Quietly hidden in a remote zone of Meru North, Cottolengo Boarding has for the twenty years of its life been a place of holistic growth and integral education. Every year since 1994, a group of pupils leave the school to join various National and Provincial schools in the country. One wonders why a school that has no signboard, no public adverts and no high connections in the education sector manages to attract people from as far as the Coast Province. Perhaps, the Swahili saying, "Chema chajiuza na kibaya chajitembeza" explains it.
From the first group of pupils in January 1989 to the current group of over 1000 pupils, the school has grown tremendously beyond the expectations of the founders. From the following report filed this year by the administration, we can see how the school has come to age.
TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF
Introduction
The school started with 36 pupils in Standard one and 39 pupils in Standard two. It had a tuition block of 3 semi permanent classrooms. These blocks were later upgraded to the current store, computer lab and library.
Coordinator and Headteachers
Since its inception in 1989, the school has been coordinated by Fr. Fiorenzo Crameri. Under his able management the school has seen a steady growth in pupils’ population and the staff members. Both structures on the academic blocks and the catering block have been upgraded and new ones built to accommodate the ever-growing number of pupils and teachers.
From its foundation to date, Cottolengo Boarding has had 9 headteachers.
- Mrs. Lila George – from January 1989 to August 1989
- Mrs. Vasath Mohan- 1989 – 1992
- Sr. Catherine Gitonga – 1992 – 1993
- Mr. Bruce Kiambati – 1993 – 1995
- Miss Martha Mauta – 1995 – 1998
- Sr. Agnes Muthoni – 1998 – 2000
- Sr. Hellen Karambu – 2000 – 2002
- Fr. Bernard Muthomi – 2002 – 2003
- Fr. Christopher Nchebere – 2003
The Staff and Pupils Population
Cottolengo Boarding has recorded a steady increase in the number of pupils and staff since its foundation. In 1990 Nursery class and Standard 4 were started. The population grew from 75 to 195. In 1991 24 new pupils were admitted to class 5 and boarding facilities were put in place. This number went up 1992. There were 11 teachers, 3 support staff and 280 pupils. In 1993 boarding facilities were extended to class 4 and eight permanent classrooms were already in place. The population was 296 pupils with 13 teachers.
In 1994 the population was 373 pupils with a staff of 14 teachers. The school registered its first 27 candidates for KCPE. There results were quite good for a beginning. They had a mean score of 425.37 out of 700 marks and were ranked Number 5 in the district.
KCPE RESULTS ANALYSIS
Academic excellence has been the philosophy of Cottolengo Boarding. Our candidates have appeared among the top in the country since the first group sat for their KCPE in 1994. Here is a tabular representation of the performances.
KCPE MEANSCORE ANALYSIS
Year No of candidates M/S Out of
1994 27 425.37 700
1995 35 487.66 700
1996 42 447.43 700
1997 49 452.74 700
1998 53 464.92 700
1999 46 480.85 700
2000 76 460.01 700
2001 69 341.61 500
2002 50 364.96 500
2003 74 353.54 500
2004 41 380.34 500
2005 75 367.6 500
2006 74 350.36 500
2007 95 327.16 500
2008 79 344.71 500
RECORD MARKS HIT
The trend in
In 1998 a record was set at 97% in GHCRE/SSR. This too is yet to be broken. The KCPE class of 2003 set 2 records in Maths – 95% and 95% in science.
In 2004, 41 candidates sat for the KCPE exam and registered the highest mean score ever of 380.34, setting 3 records mainly in Kiswahili 83.29, Maths 75.90 and English 82.07. These still remain as the highest mean scores in our school’s twenty-year history.
In 2005 a total of 17 pupils joined National schools. In this yea,r two records were set in Science (72.27) and SSR (70.66). These records are yet to be broken.
English has always been performed well. In 2008, 3 pupils scored 99% in English. It was a remarkable performance. In 2007 the school registered the highest number of 95 candidates. They managed a mean score of 327.16 the only year KCPE results did not reflect the progress records and efforts of the candidates.
The School Population
The school has grown by 1381.33% i.e. from 75-1036 whereas the teaching staff has gone up by 966.67% (from 3 to 29). With a twenty-year history of success and excellence in academic performances and holistic formation, this population growth is a great encouragement to the Society of Cottolengo Fathers.
Concluding remarks
We can proudly and thankfully say that being its 20th year of existence; it has achieved its founding vision and objectives.
· The main goal which was to assist the local poor people acquire quality education better standards of living is continuously being realized. Majority of our former pupils have finished their secondary education and others are either pursuing their higher education in various colleges and universities, or are already working. It has produced quite a good number of professionals like engineers, teachers, lawyers, medical officers, accountants etc
· The Spirituality and Charism of St. Joseph Cottolengo has inspired some of its students to join Religious life. This kind of formation is co-objective in the school’s foundation.
· Some of our former pupils, however, have regretfully failed to live-up to their own goals. Nevertheless we are confident that the well founded academic, moral, and spiritual formation given to them will slowly bear fruits.
· Our sincere hope and prayer is that
D E O G R A T I A S!
Administration
Cottolengo Boarding Primary School - Laare, Meru North
kindly show us he founders of cotolengo boarding .whre is fr giusto and fiorenzzo pictures ?
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