The Start

Several years ago a few dedicated individuals, with the help of Loldia Primary school, established a bursary fund which sent eleven children to attend secondary school. The Loldia School Fund, a UK based charity, was set up in 2001 to continue and expand the work of the bursary fund, focusing on improving the quality of resources and education at the school and developing a scholarship programme to aid pupils through secondary education.

The Present

There are now approximately 1300 children between the ages of 6 and 17 attending Loldia Primary School. The numbers at the school    have doubled in the past four years following the introduction of free primary education by the Kenyan Government in 2003. Unfortunately this laudable action has not been accompanied by an increase in resources leaving many schools such as Loldia Struggling to cope.

The school has 13 qualified teaching staff and 12 junior assistant teachers under the headmaster Peter Njoroge. As in all of Kenya the primary school is divided into eight standards which in principle cover the ages 6 -13 years but in practise include many older children who have experienced a break in their education. The Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE is taken by all pupils in standard 8.

The school year starts in January and is divided into three terms – the holiday months being April, August and December. The school day starts at 7.30am and ends in the early to mid afternoon depending on which standard the children are in. Many of the children attending Loldia Primary School walk several miles to attend, all bring their own food and many have to work when they return home.

The rural location of the school means the vast majority of the pupils’ parents work on local farms or as subsistence farmers with very little income.

Loldia Nursery School

Until 2006 the nursery school was housed in a drafty wooden church with mud floors – the first experience of learning for Loldias youngest students, had always been inadequate. Therefore the opening of the newly purpose built block of three classrooms, complete with the appropriately sized furniture was a big event. Since the opening the number of pupils attending has grown and the Nursery school  now provides pre school education to approximately 250 children. The knock on benefits of this are already being felt in the main school.

The nursery school has a dedicated staff, some of whom are simultaneously receiving training and the Loldia School fund encourages graduating   scholars to return and help as assistant teachers helping them gain a further qualification for the future.

The Nursery now runs its own sports day once a year and as well as helping the children, the new facilities, complete with its own playing area,  for the younger members of the community has lifted morale within the village.

Adult Education

The School has an Adult Education Programme for parents some evenings during the week and at weekend there are remedial classes for those preparing for the public exams.

2007 saw our first class of adult students being presented with their literacy certificates.