions of themselves.

Every child needs a superhero. Be that superhero!

Written by Joseph Omondi, Senior Resident Teacher at Nova Pioneer Boys Secondary School – Tatu 

At Nova Pioneer, we believe that character is what sets individuals apart. With this in mind, we integrate character education into our daily school experience. Our students learn about self-discipline, taking initiative and being mindful, which are all important in building the future they want for themselves.

It is important that our students solve problems collaboratively and develop high levels of academic mastery. We prepare our students for the future by ensuring that they have the opportunity to work with other students from across the continent and around the world. We believe that leadership is a skill that each individual can develop, and we ensure ample opportunities for each student to craft and hone their personal leadership style. All students are challenged to be innovators and leaders in their own communities. With campuses in Athi River, Kiambu and soon opening in Eldoret, we are now reaching more students across the country.