some of Our projects
OUR NEW THREE STORY BUILDING
Work has started on the new building with the foundations laid. This building will provide essential new space as the school takes in more pupils and prepares to meet the new curriculum guidelines.
THE BOYS TOILET AND SHOWER BLOCK
This was kindly funded by the Dartmoor Vale Rotary Club in Devon.
FRESH WATER & ELECTRICITY
As we now have our own borehole, some drought problems have been removed. A bonus is that the water is pure and no filtering is needed.
As part of a rural electricity scheme, of which Imprezza is the solar source, we now have as much electricity as we need. The combination of the two opens up new possibilities for the school.
- The government’s new curriculum will need to be implemented by January 2024. The top two years of primary will become the first two years of secondary. Making the system similar to the UK. This will require more classrooms, dormitories and more capacity everywhere including our agriculture to feed the additional students and staff. The other major change is at the top two years (UK A level years). Instead of just an academic curriculum, the school will offer three streams, academic, humanities and vocational to meet the needs of all the pupils.
- All our plans are driven by available funds, whether from grants or our own fundraising efforts – we can only go at the speed that finance allows. We have never borrowed money since we had an initial interest free loan that was repaid on time. This was to allow us to purchase the first 6.5 acres of land in 2008. This was to get Imprezza started after its traumatic move from the slums of Nairobi, during the post election fighting.
future plans:
- We have professional plans for the site to allow planning permission for future developments.
- We plan to upgrade our wooden beds with 50 metal bunk beds and replace bedding. (Termites eat the wood!)
- To meet new regulations our girls shower and toilets have to be separated into different blocks and fitted with non-slip floors.
- New spacing regulations reduces the capacity of our dormitories. For example, the boys dormitory has to reduce from 96 to 68. So we need more dorms for 2024.
- Increase and improve our fire extinguishers.
- Stabilise the foundations of the girls dorms and replace the temporary structure with a permanent one.
- We will require at least two extra girls dorms and one boys, together with shower and toilet facilities and all the bunks and bedding.
- Build a two storey block. For classrooms and the IT suite and library. We will need more computers
- Build a two storey block for vocational training with workshops on ground floor and textiles & home science on the first floor.
- Add toilet blocks to all existing classroom blocks to meet new requirements.
- Build a single storey classroom block for the “Junior” intake
- Build quarters for the teachers who stay on site, an essential requirement when boarding.
- Buy more agricultural land as the increase in school size will need more food to be produced it will also be needed for vocational studies in the new curriculum. More land will let us grow and store using freezers (now that we have electricity) and possibly have surplus to sell for school funds.
- Buy a further four acres of land for our sports field.
- Develop a poultry project and look into introducing dairy cattle and goats to supply the school with milk and dairy produce and sell surplus to increase school income. This depends on buying more land. This will have the added benefit of widening the scope of practical experience we can offer on the agricultural lessons taught at both compulsory and vocational education stages.
This is a long list. It will need to be approached flexibly depending on grants, and donations.
In addition, Catherine and Daron’s house will be brought into full school use once they have moved into their own house a short distance away from the school. This will be a huge asset to the school. The house was built by Daron at his own expense and for the the school to have the use of it free of charge is extremely generous. We plan for it include guest bedrooms, so that visitors to Imprezza can stay on site. Catherine also sees that as a source of income for the school, along with other initiatives currently under discussion. These include space for sanitary pad production and, until the other blocks are ready, the library, IT suite and teachers accommodation.
All these measures will move the school ultimately towards self sufficiency.
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