PLE: New kids on the block

Silver spoon is a day primary school that was started in 1997 and sat its first PLE class in 2001. 73 per cent of that first class scored within the first grade. Over the years the school has fluctuated between 64 per cent to 84 per cent except 2005 when the performance dipped to 53 per cent in the first grades.

“Last year we had 92.5 per cent and were among the best in Makindye division,” says the headmaster Vincent Omedo. Still, he is happy for this year’s were the school’s best results yet.

He attributes the success to the child centred teaching approach and the school culture. We open school early and close late but we ensure that the students and teachers are comfortable,” he says.

Having been a former chief examiner and author of several primary school books as a headmaster may be a plus for the school, but Mr Omedo thinks the contribution from the staff side is by the teachers. “I cannot say we pay them that much but they are more than dedicated,” he notes.

We have laid the ground work so we are not worried about maintaining the standard come next year,” says Mr Omedo.

The school has 770 students. “But we are expecting 1,000 at the start of the school term. That is our capacity for now,” says Okoboi.

Good Daddy Parents School (Wakiso)
You could miss this school located by the road side in Kireka if you are looking for impressive structures. But the basic structures notwithstanding, Good Daddy was among the top 20 primary schools in the country this year with all the 35 PLE candidates scoring within the first division. It was also one of the few Kampala schools to make the top of the list that was dominated by up-country schools.

“It is no accident. We were among the best in Wakiso district last year,” says the director Mr Livingstone Kalyowa. He started Good Daddy in 1988 as a nursery school with only four teachers.

The Director of Studies Richard Mwanje welcomes me to his tiny office and takes me through the schools gradual improvement from only 38 per cent of total students scoring in the first grade in 1995 when the first candidates sat, to scoring mostly 80 per cent and 90 per cent in recent years.

“We have been yearning for 100 per cent for a long time. I think the excellent performance has to do with the foundation we lay here. Most of the candidates have been with us since baby class,” says Mwanje.

He also says the school has a stringent process for interviewing teachers, who in turn have poured their all into helping students excel.

“Of course we pay them well. Most are degree holders. You cannot keep such a person if you do not meet their needs,” he says.

Mwanje says that besides dedicating the final term of P7 to revision the school does not have any special strategy. The school does not even have early morning prep. “We have an evening prep from 7:30 to 9:30.Lights off is at 10.00pm,” he shares.

According to the teacher who also doubles up as a bursar, Good Daddy is one of the cheaper priced private schools considering it is not playing in the big boys’ league. “Just Shs403,000 for boarding students and Shs233, 000 for day scholars while we are competing with those who pay millions,” he says.

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