Somebetini Secondary School

Yesterday we went to Sombetini and Felix Mrema Secondary schools, which I'll put in two posts to split it up a little. General thoughts: Sombetini impressed me with their English language skills. You could tell they really enforced the language pledge there – they even had a sign that said no English, no service. Haha. Every school has “general cleanliness” in the morning and afternoon, which is when the students clean up the school by watering flowers, cleaning desks, cleaning toilets, etc. They don’t have a janitor because the students and teachers take care of everything. Seems very efficient and somewhat empowering because it allows the students to take ownership and care over their school. It’s definitely an interesting approach.

Sombetini Secondary School Profile:
Key Contacts
Headmistress: Bertha I. Lyimo
Second Master: John Chacha

Quick Facts
Founded: April 2008
No. of Students (2009): 806
No. of Teachers (2009): 11
No. of Classrooms (2009): 20
Class size: >30
Days of School: 285-290
Uniforms: Navy blue pants or skirt and navy blue sweater
School year: Begins mid January, ends mid December
Laboratory: No
Library: No
Computer Lab: No
Electricity: Yes

Daily Schedule
7:00-7:10 Arrival and roll call
7:10-7:30 Cleanliness
7:30-7:55 Morning Assembly
8:00-10:40 Classes
10:40-11:10 Break and Morning Tea
11:10-2:30 Classes
2:30-3:30 Cleanliness and Extra-curricular activities
3:30 Dispersal
3:30-5:30 Remedial for Form II

Clubs
Subject clubs
Scouts
Club against Corruption
Environmental Club
Religious Societies
Choir
Drama club
Poetry club

Sports
Football
Volleyball
Athletics
Netball

Motto
Education for Self Actualization

Vision
To provide a quality education so that all pupils are able to reach their full potential within a caring, secure environment

Mission
To provide a safe, supportive environment with a variety of educational opportunities to empower each student to develop the attitudes, behaviors, skills, knowledge to become self-assured, responsible and economically productive citizens

Student Services
Health: First aid kit
Social Welfare: 2 guidance counselors
Field Trip: Organize student-financed safari to Ngorogoro Crater or Serengeti

History
The school was started in April 2008 as a government school. They started with 320 form I students and 8 teachers. In October 2008, they hired 3 more teachers and received almost 500 new form I students.

Future Plans
Sombetini hopes to add bookkeeping and commerce classes but currently does not have the teacher capacity to do so. In two years, they plan to have nearly 1600 students. The headmaster wants to “make the school look like a school” with a laboratory and library.

The school also wants to be more self-dependent, which will require expanding school grounds to include a place for sports and more buildings for an administration block and classrooms. They hope to receive more teaching materials as well as teachers.

Classes
Forms I and II take 9 subjects:
• English
• Kiswahili
• Maths
• Geography
• Civics
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics
• History
Forms III and IV take at least 7 subjects and can take up to 9.

Vocab word of the day:
compyuta - computer