PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER, VOL. 2 No. 2, March 2007

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Wow, what a term!! I entered in to the position in January with some trepidation but I have to say, it's been so busy that I haven't had time to worry thereafter. My first term as Head teacher at Braeburn School has been a most enjoyable and rewarding experience. I have enjoyed the company of the children, their frankness and affable nature.

At Braeburn, we are constantly celebrating the success and progress of our children and this term has been no exception. We have experienced a wonderful term and I would like to take you back and share in the many highlights.

Trips, trips and more trips
It was a busy term in regard to residential trips. Our year threes started their camping career by spending one night on the school field. This is an excellent learning experience for them in preparation for the trips in later years. Our Year Fours went off to William Holden Centre. Many teary mums and dads waved off their loved ones but very different faces greeted our children back as they realised what a good time had been had by all. Our Year Fives had a splendid time in Mombasa where I was privileged enough to join them for some of the time. Finally our year sevens enjoyed their 'outward bound' trip in Sagana.

These residential trips are so important in developing children's confidence and are hugely enjoyable. Many thanks to our dedicated teachers for giving so much of their own time to make these trips possible.

Sports
As always at Braeburn, another very successful term on the sports field and in the swimming pool. All of our hockey teams enjoyed success, winning the majority of the fixtures. Three of the four sides progressed to the semi-final stages at the Peponi and Kenton hockey festivals. I must add that with a little more good fortune they would have progressed further and certainly in two cases, I feel we played hockey which was as good as the standard demonstrated by the winning teams. Our under nines did us proud at Hillcrest, with the boys bringing home the 'silverware'.

Our squash team competed in the IAPS squash tournament which for the first
time was held in Braeburn. They performed admirably with our A team finishing as runners up in their group. We will continue to develop our standards and commitment to this sport.

A huge success this term has been our development as a school in swimming. A newfound enthusiasm and ability exhibited by our children can be attributed in the main the swimming coaches own enthusiasm and commitment. The report in this newsletter gives the details of our progress as a school but 13 galas in one term must be something of a record for the school. Our progress in the NASA galas has been remarked upon by many coaches around the city and our winning performance in the interschool event and subsequent fifth position in the IAPS event reflects considerable progress. Our thanks to all those parents who have supported their children and the school by their attendance at many of the galas often giving up Saturdays and Sundays to cheer us along.

Girls Football
Our annual Braeburn U11 and U13 football tournament took place this week and we performed magnificently winning both tournaments and getting the best player vote in each age category.

OFF the Sports field
Outside of sport, the children have enjoyed a wide variety of activities. Our public speakers took part in the Nairobi Verse Speaking competition. Congratulations to Shannon Hardisty, Mimi Mutahi and Rebecca Kamau.

The Science Fayre took place once again and was enjoyed by children from all over Kenya. The quality of the presentations was highly commendable. We seem to have more and more schools involved each year. Well done to Dr. (Mrs.) Wood, Mr. Peyton and our young scientists.

Our Braeburn Music Festival saw many schools come to celebrate music in our school. Over 300 children took part and the originality and quality of the performances were hugely enjoyable.

Our drama club presentation of the Mandazi King was also original. For a school club to produce a show of such quality was extremely encouraging. A word of thanks for Mr. Bradden, who had the courage and ability to write his own script and then present the show. The club next term plan to build on this success by producing their own school film!!

ALICE
What a show!! In some ways, a difficult script and show to produce but what a success!!. From Costume, to lighting, to sound, to foyer design and presentation, to choreography, to stage management, to production, to direction, it simply was fantastic. I can't praise or thank everyone involved enough. Such abilities were shown. The chorus were magnificent. Such self-discipline. The cast were brilliant. The whole school were involved but special thanks to Miss Pardo, Miss Patel, Mr. James, Mrs Odhiambo and Mrs. Muriithi. It will be difficult to beat.

F.A.B.
In February we had our F.A.B. Annual General Meeting. The 'old' committee was thanked for its hard work and a new committee was sworn in. We wish them every success. Thanks for the helping with the discos and the major event this term was the Ball. It was thoroughly enjoyable and extremely well organised.

Congratulations
Mr. Lee is a new dad. Abigail was born just too late to see Tottenham lose to Chelsea in the FA cup! I'm sure she'll bring better luck for the Spurs.

Looking forward
Next term promises to be every bit as busy as this. Our major Sports are Rugby and Football for the boys and netball for the girls. Over 70 competitive inter-school fixtures have been arranged and will culminate in a number of tournaments and festivals. Tennis, squash and swimming will be ongoing. We have high expectations of our sportsmen and women, and I am sure you will join with me in wishing them every success.

The Year Eights have their annual overnight school trip packed full of adventurous activities and a whole range of team-building activities. We are trying to re-organise our clubs program a little next term. The idea is to put all our language/cultural clubs on Monday after school. This is in order for children to not miss out on opportunities to get in sports teams. At present we have Dutch, Spanish, French and Japanese clubs. We would welcome more, reflecting some of our 64 nationalities. Monday night is International Night!

Most importantly we also have our examinations next term. As we commit ourselves to extra-curricular activities, we should not lose sight of the primary reason for being at school …. to learn.

In conclusion
Finally can I sincerely thank you for the support you have given me this term. My first term at Braeburn School as headteacher has been enormously busy but thoroughly enjoyable. I look forward to meeting you around and about school next term and celebrating with you the success of your children.

Have a good Easter break.

Yours sincerely,
Rob Williams (Mr.)
HEADTEACHER

Music Department
This has been a fairly busy term for the music department, with there being more events than the usual Braeburn Festival. Some of our older children were treated to Gershwin's 'Porgy & Bess', staged by the Cape Town Opera Group at the Arboretum. Our Year 6 Choir also took part in the Lentinary Celebrations at the same venue the next day. The major event-the Braeburn Festival, was attended by 8 schools and was very enjoyable, with a wide variety in both instrumental and vocal pieces. Braeburn was not left out at all, with the orchestra working very hard to perform "The Battle of Jericho' to high standards! Well done to all the pupils and we are looking forward to another enjoyable term.
Swimming Pool
Please note that on Sundays, the swimming pool will close at 5.30pm for cleaning purposes

Week 11 (MARCH 22ND)

Diary Dates

U11 A Boys Hockey Season 2007

The boys have enjoyed a good season, which was so nearly great! Our first match was away against Kenton and turned out to be hugely frustrating as despite having all the possession and spending the entire match in their half…we just couldn't score! Result 0-0 and a coaches' mental note to practice more short corner moves. Then away to Banda. It turned into a tremendously competitive affair which we narrowly lost 2-1, missing a penalty flick which would have levelled the score. Their midfield dominated the game being more physical in the tackle and when carrying the ball. So we worked on being stronger on the ball in midfield, driving forward into space before passing as we drew the man and trying to get the ball into the D to our striker quicker. Five days later we returned to Banda to see if we had learnt anything from the first encounter. The midfield, in particular Shaun, Jazz and Aimal at the back, looked totally different. In another classic encounter which must have been a treat for the neutral, if there had been any neutrals, ended in a nail-biting 3-3 draw. A fantastic match with quality hockey from both teams, but much more bite, determination and drive from the Braeburn boys. Peponi were next and we managed a 1-1 draw, coming back from behind, but I felt we failed to take charge of the game and play our game at our pace. Our last 11 a-side fixture was away to Pembroke where we dominated possession and occupied their D but again could not convert chances and take advantage of the number of short corners we won. Pembroke's first break away and their first foray into our half resulted in one strike and one goal to them. They then scored a second before we scored a consolation goal. Result; Pembroke won 2-1. So overall, played 5, won 0, drew 3 and lost 2.

Onto the Kenton Sixes tournament. We were seeded number two, behind Banda and managed to win our group comfortably beating Nairobi Academy 4-1, Greensteds 3-0, St. Andrews 2-0 and Peponi 2-0. The boys were fabulous, playing the best hockey by far. We topped the group but unfortunately Kenton beat Banda in their group encounter which meant we played Banda in the semi-final rather than Kenton, who we had beaten in Sixes practice games. The semi-final was very close resulting in a 1-1 draw after extra-time and so it was on to 20 second run-ins. After 3 run-ins each the score was level at 2-2 and so it went on to two more sudden-death run-ins. Again we were level and so further sudden-death run-ins followed. They eventually scored and we missed. Banda went on to win the final against Kenton. The boys were magnificent all day and in my opinion and many others who watched, were the best team there. Two of our players were considered for players of the tournament but Shaun Daly was all the coaches considered choice. The huge smile and shock at receiving a Samsung DVD player as U11 player of the tournament, made up slightly for not winning overall. Well played boys. You did Braeburn proud!

Byron Wood
(U11 boys hockey coach)

Boys U 13 1st team hockey 2007

Won 4, lost 4 and drew 2. Top goal scorers Matthew 8, Deepal 4, Alykhan 3, Dean and Khalil 2.

Boys 1st team hockey has been a very mixed season with some good results one very poor result and some very close games not going our way.
In the six a side Kenton sixes we played well with wins against Nairobi Academy and Greensteds and a narrow 2-1 loss to Pembroke. This meant a win was necessary to go through to the semi finals in the last game against Turi. In a see saw game we tied 2-2 which meant run in penalties in which we lost 2-0. Some bad luck but a good performance all round. Well Done.
Three boys were selected for the Nairobi schools v Up country. They were Anam Bloch, Mark Williams and Mathew Kamau. They all played well and Nairobi schools won 3-1.

D.Lowe

Under 13 2nd Boys Hockey Round Up

Braeburn 2nd's Boys Hockey versus

The 2nd's boys had what I would sum up as a good season, winning 2, drawing 2 and losing their only one match to Banda. The boys put up excellent performances in all their matches, it was an exhibition of skill, agility and good team spirit throughout the term that saw them advance their basic hockey skills to a good standard. Well done to all the boys who turned out for practices and matches.
Felix Ochieng

U 11 B boys Hockey

Under 11B boys had a good season and a lot of boys got to represent the school team. In 2 matches with Banda we drew one and lost one and our other loss was to the Braeside Under 11 A team in a narrow 1-0 defeat.
The boys had some good wins against Peponi 3-1 and Cavina A boys 1-0.
Some good performances particularly by Aimal who moved on to the A team and Dylan in mid field and Lucas who proved to be a handy goalscorer.
Well done boys.

D. Lowe

Squash

Squash at Braeburn is slowly improving and apart from team practices in Mondays and Fridays, classes have been taking squash in P.E lessons. A lot of potential is present at school and the plan is to continue some squash in P.E next term.

We played an U11 match and an U13 match v Banda who at present have a strong group of players with a lot of experience so the result was losses in both age groups. We also played Peponi at U13 level and won by 4 matches to 2.

Braeburn also hosted 2 squash events this term. The first being the Prep. School Tournament for boys and girls and the second being the Braeburn Boys Open Squash with U9, U11 and U13 age groups. There was a good entry with over 35 competitors. Some of our boys faired well with both Rohan Sanger in U11 and Alykhan U13 reaching the semi finals of the main events. In the plate events our boys did very well with Romy Nawab winning the U11 title and Matthew Kamau winning the U13 title with Khalil Ebrahim as Runner Up.
James Evans Won the U13 main event with Davide Bernardi winning the U11 event both boys go to school at The Banda.

D. Lowe

Under 9A Boys Hockey

This term saw the team have 8 fixtures and a tournament, and saw 14 players playing for the team at some point. The season started with promise with an early victory over Peponi that showed what the team was capable of. The team continued to progress through the season although the results didn't represent the capability of the team, mainly due to a lack of goals. We therefore came away with very narrow losses against the run of play for the next four matches. After half term 3 new members were introduced to the team and had immediate effect on results. A superb 1-1 draw with Banda and a 6-0 victory over Kenton put the season back on track. After a minor blip with a loss to Kenton we went into the tournament confident on our abilities and with the attitude that we were going to prove our strengths. The tournament started with a nervous performance against the hosts Hillcrest and ended with a 1-1 draw. The next match saw a renewed effort and a very stout defence, especially from Joseph, Manuel and Ade, against a very physical Braeside team which resulted in a deserved 1-0 victory. The last group match with the strong Pembroke side was the decider to enter the final. A superb effort saw a 1-0 victory and confirmed we topped the group and entered the final against Kenton. The final saw the team in a determined mood and was a very one sided affair, Aiyan in goal actually not touching the ball due to the quality of the defence in front of him. However with the Kenton goal under siege by Robert, Reuben and Joni for the whole game it wasn't until the last minute that we got the ball into the net and held out for the final whistle.

So the season finished on a massive high with a victory in the Hillcrest Tournament one which the team thoroughly deserved for their dedication and unwillingness to get down beat. A special mention has to go to Ade, a fantastic captain who always performed to 100% and led from the front by example. Thank you to all the boys that represented the A team and showed a great team spirit and unfailing enthusiasm.

Mr Peyton

Under 13 B Girls Hockey

A pleasing season in many ways which ended with 2 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw. At times we were brilliant and at other times we went to sleep a bit. But the most pleasing aspect was watching the girls pulling together and playing as a unit. From my initial group at the start of the season, many girls were promoted to the 1st team. There were super individual performances on route including Tina for fantastic commitment, Dorcas for great defending and Laila for her phenomenal drive which resulted in her elevation to the Peponi 6-aside tournament. Amanda's goal poaching was a revelation and all in all I think we had fun which was the key. Well done girls.

Neil Page

Outdoor Education @ Braeburn

Another busy term which saw trips leave for Sagana (Year 7), and to William Holden (Year 4), and for camping on the field for the younger kids (Year 3). Fun-packed, activity-packed and value-packed giving our great Braeburn kids the chance to get outdoors and try new skills and challenge themselves and each other. Hi-lites lust surely be the White-Water Rafting done by the Year 7's. Next term will see the Year 8 pupils go off on their last Braeburn Primary School excursion and no doubt it will be a fitting farewell.

Safe holidays to all.

Neil Page
Coordinator of Outdoor Education

Alice the Musical

This term, the whole school was taken over with "Alice" fever, as rehearsals for this year's school production, "Alice the Musical," got underway. Whether performing, helping backstage or producing artwork for the "Wonderland' foyer, all pupils contributed to the final production. Sold out on both Thursday and Friday nights, tickets were in great demand, and audiences were not disappointed! The acting, singing, dancing and music were of a high standard, and the fantastic costumes helped bring the whole show to life!

This would have been an almost impossible task had it not been for the continued support and assistance of parents, who ensured that children attended rehearsals and learned their lines and songs! For this we thank you!

The show was filmed on two nights, and footage was taken throughout the process from auditions to the final performance, some of it very amusing! Watch notice boards for information about the forthcoming "Alice the Musical" DVD!

Miss Christine Pardo

U9 Girls Hockey

The U9 girls had a fantastic season, going from strength to strength with every game. Losing their opening match to Peponi, the girls progressed to secure wins against Braeside, The Banda, Kenton and Hillcrest. In the Hillcrest tournament the girls lost to the Banda and drew with Kenton and Greensteds, not qualifying for the final. All girls played their hearts out for Braeburn throughout the season and it was a pleasure to have coached such a dedicated and talented bunch of youngsters. Well done girls.

Miss. Catherine Crutch

Year 7 Trip

Week five of this tern saw our year sevens embark on their annual residential trip, to Sagana for three days of fun filled activities and not very much sleep! Staff and pupils alike had a thoroughly good time, with many people challenging and overcoming their fears. After being split into teams for the duration of the trip pupils proceeded to work on challenging team building exercises. Pupils carried a range of activities whilst in Sagana from Hiking, night walking, abseiling, a taster canoeing session and for many the highlight of the trip, White water rafting. A big thank you to all the staff for the smooth running of the trip and the pupils for continuing to represent Braeburn in a positive light. Well done to all!

Miss. Catherine Crutch, Year group leader.

Girls football

The girl's football season ended in style with a match between the Mums and the Girls. A very determined Mums team played their hearts out, with some fantastic goal keeping skills from Shirley Bridgeman and Jaclyn Finniss. The girls took an early lead with a fantastic strike from Natalie Robinson proving too good a shot for the mums goal keeper. A strike by Shirley Bridgeman caused some controversy, but referee Dominic Oberle ruled it a goal. After a hard fought 40 minutes, the girls proved too strong for the Mums and a fine strike by Cartier Finniss left the goal keeper standing, to clinch the match for the girls. The afternoon was rounded off with dinner for all at Mediterraneo, thanks to all the mums for their participation and to all the girls for their hard work this term.

Catherine Crutch

Swimming Report

Presently there is over a hundred swimmers in the Braeburn School swimming Squad, 15 in the Year 2 and1 Team and 30 swimmers in the Intermediate Team. This term two lifesaving exams have been successfully completed and the Water Polo activities continue to grow.

Braeburn participated in 13 galas within 11 weeks of this term. The swimming pool has certainly been a very busy place!

We also celebrated some great achievements. A total of 65 Swimmers entered the NASA "A" gala of which 35 children achieved "AA" times in 78 events. Braeburn also took the cups for best performance for the Boys and Girls Years 10 - 13. Philemon Huising won the Victor Ludorum Cup for best boys performance, and Savanna Stephenson the 2nd best girls performance.

During the "AA" gala Rebecca Kamau won 2nd best girls performance and the under 9 team won overall best performance.
At "AAA" level the competition is very strong and therefore we were delighted when Siana Stutchbury, Mikhail Teja, Savanna Stephenson, Jozefien Huising and Philemon Huising qualified and represented Braeburn in 9 events. Savanna Stephenson and Mikhail Teja were selected to represent NASA Kenya in South Africa, based on their performances.

Braeburn hosted the Inter-Schools Gala. We needed to beat Hillcrest in order to qualify to participate in the International Association Prep Schools Gala. The joy was even more than we expected as we were the overall winners and took the best overall points for our girls team.

Our next challenge was the IAPS Gala. The age group galas were good preparation for the IAPS gala. We had set out to beat at least one school as the competition is of a high standard. We came fifth and the swimmers had sturdy efforts! Quite a few of the swimmers received 1, 2 or third places.

In the NASA Junior Championships we had 54 swimmers, ageing from 5-10 who participated. Anita Field won the second best performance, girls age 8. Many children received certificates.

All standard of swimmers have worked very hard and their support of one another was fantastic! Thank you to all the parents that supported their children in our drive to improve swimming at Braeburn School.

Swimming Department.

Under 11 Girls football season report

Our football can be described as the best in two seasons. We started off with a lot of determination however, there was a lot to learn and therefore, Miss Muriuki and I embarked on a rigorous training to introduce the passion that is required. The girls were very eager to improve on ball control, shooting and charging in for tackles!
Our first match came in week six against a Brookehouse team that would have been arguably not under 11. Nevertheless, this did not dampen our hearts as we bravely fought for a 0-1 loss. This was a very good lesson as it only made our resolve to win in the future matches even higher.
Four weeks later, we faced Hillcrest away at Hillcrest School. With a strong Hillcrest home support and a patriotic crowd, our girls soaked in the pressure and held the opposition at bay at first half. With an inspirational talk from the coaches, the second half was a downhill for Braeburn. A wonderful display of football from the team saw Elise, a late addition to the team, score a hatrick and Nevena adding the fourth goal!
This was an obvious morale booster to the Braeburn Football festival.
Two weeks afterwards, the Braeburn tournament was under way and there was pressure on us because we were the defending champions.
The results were as follows:

With these results we defended the trophy and in addition, our defender fantastic, Mwaka, received the MVP ( Most Valuable Player) trophy for outstanding work at the defence.
The team was: Joy (gk), Angela, Natasha, Mutsa (C), Annie, Elise, Ella, Sonia and Mwaka.
Others who contributed to our excellent season were, Sala, Alisha, Nevena, Naomi,Tebby and Lina.
I should also announce that our girls conceded only one goal this season against other schools! Well done, girls. I wish you all the best next year.

JG Macharia,
Coach.
N. Muriuki (Asst. Coach)

29th March 2007

Braeburn School and Braeburn High School Parents

Dear Parents,

As part of our development plan we are making improvements to the Gitanga Road compound over the next 12 months which we hope will alleviate some of the problems many of you are facing delivering and collecting your children from school.

We have just finalised the purchase of the property next door to the school on Gitanga Road. We are immediately turning the bottom half of this property into a car park. This should park about 40 more vehicles and obviate the need for parking near the pond in the High School Area. This should make that area safer.

The top of third of the property will be turned into a bus park. This will remove all big buses from the existing internal roads and car parks and hopefully will again release space for parking and circulation. We will ensure routes taken by children to board buses and car parks are safe.

The Gitanga Road crossroads is a major source of traffic delays and frustration at peak times. In the past we have offered to contribute towards a roundabout or traffic lights to help to alleviate these problems, however the City Council have not been interested. For many parents it would be possible to miss this junction if our back gate is opened such that the compound could be accessed from James Gichuru Road via Convent Drive. To facilitate this we are widening the internal road and gates beyond the tennis courts and traffic will be able to enter and exit via that route. We hope to have this operational at the beginning of next term.

There are a number of other major improvements which are scheduled over the next year.

Covered Way

A covered way will be constructed linking

(a) The main building, Music Room, Junior Computer Room and Year Six
Block in one direction and

b) The New Arts Complex (see below), New Car Park (see above), Year 7 and 8 block and High School.

When this is complete, there will be few areas that cannot be reached undercover. The construction will be attractive and, as its path will be around the playing field, we will leave shaded pavilion areas where children and parents can sit. No useful playing field area will be lost.

The Primary School
At the bottom of the compound in the Workshop area near the Sports Complex currently in construction is a building that will house the wood/metal workshop, a fully equipped small vehicle maintenance workshop, Total Escapade, stores and offices for accounting, transport, catering and other administration functions currently being housed in the "school areas". By moving these to the new purpose designed building we free up areas for school use.

New Arts Complex

The building to the left (East) of the Theatre currently housing Braeburn Services and the Pottery Workshop will be demolished and become the site for the New Arts Complex. This will be a two storey building housing Art, Pottery, Design Technology and an Exhibition / Display Area.

This will be a stunningly attractive building with lots of glass and exciting areas for the children to experiment and be creative. The building itself will link into the new covered way.

The High School

The High School is desperately short of playing field space and the area they do have is broken up by the converted house comprising of the Music and Art departments. The High School is also short of teaching space in other areas.

To alleviate these problems we are building a facility behind the existing Science Laboratories to house: - Art, Music, Design Technology, two classrooms and Examination Room. With luck this will be finished by April 2008, so next year's examinations can be sat there. We will then demolish the existing house to make way for more sports fields. The development will effectively close the entrance at the back of the science laboratories leaving a quiet vehicle free area between the buildings.

School Fees

At a recent meeting of the Fees and Salaries review committee, it was decided that school fees would be increase by 10% for the next academic year starting in September 2007. The increase is needed to meet budget requirements, cover inflationary rises and a few unexpected items such as the cost of Entry (Work) permits increasing from sh60,000 to sh200,000.

The Headteachers will be sending a letter with the complete new fee structure in the near future.

I wish you all a good Easter break.

Best wishes
Terry Childs
Managing Director

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