KCPE/KCSE Fees Needed!

Kenya requires students to take cumulative examinations in order to receive certificates of completion for both primary and secondary school at the end of 8th grade and at the end of high school.  Obtaining these certifications is critical to the future success of our GPS and WHS students.  Achieving a certain KCPE (Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education) exam score is required for Standard 8 students to gain admission to secondary school while scores on the KCSE (Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education) exam determine university admissions for Form 4 students.  For those Form 4 students unable to continue on to university, obtaining the KCSE can mean the difference between a decent job or admission to trade school and struggling to make ends meet in the slums. 

Despite the importance of the KCPE and KCSE, the fees for these exams are extremely high compared to typical incomes.  The 2014 KCSE exam fee is $85 per student, while the KCPE is $9.25 per student.  While GPS and WHS parents are expected to contribute as much as they are able, these fees are simply out of reach for most of our families.  Therefore, each year we have a drive to raise as much as possible toward these exam fees.

Fanuel reports that we have 90 Form 4 candidates for the 2014 KCSE exam and 100 Standard 8 candidates for the KCPE exam.  We have $2191 set aside toward the KCSE exam through our WHS sponsorship program ($3 is set aside per WHS sponsorship per month toward the fee).  We have also had a little over $400.00 donated by sponsors, for a total of $2593.50. This amount will cover fees for 30 of the 90 graduating seniors. We do not have funds set aside for the KCPE exam fees, but have collected $58.50 toward those fees.

We need your help in ensuring more students are able to take these important exams.  Please consider donating to our exam funds to help our Standard 8 and Form 4 students achieve their dreams!  You can donate to either fund by clicking the “Donate” button to the right of this post and specifying “KCSE or KCPE fund” in the box marked “purpose.”  Any amount is welcome.

For more information please contact info@plantabook.org.

~submitted by Brooke

KCPE Results and Term 3 Grades Are In

 

KCPE Results

Results for the KCPE (Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education) Exam taken in November by our Standard 8 students have been released!  Sponsors can find results for their sponsored children under the “Files” section of the private Yahoo Group (just click “GPS End of Term and Exam Results – 2013 KCPE Results”). The highest scoring sponsored student at Galilee Primary School was Victoria, with a score of 386. 

Her sponsor, Anette, writes:  "Wow, I am so happy for Victoria! Her hard work and aspiration made her hit her goal.  My heartfelt congratulations to Victoria and the teachers and school, who altogether made that success possible!"

We are all proud of Victoria!  A student’s score on the KCPE determines whether he or she is eligible for admission to secondary school.  Students can earn a maximum 500 marks on the exam.    For reference, the Kenyan government reports that 49.71% of Kenyan students nationally achieved the mean socre of 250 marks.  The highest score achieved by any student in Kenya was 444 marks. 

Waddington High School requires a minimum KCPE score of 240 marks for admission.  Therefore, GPS students who have achieved this minimum score will be moving into Form 1 at WHS this month.  GPS students scoring less than 240 points on the KCPE are invited to repeat Standard 8 this year and retake the exam at the end of 2014.  Repeating Standard 8 is not uncommon in Kenya.

Term 3 Grades

We have also received Term 3 grades for both GPS and WHS students.  Sponsors can find grades for their sponsored children under the “Files” section of the private Yahoo Group.  Grades for GPS students are listed under “GPS End of Term and Exam Results – GPS 3^rd Term Results” and grades for WHS students are listed under “LWHS Exam Results – 2013 F1/2/3 3^rd Term Results.” 

Still Waiting on KCSE Results

Please note that we are still waiting for results from the Kenyan Government for the KCSE (Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education) Exam.  Therefore, there are no grades currently listed for WHS Form 4 students.  We will update you as soon as scores for the sponsored Form 4 children are available.

Writing to Your Sponsored Child

When writing your next letter to your sponsored child, you may want to take the opportunity to comment on their academic performance.  If they have done well, congratulate them on their success.  If they have shown improvement, tell them that you are proud of their efforts.  If they failed to pass the KCPE Exam or there has been a dip in their grades, encourage them to focus on their studies and let them know that you believe in them.  The words of a sponsor can have a great motivating effect on our Nairobi Kids, so please reach out and encourage them to achieve their personal best!

Please contact info@plantabook.org for more information or help locating test scores or grades for your sponsored child.

~submitted by Brooke

Our Choirs Have Done It Again!

Hi,

It is another happy day for us all here at Galilee. Our GPS  and WHS  choirs have done it again, GPS choir  scooped the top first places in the three classes they participated and WHS won in one of the two classes the participated. In one of the classes GPS won we are now going to keep the trophy for  good being that we have won it three consecutive years. If we had the funds we would have taken them to National music competition in Nakuru  which will be taking place  from 27th  July but since we cannot afford it we shall let it rest there until next year again.

I'm happy to hear reports about sponsors receiving  letters from their sponsored children, in the meantime our form 4 are finishing their  mocks.... Thank you again  for the big efforts you made in raising funds for the land, we shall be sealing the transaction  of the land on Monday next week.

 

Thank you

God bless

FANUEL

 

Message from School Director Fanuel

Hello,

I hope this finds you and your families  fine. Here we are all fine and working hard towards preparing our KCPE  and KCSE candidates .

We have just come to the mid of this term, our WHS students in form one to three have just finished their mid-term  exams. Our form four students are sitting for their KCSE mocks exams starting this Monday. They will be doing the mocks for the next two weeks. Just like the final KCSE exams the kids sit for all the papers as well as practical papers in science subjects. Our class 8 pupils just finished their mid-term exams and teachers are busy marking probably in the next few days the results will be out.

The new government policy today has drastically changed the way the prefect body is formed in all schools and thus they have introduced an election method. Students interested in being prefects offer themselves election. We just did our prefect election and now we have new prefect body with Henry Otakwa as the head boy and Celestine Oyombe as the head girl. And also prefects in all other department. The students are very happy about the new method of selection and they feel the elected group is a representation of what they wanted.

Music competition has started in the earnest. GPS children went for their first stage of competition and they emerged top in all the music classes they entered. They will be going for the second stage earlier next month. There are all possibilities that they might be able to advance to the National music competition which will be held in Nakuru this year. Due to the costs involved we shall not afford to take part in the national music competition but we shall try our level best to compete here in Nairobi.

The same is happening for WHS. They are yet to compete but for them they compete only at one stage (provincial) before going for the nationals. Like GPS we are only going to take part in competition in Nairobi whether they advance or not we shall not be able to afford to take them to Nakuru for National competition. Being competition that our schools do very well kids are always happy to take part.

Thank you

FANUEL