Tag: junior certificate of education

Celebrating Success at Bright Futures Secondary School

Sarah’s blog 22/10/25

Celebrating success at Bright Futures Secondary school is becoming a tradition. All students in S3 had passed their national exams at the end of S2 – Junior Certificate of Education. They were given a party on Friday. Other students joined in at lunchtime but the S3 class were given the afternoon off and were free to continue celebrating and having fun.

Knowing that hard work and effort is celebrated at Bright Futures Secondary School helps to motivate the S1 and S2 students as they look forward to having a party to celebrate their success.

None of these young people have enough food at their homes. Most are orphans living with extended family. All are living in extreme poverty and have suffered trauma. None have money for school fees, new clothes or shoes, stationery or school lunches. That is all free at Bright Futures Secondary School, thanks to their sponsors.

So celebrating their achievements is important. Helping them feel valued is important. Raising their self-esteem is important. Nurturing them to be the best they can be is important. Counselling students and listening to them when they are struggling is important. Supporting these students holistically is important.

A student at Bright Futures Secondary School can expect more than just lessons and passing exams. They can expect support. They can expect understanding. They can expect encouragement. They can expect to be listened to. They can expect the best at Bright Futures Secondary School.

That’s why the staff at BFSS are far more than teachers. We are so grateful for the care and understanding they give to these vulnerable students who have been through so much already. These teachers can and do make a difference and their support and encouragement for the students in their care and the ethos of the school will give these vulnerable teenagers a much brighter future. They are positive role models for these students and we are pleased that they want to help students be the best that they can be.

There are still some new students in S1 who are waiting for a sponsor to help us support their education. Could you give the gift of education and help us continue Changing Lives (in) Malawi? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Celebrating success at Bright Futures Secondary School is important… and look at these smiles which are wonderful to see. Thank you for reading and supporting our work. We need you as part of the team supporting these vulnerable teenagers. Enjoy the photos and videos, Sarah x

We have some projects on fundraising site DonorSee for Bright Futures Secondary School. You can donate via the link or email us for bank details. https://donorsee.com/project/29095?share=1

International Day of the Girl Child
Fantastic fun was had by everyone!

100% pass rate at BFSS for S2 students in the 2025 exams!

Well done students at BFSS for 100% pass rate in JCE exams. We are so proud of each of you for passing your S2 exams!

Sarah’s blog 18/8/25

Some amazing news to share with you today. We have just heard that all of the S2 students at Bright Futures Secondary School have passed their national JCE exams. We are so proud of how hard they have worked and delighted for each of them.

Each of these students lives in extreme poverty. Most rely on their free school lunch as their only meal each day as there is not enough food at home. Many of them are orphans and live with extended family. All of them have the odds stacked against them achieving their goals.

In Malawi, secondary education needs to be paid for. None of these students would be in school if it wasn’t for the fact that they have each been matched with a sponsor who helps to support the costs of their education at Bright Futures Secondary School, which was built especially for these students who couldn’t afford to pay to go to one of the government secondary schools. Sponsorship is only £25 per month per student and you can sponsor a student as an individual, a group of friends or family or even through your business. We are looking for more sponsors for the new S1 students. If you would like to help then email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

At Bright Futures Secondary School, class sizes are much smaller than at other schools. Students receive all of the following for free: education, uniform, school bag, stationery, torch, toiletries and of course their lunch at school each day. The school uses a holistic approach as theses students need nurturing as well as educating. And look at the results…100% pass rate for the S2 students in their exams. You have all done brilliantly, against the odds, and worked so hard.

We would like to thank the teachers at Bright Futures Secondary School for their hard work and dedication to their students. Great team work everyone, and to Levison for leading the team, well done, another successful school year completed. Also to each of the sponsors, thank you for giving these young people a chance to succeed and shine. They wouldn’t have had the opportunity to study for and sit these exams without your support. Thank you so much, Sarah x

S2 students received new uniform and stationery before sitting their national exams. Well done all of you for passing your JCE (Junior Certificate of Education). We are so proud of your achievements.
Thank you to the sponsors for supporting these vulnerable students at BFSS. Thanks to you, and of course their teachers, they have all passed their S2 exams. They should each be very proud of themselves for all their hard work and dedication.

S2 Exams & Successful Grants

Sarah’s blog 3/6/24

The Malawi National Junior Certificate of Education exams start tomorrow. These are formal exams taken at the end of S2. Here are some of the S2 students at Bright Futures Secondary School. They’ve been to register and get their IDs today and Levison has given out more school uniform as they have 6 full days of exams to do and each student only had one white shirt.

They are thankful for their new water bottles and stationery they were given last week all of which will be very useful for them as they do their exams. I had bought a batch of water bottles, pens, pencils, erasers & sharpeners plus small bars of soap and toothbrushes and toothpaste. Each water bottle was filled with these gifts and Levison gave them out recently. As you can see, there were lots of happy students. Small gifts like these help to keep them motivated and let them know we are thinking about them. Good luck to the S2 students in their exams.

Almost every week I am writing grant applications in the hope of getting money that hundreds of other small charities are also applying for. Lots don’t reply. Some reply to say ‘sorry’ they have a large number of applicants etc etc. but this week has been an extremely good week as there have been three successful responses. Very many thanks to the following for supporting us to help support the orphans and vulnerable children in rural northern Malawi;

  1. The Gilchrist Trust gave £1,000 towards text books for the new S4 class at Bright Futures Secondary School that will be needed in September.
  2. CB & HH Taylor Trust donated £1,000 towards purchasing fruit tree saplings for a new School Orchard Project.
  3. The Souter Charitable Trust sent a cheque today for £3,000 for a solar panel kit for one of the new buildings and also solar lamps for students.

We are so grateful to individuals who support us and also organisations like the above who support our work and the work happening in Malawi.

We have also joined DonorSee where we are trying to reach out to a new audience. So far we have had three small projects fully funded which we are delighted about. There are some more projects that we have uploaded so, if you’d like to donate a small amount please create an account and login to donate. If you could leave us a review that would really help others to see and trust us. Thank you. https://donorsee.com/project/23641?share=1 is the link for the Chicken Project and the link to view all of the small projects we have on DonorSee just now is DonorSee .

We are still looking for sponsors to support these students who have just finished p8 at Chambo Primary. Unless they have someone to help pay for their secondary education, they will need to look for jobs in the fields as that is their education over. Will you be a sponsor please? It’s only £25 per month contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . Here is the link to a recent post with photos of all the students who need your help for a brighter future. Please help if you can. We always say it’s teamwork and we couldn’t do what we do without you. Thank you so much, Sarah x

Sponsors needed for p8 students