Master visits Mustardseed Junior School

I am delighted to report that Mustardseed Junior School is not only built but up and running and in good heart, with over 100 happy pupils onsite and preparing for a community concert next week.

My first sight of the school exceeded expectations. The building is all the more beautiful for being in such harmony with its surroundings. That it was built using so many local materials adds to this sense.

The school and community football pitch – Waynflete Field – was completed thanks to funds raised by the MCS community in 2020. The facilities will soon be further expanded by the addition of an outdoor learning centre.

The week began with a concert rehearsal involving every pupil. We heard and saw songs, poems and dances.

The older pupils pictured below are performing a dance similar to the one we saw in our livestreamed chapel service.

This is Hannington, the school bus driver and farmer. The school grows much of its own food, and hopes to sell some of it this year, too.

The school architects have just won second prize in an international competition in the sustainable building category.  Touring the building, it was easy to see why.

Here is the library, full of MCS books which arrived recently and are being put to good use.

The first two hours of the day are devoted to maths and to quiet reading and learning. From break time onwards, there is a focus on active learning, and appreciation of and respect for the planet features heavily in lesson planning.

Story time often features some resident cockerels while lunch in the kindergarten is attended by scores of hungry weaver birds.

What next for the school? We continue to recruit pupils up to the current capacity of 300, and as numbers rise so will demand for the next phase teaching block. We watch plans for housing developments around the site with interest.

We will also need to build more teacher accommodation since staff tend to live onsite. There is the question of where to accommodate current pupils as they move towards P7 at age 13 and their departure from the school, and also when to build the community training and meeting space.

Vernon Ellis OW was also staying in Kampala, and joined us on Saturday morning to witness the school in action. He matches every penny of funds raised by MCS pupils.

At the end of the week, I visited another charity with strong MCS connections, Brass for Africa. This will be the subject of next week’s post…

Helen Pike, Master