PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER, VOL. 1 No. 7, 2nd March 2007

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Students of the Week

The Students of the Week ending 23rd February 2007 were: Rita Vidot (Playgroup), Olivia McKeown (Nursery), Joshua Kormann (Reception), Malaika Noor Mohamed (Y1), Mahmoud Ramadhan (Y2), Hope Jorgensen (Y3), Sanjiv Dhutia (Y4), Savanna Allport (Y5) and Yvonne Bachmann (Y6). Well done everyone!

Braeburn Nairobi Invitational Gala
Our young swimmers, after their long and not uneventful journey to Nairobi, arriving only 30 minutes before the gala was due to begin, came away with the overall 1st Place Trophy for the boys while the girls took overall 2nd Place. We are VERY proud of them and also VERY thankful to Mr. Farid for his coaching and to Mr. Gitau, Ms. Chege and parents for accompanying them. Their journey, however, has caused us to think again about using the train and we are looking into alternative ways of travelling to Nairobi. We are making enquiries with the new airlines and, of course, the new road will soon be finished which will allow for a much shorter and more comfortable bus journey.

The Braeburn Hockey Tournament
This will take place here tomorrow. The players should arrive at 8.30 am and the tournament is expected to finish by 2.00 pm. Our girls will be defending the trophy and we wish our teams every success.

Mwenge Soccer School
This will also take place tomorrow from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm but on the tennis courts and the bus will operate as usual.

Exam Week
Term 2 exams begin on Monday. We hope that all the students will be able to attend school next week, after which we will be stepping up rehearsals for the Key Stage 2 production.

Fun Day
The PTA Committee met last Friday to finalise arrangements for the Fun Day to be held next Friday (9th March). This will run from 3.00 pm - 6.00 pm. Children should bring home clothes to change into at the end of the day. Buses will leave at 3.00 pm but there will be no late bus. Children who stay should be with their parents and must go home with their parents at 6.00 pm. They should not be left waiting in the compound after the event is over.
The PTA is organising a bar and bake sale and there will be a variety of stalls and games organised by the teachers. The kitchen will provide tea and coffee. We are still waiting for raffle prizes to come in so the raffle will be drawn later and not during Fun Day. Our sincere thanks to those parents who have donated prizes. We will be publishing a list of them very shortly.
Tombola
We are collecting prizes (i.e. a tin of beans, a bottle of ketchup etc.) for the tombola stall as we have in previous years. If every child brought one item each we would have enough to run it. There is an inter-class competition to see which class can bring in the most items by Thursday morning. Please remember to check sell by dates beforehand as we cannot use anything out of date.

Year 2 Trip
Y2 went on the second of their two trips this term to the coast on Wednesday. They compared and contrasted the commercial beach and the natural beach. They interviewed dhow owners, fruit sellers and a hat maker and finished with an ice cream. Many thanks to Mrs. Haller for allowing them to use her access to the beach. Their topic on the "Seaside" has been a great success.

Open Day Assembly
Well done, Y4, for your assembly on Open Day. Ms. Andrews was unavoidably absent and Mrs. Dale took over at the last minute. Young children gain much of their confidence from their Class Teacher on these occasions and it says a lot for Y4 that they managed so well.
Thank you, Y3 and Mrs. Jiwaji, for your lovely assembly today. We look forward to Y2's assembly next Friday.

Head Lice
A case of head lice has been reported. Please check your children's heads on a regular basis. Mr. Hill has mentioned identification and treatment in the Secondary news but if you are not sure what to look for, the School Nurse will check for you - just write a note for her in your child's diary.

Book Fayre
Our main book supplier from Nairobi, Savanis, will be at the school selling books from 9.00 am on Wednesday (7th March). They were here last year and parents picked up some very useful books to help their children at home. The earlier parents come the better as many books are sold out later in the day. They will be stationed outside the long room.

Have a good weekend.

Yours sincerely

Allen Corbet
Head of Primary

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 SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER, VOL. 1 No. 7, 2nd March 2007

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Results this week:-

Hockey,
U11 Girls beat Mombasa Academy 1 - 0
U16 Boys beat Shree 3 - 1
U16 Girls beat Shree 7 - 0

Volleyball,
Mixed Open beat Shree 2 - 0
Open Boys beat Shree 1 - 0

Swimming Braeburn Invitational,

On Saturday we have our Under 13's Hockey tournament. Mombasa Academy, Aga Khan Mombasa, Shree and Rusinga School from Nairobi have all confirmed their attendance. The teams are expected to arrive at 8.30am for a 9am 'push off'. Parental support would be highly appreciated. We expect the tournament to end at 2.00 pm with the presentation of the trophies.

Braeburn Swimming Gala

We left late around 10.30 pm on Sunday 24th February 2007. I am sure most of us didn't sleep, we were so excited. The next day after breakfast, Mr. Farid announced that the train was going to be late, so we had to have a little (big) ride on a matatu , when we arrived every one in Braeburn Nairobi was surprised that we arrived in matatus.

Out of all the odds and how cold it was, we came 2nd overall, 2nd in the girls and 1st in the boys. I must say that we all did great no matter what. Alex G., Yvonne, Antonia, Careena, Alex O., Neve, Olivia and others did relay very well. I'd say good try, the shield is ours next year.

The trip back was almost the same, after breakfast the train stopped and Mr. Farid said that the train in front had derailed so we had to wait for the school bus and we got to school at around 12.30 pm and were tired. Well done everyone! Antonia Leckie Y6

Books

On Wednesday 7th March, Savani's, our book supplier from Nairobi will be holding a book fair within the school. Books will be available for purchase on the day by parents. We are expecting them in the whole day from around 9am.

Annual Fun Day

On Friday 9th March, our PTA are holding the Annual Fun Day from 3pm to 6pm. The school buses will leave at 3pm. Late transport will not be available. Students should only attend with parental supervision.

School Production

Unfortunately, we have to postpone our secondary school production which was to be held on Tuesday 13th March. Rehearsals have been 'plagued' by illnesses including the outbreaks of chicken pox and influenza and the recuperation period of our producer after heart surgery.

Report

We have received a report of head lice from a parent within the secondary school. I have pasted in some information in regard to this. Outbreaks are very common and hence it is suggested that you check your children.

What are they?
Head lice are tiny insects that live on the head and in the hair. They're highly infectious and easily passed between children who tend to work closely with their heads together, at school and at play. Infestation with head lice is also called pediculosis.

Causes
Head lice are flat, wingless insects about 2mm to 4mm long, usually black or dark brown, which attach to the base of a hair. They lay a large number of eggs that can be seen as tiny white/brown ovals glued firmly to the hair close to the scalp.

Who's affected?
Head lice are widespread and almost all schoolchildren have at least one attack, if not more. Headlice affect those with long or short, dirty or clean hair. Head lice can be caught by direct contact or by sharing combs, brushes and hats. Whole families are often affected

Symptoms
A head lice infection doesn't often cause symptoms. When it does the main symptom is itchiness - beware a child constantly scratching his or her scalp. Sometimes you see tiny red spots on the scalp or the lice and nits (nits are the empty eggshells after the lice have hatched) in the hair. Behind the ears is a favourite spot.

Diagnosis and treatment
Look for lice or nits by using a fine-tooth comb after washing the hair. Always check the whole family. Treatment is only needed if live moving lice are seen. There are several ways to treat head lice. After washing the hair, apply lots of conditioner and comb it thoroughly with a fine-tooth comb - the lice and nits will be caught on the comb. You will have to repeat this for several days to catch all the lice and nits, and comb your child's hair daily to check for lice afterwards. Alternatively, an electrically charged comb (available from pharmacies) can be used to catch and kill the lice. It must be used regularly. Pesticide shampoo can be used, although some people are concerned about harmful side effects.

E-news

If you would also like to receive this newsletter by email, thereby conserving paper and helping our school to become more environmentally friendly; please send an email request to mis@africaonline.co.ke

Andy Hill,
Headteacher

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