The Humanist Schools in Uganda were set up to provide inclusive liberal education to impoverished rural communities in Uganda. An emerging spin-off is the schools’ contribution to the economic regeneration of the communities they serve.

The schools are large employers. The wages they pay are spent in the local area, buying goods and services and helping local farmers and service providers. The school, in turn, buys local food and firewood for cooking. It employs the services of local builders, printers and health practitioners. The teachers rent rooms from local families and visiting builders even marry local girls.

To read more see the Economic Impact of Isaac Newton School Report.

In 2013 Mustard Seed School has been approved as a Centre for National A-level Examinations. This comes after meeting the requirements for becoming an O-level Examination Centre in 2012.

The school has had to meet exacting standards such as having a well-constructed school hall with glazed windows to keep out wind and rain during exams. It has also had to build a security fence to prevent cheating and have fully equipped science and computer laboratories.

The school is responsible for ensuring that all of the resources and equipment needed for written and practical exams are available in sufficient quantities. This can be a real challenge when the school is only informed of the precise requirements for some subjects the day before the exam. On this occasion there were last minute flurries of activity to source all 21 chemicals required for the A-level Chemistry examination and a colour printer (why?) for the first national computer practical exam, which was compulsory for all students. The picture right shows tired but quietly confident students at the end of their A-level subsidiary computer practical exam. The picture left shows Moses, the School Director, and Annet, the Headteacher, discussing exam logistics.

You can read more about these and other developments at the school in the latest November 2013 Report on Mustard Seed School.

A new medical house will be opened at Isaac Newton High School, Katera in time for the 2014 school year. The picture shows workmen glazing the internal windows of one of the two wards.

The house contains treatment and dispensing rooms and two twin-bedded wards to cater for students who need to be cared for in isolation.

A newly qualified nurse will work full-time to provide care and treatment and to coordinate health education in the school and local community.

No longer will sick students have to be sent home to be cared for when they have malaria or upper respiratory infections. The nurse will work under the supervision of doctors in a local health centre. It will mean that simple wounds and infections will be able to be treated within the school.

The medical house has been adopted by the Local Health Department and the Ministry of Health and will be used as an immunisation centre for the school and local community. It will also be used as a centre for health education in the school and local area. So education initiatives on T.B., HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and parasitic diseases will be run from the new facility.

World Bank workers have provided drums and costumes to a student health group, which is being trained up to perform health campaign songs and dances within school and in local villages.

A full account of developments at the school can be read in the November 2013 Report on Isaac Newton High School, Katera.