School produces county's 4 stars

It was song and dance as the Kerugoya's Good Shepherd’s Academy fraternity celebrated excellent performance in this year’s KCPE examinations.

Teachers, parents and candidates waved placards on the Kutus-Kerugoya Road. The school's buses pimped up with the names of the best performing candidates, also snaked their ways through the streets, surrounded by excited teachers, pupils and the public.

Good Shepherd’s Academy recorded a mean score of 372, with Sheila Muthoni Nyaga scoring 426 of the possible 500 marks.

The school’s director John Mugo said the school took pride in girls’ performance, having produced the four of the Kirinyaga County's best.

The four girls, all who scored more than 400 marks, are Sheila Muthoni (426), Rimaiyo Kuiyanda (423), Abigael Kabura (422) and Kaisy Margaret (421). They were part of the crowd that celebrated the success in the town's streets.

The additions to the four champions were Alvin Muithi (415), Rita Waitherero (412), Effie Wanjiku (411), Tyra Wanjiru (410), Brian Kireru (409), Crispin Ngande (407), Edwin Ngumo (406), Philip Babu (405), Nicholas Mwai (405), Newton Githinji (403) and Ryan Munene (403).

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Others were Faith Wandia (403), Charles Mwangi (402), Mark Kagema (402), Adrian Odhiambo (402), Sweerbert Wambura (401), Shalom Muriuki (400), Lucy Mumbi (400) and Collins Ndung’u (400).

“I am very happy to announce that we have performed well. Having four girls leading in the county is something we cannot take for granted,” said Mr Mugo.

Flora Mwende, the mother to Sheila, who topped the school, said the discipline and commitment by teachers motivated her daughter. Up to 161 pupils did the KCPE examinations at the school.

Mugo said most of the boys were disadvantaged, as a number of the best-performing ones had chicken pox infection during the tests.

This year’s results were a slight drop from last year’s, where the school got a mean score of 374. The drop was recorded countrywide.

“Taking note that performance in the whole country was not very good, the pupils have done an excellent job. We are so proud of them,” said Mugo.

Teamwork

He attributed the good performance to the teamwork in the school.

“It has been teamwork for us all. Parents and teachers have been supportive. The teaching staff have particularly given their time to ensure the pupils perform well,” he said.

Observing the recommended teaching ratio of not more than 20 learners per teacher is a crucial element the administration has been keen on to ensure teachers are not overworked.

The school started in 2001 with 23 pupils and now has more than 600. The school is a mixed day and boarding institution.

Mugo said it had been a progressive growth since then, noting that even infrastructural development had been in tandem with the growth.

The school has consistently been part of the best three in the national examinations in the county.

 “The same year we started the school, we were position three in the whole district (now county),” he said.

At some point, the school topped the county for seven consecutive years and in 2007, Maurice Maganjo from Starehe Boys Centre became the top student in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.

A number of school’s alumni, he said, are in various career fields like engineering, medicine and accounting, with some studying in universities outside the country, some in Germany, the United States and Switzerland.

From the onset, Mugo says he was determined to offer a platform for pupils from Kirinyaga and outside to explore their academic potential.

Some pupils hail from as far as Mandera, Lamu and Tanzania.

Absorption of the new competency-based curriculum in the school has picked up in the lower classes of playgroup and nursery. The director attributes this to the regular assessment of teachers by local education officers.

The school will sponsor three of its 2019 KCPE candidates to secondary school. Mugo said the school has a special programme to support needy pupils by providing them with school fees and personal effects.

The management links up those who are needy but fail to benefit from the programme to sponsors within and outside the county.