All other children in the Humanist Schools gained a creditable grade 2. Whereas 42% of primary children across Uganda gained lower grades 3, 4 or fail, none of the children in these new Humanist Primaries did.
Results in the new Humanist primary schools are quite remarkable.
It was Katumba Parents Humanist Primary School’s first year after being rebuilt with UHST funds on a drier and safer site. Decent buildings, higher staff morale from regular pay, and books to help children to learn, have generated outstanding results, which is even more remarkable in a remote, rural school whose community has been afflicted by floods, landslides low cocoa prices and receiving an unstoppable inflow of refugees from the Congo.
8 children (3 girls and 5 boys) gained grade 1, which has made them eligible to apply for a limited supply of UHST funded scholarships to attend a Humanist secondary school. The Ethical Society of St Louis raised funds for the 3 Katumba girls to move to Isaac Newton for their secondary schooling, and two UHST supporters provided an extra scholarship to enable the best performing boy to go to the school. Mustard Seed School allocated 3 of their UHST scholarships to Katumba boys. However, we have so far failed to find sponsors to provide scholarships for 5 other high-achieving children from Katumba, who wish to pursue their studies at one of the Humanist High Schools.
Maliba celebrating with her mother Joy Mutoro
Successful boys and girls at Katuma Parents Humanist Primary School
Mustard Seed Humanist Primary School had been run by a Muslim foundation up to the end of 2021, so has only operated as a Humanist School for less than a year. UHST has funded major renovation work at the school and provided books. After a short period as a Humanist school, 3 out of 14 children (21%) gained grade 1s, when none had done so in the former school. The school offers hope of a better education for future cohorts of children.
Isaac Newton Humanist Primary School showed the biggest turn around in fortunes. When running as an Evangelical Christian school up to 2021, school performance was poor and grade 1s unknown. In its first year as a Humanist School the site was given a major overhaul and books were bought for the school. Enrolment increased dramatically and Primary 7 children thrived. Of the 12 children entered for the PLE, 7 gained grade 1 (58%) and the remaining 5 gained good grade 2s.
All successful children from the Mustard Seed and Isaac Newton Humanist Primary Schools will be moving on to their respective high schools. Our hope is that they will continue their exciting life’s journey and become accomplished and free-thinking young people who can create a good life for themselves, for their families and for the wider community.
* At age 12 in Uganda, top primary children take a Primary Leaving Examination. This is a national exam taken by all primary leavers in Uganda. The exam has 4 pass grades (1 to 4) and fail.
Before the start of the new school year, staff at each of the Humanist Schools currently supported by UHST, came together for Humanist Ethos workshops. These convivial workshops reminded staff of the Humanist principles underpinning the schools and the implications for teaching, learning and general conduct.
Mustard Seed teachers take a break at their Humanist Ethos Workshop
Since Covid struck in February 2020 schooling has been disrupted. When the focus is on survival, it is easy to forget the longer-term aims of a school. Our plans to bring together representatives from all 15 Humanist schools in Uganda in a 3rd Humanist School Conference in January had to be postponed again. This time by an Ebola outbreak which closed schools and led to movement restrictions. Many schools had lost staff during Covid and new staff had to be recruited who knew nothing of Humanism and its implications for schooling.
At the workshop teachers were reminded of the Guidance not Violence approach to school behaviour management. Physical and verbal violence are not tolerated among students and staff in Humanist schools. Yet, teachers need to be made aware of alternative ways to ensure appropriate conduct. Each school operates a democratic system of consultation through class prefects, house representatives and a student-staff council. Grievances can be aired and dealt with through discussion, empathy and counselling. Each school has a Humanist Counsellor, who plays a pivotal role and parents and families are consulted in particularly difficult cases.
A fundamental aim of Humanist Schools is to empower children to become questioning and free-thinking individuals. This has implications for teaching and learning. The new Uganda national curriculum has brought a very welcome shift away from knowledge-based examinations, which encouraged learning by rôte. The new competency-based curriculum requires children to conduct enquiries in groups and to evaluate and synthesise information from different sources. This change fits in well with the Humanist Schools, which do their best to encourage children to be sceptical of received wisdom, to have a questioning approach, to make up their own minds in the light of the current state of knowledge and to be prepared to change their minds when contradictory evidence comes to light.
To support this approach, UHST is supporting teachers and learners by increasing book provision, creating Library & Information Centres and learning spaces, and expanding computer provision and access to the internet. The schools are set to become even more vibrant places as the new curriculum moves up the schools from Senior 1.
Towards the end of her life, Lily van Haelen charged her children with the task of finding a worthy Humanist project in Africa, to be the recipient of a legacy from her will. The family worked hard to find a fitting tribute to their mother. They approached and rejected several orphanages and schools in South Africa, concerned that money might leak into private pockets. Eventually, they came to Uganda Humanist Schools Trust. I was invited to the home of her son, Laurence Paltiel, in Bedfordshire. After many searching questions, Laurence was keen to explore the possibility of supporting a project at Isaac Newton Humanist High School. The school fitted the family’s needs perfectly. Its mission was to provide inclusive education based on reason, compassion and tolerance to children in the impoverished rural community of Kateera village, in Masaka District. The school was a registered not-for-profit organisation, had ring-fenced bank accounts and published transparent, audited accounts. What is more, it had an urgent project that coincided with the wishes of the family.
This was in 2010 when the HIV/AIDS epidemic was raging. Working-age people were dying and leaving single and double orphan children, many of whom became victims of forced labour. Orphan girls were prey to sexual abuse. Peter Kisirinya, the school’s Director, identified an urgent need to build a girls’ hostel to provide a safe place for orphan and other girls from destitute families to live and learn in the safety of a caring school community. As soon as Lily van Haelen’s family learned of the situation, they asked us to prepare plans and cost estimates for a hostel to house the girls. I made another trip to Bedfordshire to show them the plans. A younger family member flew to Uganda to visit the school, meet Peter Kisirinya and see the site of the hostel. Thoroughly reassured, they gave a green light to proceed.
Peter asked an architect friend to draw up plans. However, there were hardly any builders in the area with experience of constructing a building of this size and it proved impossible to obtain competitive quotations. Peter went to the one local builder, reached an understanding with him and gave him the job. Work started in February 2011 and was finished by the end of the year. The final cost was £24,000. This was 15% over budget, but the building was bigger than the original plans. It has 8 family rooms, each with 9 girls, a room for the matron, washrooms, 2 showers, toilets and an ironing room.
Girls delighted with their new home in the Lily van Haelen Hostel
At the formal opening in 2012 the hostel was named the “Lily van Haelen Hostel”. In the 11 years since it was built, the hostel has transformed the lives of many girls. They have escaped the challenges of life in the rural homesteads with long walks to school. They have been given a safe place to sleep, been well fed, given access to health care and facilities for study and leisure in the evenings and at weekends. Time has demonstrated that these girls from destitute backgrounds, once given the right conditions, can outperform their better off peers, who attend the school as day students. The hostel has been a huge success*, both socially and educationally, and it has been a fitting and lasting memorial to the life of the benefactor, Lily van Haelen. The school and the girls are enormously grateful for the bequest that made this possible. If you think you might be interested in leaving your own life-enhancing bequest, then you can find information here: https://ugandahumanistschoolstrust.org/donate/making-a-bequest/.
Hostel Refurbishment with help from the Rationalist Union, Italy
To enable the Lily van Haelen Hostel to continue serving future generations of girls from Kateera it is now in need of refurbishment. After 11 years of continuous use, the Hostel is beginning to look shabby. Holes have developed in the concrete floors and damage to walls, windows and doors need to be repaired. Additionally, the school would like to fit ceilings in each family room to prevent mosquitoes from carrying pathogens, such as malaria, between girls in different rooms. The whole building needs repainting, using anti-mosquito paint on the interior surfaces.
We are delighted to announce that our friends in the Union of Rational Atheists & Agnostics of Italy have come to the aid of the girls of Kateera. They have responded to the UHST 2022 Appeal with sufficient funds to cover the refurbishment of the hostel. The Funds have been transferred to the school and work will start immediately so that, when the girls return to school in February, it will be finished. The girls will be delighted to find a transformed hostel. They will appreciate this kind help from the Rationalist Union of Italy, which will extend the life of the original legacy for many years to come.
*An indicator of the success of boarding provision for girls was demonstrated during Covid. Schools in Uganda were closed for long periods and students sent home. During the time that Isaac Newton girls were at home, 4 became pregnant, yet pregnancies are almost unknown when the school is running. In contrast to religious schools, which blame the immorality of girls for pregnancy and expel them from school, Isaac Newton and our other Humanist Schools do their best to help the girls to return to school to complete their education once they have had their babies.
Posted: February 22, 2023 by Steve Hurd
New Humanist Primary Schools make a promising start
All other children in the Humanist Schools gained a creditable grade 2. Whereas 42% of primary children across Uganda gained lower grades 3, 4 or fail, none of the children in these new Humanist Primaries did.
Results in the new Humanist primary schools are quite remarkable.
It was Katumba Parents Humanist Primary School’s first year after being rebuilt with UHST funds on a drier and safer site. Decent buildings, higher staff morale from regular pay, and books to help children to learn, have generated outstanding results, which is even more remarkable in a remote, rural school whose community has been afflicted by floods, landslides low cocoa prices and receiving an unstoppable inflow of refugees from the Congo.
8 children (3 girls and 5 boys) gained grade 1, which has made them eligible to apply for a limited supply of UHST funded scholarships to attend a Humanist secondary school. The Ethical Society of St Louis raised funds for the 3 Katumba girls to move to Isaac Newton for their secondary schooling, and two UHST supporters provided an extra scholarship to enable the best performing boy to go to the school. Mustard Seed School allocated 3 of their UHST scholarships to Katumba boys. However, we have so far failed to find sponsors to provide scholarships for 5 other high-achieving children from Katumba, who wish to pursue their studies at one of the Humanist High Schools.
Mustard Seed Humanist Primary School had been run by a Muslim foundation up to the end of 2021, so has only operated as a Humanist School for less than a year. UHST has funded major renovation work at the school and provided books. After a short period as a Humanist school, 3 out of 14 children (21%) gained grade 1s, when none had done so in the former school. The school offers hope of a better education for future cohorts of children.
Isaac Newton Humanist Primary School showed the biggest turn around in fortunes. When running as an Evangelical Christian school up to 2021, school performance was poor and grade 1s unknown. In its first year as a Humanist School the site was given a major overhaul and books were bought for the school. Enrolment increased dramatically and Primary 7 children thrived. Of the 12 children entered for the PLE, 7 gained grade 1 (58%) and the remaining 5 gained good grade 2s.
All successful children from the Mustard Seed and Isaac Newton Humanist Primary Schools will be moving on to their respective high schools. Our hope is that they will continue their exciting life’s journey and become accomplished and free-thinking young people who can create a good life for themselves, for their families and for the wider community.
* At age 12 in Uganda, top primary children take a Primary Leaving Examination. This is a national exam taken by all primary leavers in Uganda. The exam has 4 pass grades (1 to 4) and fail.
Posted: February 22, 2023 by Steve Hurd
Schools refresh Humanist Vision
Before the start of the new school year, staff at each of the Humanist Schools currently supported by UHST, came together for Humanist Ethos workshops. These convivial workshops reminded staff of the Humanist principles underpinning the schools and the implications for teaching, learning and general conduct.
Since Covid struck in February 2020 schooling has been disrupted. When the focus is on survival, it is easy to forget the longer-term aims of a school. Our plans to bring together representatives from all 15 Humanist schools in Uganda in a 3rd Humanist School Conference in January had to be postponed again. This time by an Ebola outbreak which closed schools and led to movement restrictions. Many schools had lost staff during Covid and new staff had to be recruited who knew nothing of Humanism and its implications for schooling.
At the workshop teachers were reminded of the Guidance not Violence approach to school behaviour management. Physical and verbal violence are not tolerated among students and staff in Humanist schools. Yet, teachers need to be made aware of alternative ways to ensure appropriate conduct. Each school operates a democratic system of consultation through class prefects, house representatives and a student-staff council. Grievances can be aired and dealt with through discussion, empathy and counselling. Each school has a Humanist Counsellor, who plays a pivotal role and parents and families are consulted in particularly difficult cases.
A fundamental aim of Humanist Schools is to empower children to become questioning and free-thinking individuals. This has implications for teaching and learning. The new Uganda national curriculum has brought a very welcome shift away from knowledge-based examinations, which encouraged learning by rôte. The new competency-based curriculum requires children to conduct enquiries in groups and to evaluate and synthesise information from different sources. This change fits in well with the Humanist Schools, which do their best to encourage children to be sceptical of received wisdom, to have a questioning approach, to make up their own minds in the light of the current state of knowledge and to be prepared to change their minds when contradictory evidence comes to light.
To support this approach, UHST is supporting teachers and learners by increasing book provision, creating Library & Information Centres and learning spaces, and expanding computer provision and access to the internet. The schools are set to become even more vibrant places as the new curriculum moves up the schools from Senior 1.
Posted: December 19, 2022 by Steve Hurd
A life-changing legacy
Towards the end of her life, Lily van Haelen charged her children with the task of finding a worthy Humanist project in Africa, to be the recipient of a legacy from her will. The family worked hard to find a fitting tribute to their mother. They approached and rejected several orphanages and schools in South Africa, concerned that money might leak into private pockets. Eventually, they came to Uganda Humanist Schools Trust. I was invited to the home of her son, Laurence Paltiel, in Bedfordshire. After many searching questions, Laurence was keen to explore the possibility of supporting a project at Isaac Newton Humanist High School. The school fitted the family’s needs perfectly. Its mission was to provide inclusive education based on reason, compassion and tolerance to children in the impoverished rural community of Kateera village, in Masaka District. The school was a registered not-for-profit organisation, had ring-fenced bank accounts and published transparent, audited accounts. What is more, it had an urgent project that coincided with the wishes of the family.
This was in 2010 when the HIV/AIDS epidemic was raging. Working-age people were dying and leaving single and double orphan children, many of whom became victims of forced labour. Orphan girls were prey to sexual abuse. Peter Kisirinya, the school’s Director, identified an urgent need to build a girls’ hostel to provide a safe place for orphan and other girls from destitute families to live and learn in the safety of a caring school community. As soon as Lily van Haelen’s family learned of the situation, they asked us to prepare plans and cost estimates for a hostel to house the girls. I made another trip to Bedfordshire to show them the plans. A younger family member flew to Uganda to visit the school, meet Peter Kisirinya and see the site of the hostel. Thoroughly reassured, they gave a green light to proceed.
Peter asked an architect friend to draw up plans. However, there were hardly any builders in the area with experience of constructing a building of this size and it proved impossible to obtain competitive quotations. Peter went to the one local builder, reached an understanding with him and gave him the job. Work started in February 2011 and was finished by the end of the year. The final cost was £24,000. This was 15% over budget, but the building was bigger than the original plans. It has 8 family rooms, each with 9 girls, a room for the matron, washrooms, 2 showers, toilets and an ironing room.
At the formal opening in 2012 the hostel was named the “Lily van Haelen Hostel”. In the 11 years since it was built, the hostel has transformed the lives of many girls. They have escaped the challenges of life in the rural homesteads with long walks to school. They have been given a safe place to sleep, been well fed, given access to health care and facilities for study and leisure in the evenings and at weekends. Time has demonstrated that these girls from destitute backgrounds, once given the right conditions, can outperform their better off peers, who attend the school as day students. The hostel has been a huge success*, both socially and educationally, and it has been a fitting and lasting memorial to the life of the benefactor, Lily van Haelen. The school and the girls are enormously grateful for the bequest that made this possible. If you think you might be interested in leaving your own life-enhancing bequest, then you can find information here: https://ugandahumanistschoolstrust.org/donate/making-a-bequest/.
Hostel Refurbishment with help from the Rationalist Union, Italy
To enable the Lily van Haelen Hostel to continue serving future generations of girls from Kateera it is now in need of refurbishment. After 11 years of continuous use, the Hostel is beginning to look shabby. Holes have developed in the concrete floors and damage to walls, windows and doors need to be repaired. Additionally, the school would like to fit ceilings in each family room to prevent mosquitoes from carrying pathogens, such as malaria, between girls in different rooms. The whole building needs repainting, using anti-mosquito paint on the interior surfaces.
We are delighted to announce that our friends in the Union of Rational Atheists & Agnostics of Italy have come to the aid of the girls of Kateera. They have responded to the UHST 2022 Appeal with sufficient funds to cover the refurbishment of the hostel. The Funds have been transferred to the school and work will start immediately so that, when the girls return to school in February, it will be finished. The girls will be delighted to find a transformed hostel. They will appreciate this kind help from the Rationalist Union of Italy, which will extend the life of the original legacy for many years to come.
*An indicator of the success of boarding provision for girls was demonstrated during Covid. Schools in Uganda were closed for long periods and students sent home. During the time that Isaac Newton girls were at home, 4 became pregnant, yet pregnancies are almost unknown when the school is running. In contrast to religious schools, which blame the immorality of girls for pregnancy and expel them from school, Isaac Newton and our other Humanist Schools do their best to help the girls to return to school to complete their education once they have had their babies.