Sarah’s blog 18/12/22
Yesterday was a HUGE day for Bright Futures Secondary School, for Levison and his team and for us. The school inspectors visited.
There are very strict guidelines to be met when a school is being built and opened, especially for privately run schools like Bright Futures Secondary School. Classrooms need to be at least a certain size, desks have to be bigger than a minimum size, there have to be enough text books, latrines etc etc. So yesterday it was time for Bright Futures Secondary School to be put to the test.
The inspectors arrived in the afternoon and spent about three hours in total. Mr Soko, the senior inspector and Mr Mwangupili met with Mr Levison Mlambya, Director at The Foundation and Miss Mtambo, Head Teacher of Bright Futures Secondary School. The outcome of the meeting was really important for the future of the school.
During the visit the inspectors looked at everything; teachers certificates, timetables, after school activities and other documents. They counted each text book. They looked at the classrooms, the desks and chairs, the science equipment, the latrines, teachers staffroom, clean water supply – the list goes on – they were very thorough.
Mr Soko and Mr Mwangupili couldn’t believe that the school had such lovely chairs. They also were amazed at the huge selection of books in the library and said how lucky the children are to have access to a library like that.
The new polytunnel that is a project of the agriculture classes got great praise and the inspectors were able to see that a wide variety of skills are being taught as well as the full curriculum.
Once the inspectors had ticked everything off their list they saw that there was still a big building that they hadn’t visited. They asked Levison what it was and he took them to see the shower block. They were absolutely delighted that the children had access to proper showers and private changing facilities.
The very, very good news is that the school passed the inspection with great marks. BRIGHT FUTURES SECONDARY SCHOOL IS NOW A REGISTERED SCHOOL IN MALAWI. This is an amazing achievement and we are so grateful for everyone who has helped us towards this goal.
As I keep saying, our charity is run by a small group of dedicated volunteers and no money is spent on admin and there are no salaries to pay. All of the money we receive goes to the projects we support. The fact that a secondary school was desperately needed and such a big project we knew we would have to build it in phases due to there being no reserves of money here or in Malawi. With your help, phase 1 of Bright Futures Secondary School has been completed and opened. Students are having opportunities that they previously would not have had.
Whilst the inspectors were delighted with everything they saw yesterday, we knew there would be recommendations going forward. Their first recommendations are for classrooms 3 & 4 to be built in order that students have continuity and can progress in their education at Bright Futures Secondary School. They also asked for more latrines to be built as student numbers increase. Thirdly, they were very pleased to see the science equipment but, as we knew, more needs to be bought to cover the whole curriculum.
Thank you so much to Mr Soko and Mr Mwangupili for such a thorough inspection and the very positive feedback. We are delighted that you are delighted with Bright Futures Secondary School. We are committed to ensuring that the school provides high quality teaching and a wide range of learning experiences. So our hard work and determination continues with fundraising for classrooms 3 & 4, latrines and science equipment. The two classrooms that have just been built worked out at approximately £10,000 each. New latrines will be approximately £3,000 in total, science equipment £2,000, desks £2,000 and textbooks £3,000. Thankfully, The Bananabox Trust supported us to send enough chairs for the next two classrooms.
In total £30,000 is required for phase 2 of Bright Futures Secondary School. It’s a massive amount but with your help and a huge amount of hard work we can achieve this to change lives in Malawi and give the children a much brighter future. Thank you so much for reading and supporting us, Sarah x
https://gofund.me/44a92444 contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
