New school year, the very first year of upper senior school, and another year’s intake

It’s a huge year for the school as pupil numbers grow to 140 and the third year of lower secondary make the move to upper secondary. That means our subject base had to expand rapidly, as do the facilities needed to teach more in depth in areas like science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

We’ve had to recruit more teachers and our day to day running costs are going up. It also means we need to finish the work to fit out the latest classrooms built last year and then build the final four classrooms we need as part of finishing the buildings on the school roof. Last but not least we need adequate security for the roof to prevent intruders.

So we’ve lots more fundraising work to do now.

But looking back, when you see the size of the school, it’s remarkable what our sponsors, donors and supporters have enabled our dedicated Kenya school team to achieve.

Thank you all so much! And if you haven’t already joined us, we warmly invite you to become part of this mission to alleviate poverty through the power of education.

There’s lots of information that follows, about the kids, and about everything that’s happened at the school since the turn of the year. You can read about it in more detail here.

Welcome to this year’s new grade 7 learners

As the school’s reputation grows, so do the number of applicants every year. We had nearly 200 children applying to join us, from whom we shortlisted 97 for interview and assessment. That was followed as always by home visits to make sure your support goes out to those most in need.

For the 35 lucky children accepted for 2026 we realise it’s a dream come true. As always, it’s 50:50 boys and girls (not quite with an odd number). With your generous support we can do amazing things for these children and the wider community.

Let’s meet some of the children your help is going to transform

Magret Agatha – A story of strength and hope

Magret lost her father to a chronic illness, now her mother, who lives with serious health challenges and often cannot work, is left to raise three children. When mum can’t work, the kids go hungry. Home is one room, a single mattress, basic utensils and a traditional stove.

Yet Magret dreams of becoming a doctor, helping others. Now she has a chance.

Heyden – who wants to become an engineer

Heyden is bright, thoughtful and softly spoken, with huge determination to succeed. A total orphan, he never had the chance to know his father and his mother died while he was at primary school. The school stepped in to care for him through sponsorship until he completed primary education. Finally a distant relative came forward and agreed to raise him. Yet his guardian has his own challenges, he struggles to make a living and to provide food and shelter.

Heyden dreams of becoming a marine engineer, to support himself and his family.

Sore legs and sore nether regions – all for a great cause

We never underestimate how far people will go to help the school and the students. In terms of effort, and pain, this story is the toughest from the last few months. Claudia and Amelia from DTRE raised an amazing sum of over £5,000 for the safehouses and the school by cycling all the way from London to Amsterdam. That means they cycled over 300 miles, or over 500 kilometres. Holland may be flat but it’s still a long way.

They had some fun along the route, but that’s a long way to cycle and a huge effort. Thank you so much.

What might you be able to do to raise funds for our deserving students?

Big or small, every little helps.

New school year, new teachers, a safehouse mother, and a new chef

With a new upper secondary school syllabus we have recruited four new teachers to strengthen STEM, information and and communication technology (ICT), agriculture, and home science.

Joylyne is a passionate STEM educator with an outstanding academic record and a love of sports. She is passionate about inspiring girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths. Emmanuel specialises in biology, agriculture and home science, as well as bringing energy to sports and music. He also supports boys through guidance and counselling, offering mentorship and encouragement.

Michina teaches Kiswahili and geography. He is sporty at heart and coaches volleyball, using sport to build teamwork, resilience, discipline and confidence. Collins joins us on a part-time basis, bringing experience teaching in national schools across the country. He teaches ICT and computer studies.

Joseph, our new chef, brings a lot of passion to providing our kids with the maximum nutrition and enjoyment in their food, all on a budget. Beatrice is our safehouse mother. She brings maturity, compassion and years of experience working with vulnerable children, youth and women. As a widow she raised her three children through university, no small matter when you’re not wealthy in Kenya.

We also have Catherine who has joined us for her teaching practice as she takes a bachelor’s degree in education, and Rukia who has joined our admin team for three months as she takes a diploma in secretarial studies.

The senior secondary school is now underway

After sitting for their national exams at the end of 2025, it was time to move on to grade 10 for the students who were the very first intake for the Bombolulu Educational Centre back in 2023.They broke new ground when they started junior secondary school, now they broke new ground again as they started senior secondary school.

They were allowed to choose subjects allied to their career aspirations, with input from teachers and parents, and considering their overall performance in junior secondary.

Getting the new upper school licence means undergoing rigorous ministry of education assessment, sometimes at relatively short notice. Our school manager Nancy and the team had to put a huge amount of effort in to get this approval.

Now we still have to finish building and fitting out the last classrooms to keep the licence in place, and that means we need to raise more funds.

We now have a library

We’ve been given books in the past from various generous sources, now we have a library so we can be far more organised. For most of our children there are no books at home, definitely no TV. Access to books, information and stories opens up a wider world and nurtures curiosity to learn outside the school curriculum.

This was a team effort, a hands-on practical project for our staff and the students. Our thanks go again to the Rotary Club of Bedford and District, helped by a Rotary district grant to make this possible.

A modern science laboratory for STEM students

As the final element of getting the licence to operate the senior school, we were given strict requirements for the standard required for the science lab. It was a case of “gulp”, as we had no choice but to raise £10,500 within one month to get all the equipment and have it installed and working. With the amazing help of the Rotary Club of Bedford and other generous donors we were able to make this vital project possible.

It’s a super facility for the students at the school, and we can make it available for other relevant schools to use as part of our commitment to the community. It’s well equipped, it looks smart and it will be well looked after for years to come.

And we have clean water

Great thanks must go to Ben Clay, one of our Kenyan trustees, Freight Forwarders Kenya, Davis & Shirtliff and Denise West who made it possible for us to install a reverse osmosis water purification plant. This means the school can now purify its own borehole water, so it is safe for children and the staff to drink. This will improve health and save money.

We had a female engineer help to install the system, and she spoke to the children, and many of the girls, about engineering as a career. That’s widened the thinking of many of our female students about what is possible for them when their education finishes.

We’re on our way for solar power

In the developed world we take electricity supply mostly for granted. At our school electricity outages are an all too regular occurrence, and they severely disrupt daily school operations.

We’ve been lucky enough to have had solar panels donated, via our partners DTRE, and they will be shipped to Kenya later this year. So we’re looking forward to lower costs, a greener footprint and much reduced disruption.

The boys have a safehouse now

Our safehouse for girls has been a great success, but it has been obvious for a while that we needed a similar facility for boys. So we’re very pleased that we now have 4 very happy boys in place in a new safehouse home. There are 9 girls in their home now, with one spare space left for emergencies. Many thanks go to our supporters who specifically donate to allow us to provide this refuge for some of our students.

There’s something about debating

Our debating club is thriving, and we’ve had some notable success in inter school competitions. This time it was our students Rosekie and Jacob who shone in the Rotary Coast Inter School Oratory Competition in March, where they competed alongside peers from secondary schools across Mombasa County.

New school uniforms – we have more students and they all keep growing

Providing new uniforms so the students look smart and can take pride in their appearance has a big impact in so many ways. The parents and guardians of our teachers struggle to provide the basics for their children for day-to-day life, let alone for education. Providing free school uniforms stretches our budgets but it means so much to our children.

It was time for new uniforms for our grade 7 and grade 10 students, and we were helped by Your Smalls Appeal, a UK based charity, whose donation made this possible.

Innovation at the competition at the County Science and Engineering Fair

Our junior secondary students, guided by teacher Emmanuel and the STEM teaching team, showcased their poultry egg incubator. Meanwhile the senior secondary students invented and made a carbon purifier. Both got recognition and plenty of applause on stage. It’s great to see the students pushing their creativity and practical skills. And well done to teacher Emmanuel who was selected as a judge for the competition.

Our students and teachers love sports

We’re really proud that the school came first out of 10 schools in the recent athletics local cluster level event. We followed that up with 22 students taking part at the sub county level, with half of them qualifying for the county level event. Finally our student Sheryl made it to the regional level event. They did well across 100m, 200m, 400m and relay races, as well as long and mixed race events. They also had success in field events like discus, javelin and triple jump.

We’re always pleased to see visitors to the school

We were delighted when Lucy Mitchell from DTRE visited the school together with her family. We had formed a partnership with DTRE, a UK based property specialist company, and we’re so grateful for all the help and support we’ve received from them and so many of the team.

Lucy and her family had a chance to tour the school, visited the safehouses, met the kids and were entertained with song and dance.

In February Mrs Nicola and her family visited the school, and with her two boys being almost the same age as our older students there was some great interaction.

In the same month, Ben Clay, one of our Kenyan trustees, visited the school. Ben obviously spent time with the kids and teachers. His experience as a former teacher and success in a corporate career helped promote discussions around student welfare and sustainability measures. He’s a great help to the management of the school.

Vital security is a large part of the next step

Once the building of the roof is finished, the four remaining classrooms will be added, meaning the senior secondary school facilities will be complete, except for security.

With the adjacent tall apartment blocks on either side of the school giving easy access to the roof, we desperately need to erect security fencing around the entire perimeter of the roof. This is essential to protect the children and to prevent easy access to the school generally. Proper inward facing fencing will prevent theft of the solar panels.

The challenge is to raise a further £10,000 to make the school safe.

Our huge thanks must go to the TBF Thompson Trust and Henry Brothers, both of Northern Ireland, helping us to raise £25,000 to install the new roof. The thought behind their support means the world to our fundraisers.

And finally, thank you and well done

As always, thanks to all our donors, sponsors, volunteers, trustees and supporters, without you there would be no school and no hope for many of our kids. But thanks must also go to our team in Kenya, they work long hours and go way above and beyond, and it’s not always easy. Finally, well done to our students, we hope and pray your hard work will be rewarded with career opportunities that will provide a better life for you, your families and community.

If you want the full story of what’s been happening at the school, you can find more detail here in the full newsletter.