FANTASTIC NEWS!

Just a few weeks ago (Jan 06) the school got results from the first state exams that our students sat at the end of last year.

Of the seventeen students who sat the exam, five came in the top ten in their gender in the state (from more than 17,000 students) and the school came THIRD out of 700. And what is more, one of our students came joint FIRST of the .

Pretty amazing result you have to agree, after just four years.
On the right is a copy of an article published in the Arusha times. The text will be pretty hard to read so I've copied it below:

The Best Fourth Birthday Present Imaginable!

It finally came! The letter announcing the 2005 Standard Four results, the letter that everyone at the School of St Jude had been waiting for. From the string of exclamations, the broad smile and the tears in her eyes, it was obvious to the staff gathered in the office of the 700-student school, that the Director was receiving great news.

The report was that the school’s first Standard Four students had achieved an average mark of 90.8%, which placed the school THIRD out of 204 schools in the Arumeru District! And FIVE of the students were in the TOP 10 in their gender group! This was the best fourth birthday present for the school (which opened in 2002 with three children!) and a remarkable achievement as 17,581 children from the Arumeru District had sat the exam.

Congratulations must go to Chem Chem and St Margreths for achieving the highest and second highest average mark respectively and also to Trust St Patrick (6th), Fikiri Kwanza (14th), Green Acres (15th), Kilimani (17th), Usa River Academy (39th) and St Thomas (47th) who were also among the top 50 schools. St Jude's is proud to join these local schools in working to ensure a high standard of private education for the present and future generations of young Tanzanians.

When Gemma Sisia transformed a corn plot in Moshono village into an English medium primary school for the extremely poor and disadvantaged children of the district, it was an arduous struggle against all odds to gain acceptance of and belief in the project.

Many people assumed that the school would fail – what could an inexperienced young Australian woman know about building and running a school in Tanzania? They didn’t know of her strength and determination. What was her motive? They didn’t know of her passion for good education and strong religious beliefs. How would she find support? They didn’t know of her powers of persuasion and perseverance. People in Arusha and around the world now know all of this and The School of St Jude is the result.

Gemma’s previous experience of volunteering in Uganda had awakened her to the realisation that good and accessible education for all children was Africa’s only real salvation. Without it the following generations of the continent’s poor majority would continue to spiral down into the poverty cycle to a life of hard manual labour, crime or untimely death. Education would reverse that downward spiral.

Over 90% of the 700 students at St Jude’s receive a totally free education as their sponsors, found locally and around the world, cover the cost of their education fees, uniforms, stationery, transport and food. To ensure that the generosity of these caring people is not squandered, the opportunity of sponsorship is offered to bright and ambitious children from very poor families. The children and their families are very aware of their fortunate situation and work hard to prove they are worthy of this privilege.

Watch out for the likes of Esuvat Ojungo (1st), Alex Elifas (5th), Eiludi William (8th), Athumani Hemedi (8th) and Cecilia Benedict (8th) who took out the top places in their gender group of the large group of candidates– these are the future leaders of Tanzania.

These diligent boys and girls will be inspired to continue their studies through high school and on to University with the unstinting support and encouragement from their proud parents and over 110 hard working, dedicated and highly skilled local and western staff. Teachers, administrators, volunteers, bus drivers, cooks, cleaners and fundis as well as the thousands of sponsors and donors from around the world who all support Gemma Sisia and The School of St Jude.

In December 2006 more than 120 Standard Four students from The School of St Jude will sit the same exam and with equal support will attaining similar excellent results. Watch this space next year!

The School of St Jude’s website is www.schoolofstjude.co.tz Visitors are welcome