After that, the authoritative Education News recently carried an incisive masterpiece on half-term break, my grandson, godsent: Arsenal arrived for his half-term break last week. Right on arrival, he handed me their school’s mid-term break newsletter.
And then he rushed for a quick shower. On return and with this and that done, he opened his bag and began bookworming. With little breaks, showers, food, and sleep, and with him telling me to wake him at 4am, it was just books, books, and books till the day of departure on the second March 2026.
Books Before Football: A Student Who Chooses Reading
Much as Arsenal was buried in all the books and books, the beauty of it all was that when he checked in and out of school, the parent was alerted. So my daughter’s mother told me.
Back to the newsletter. In the intro, the midterm one break date was from February 25, 2026 at 6.30 am, and on arrival, he is expected to hand in the principal’s newsletter and circle one exam report form.
The newsletter indicated the student is expected to report on March 2, 2026 by 4 pm. I am told that any check-in and check-out is promptly reported to parents/guardians. Failure to comply with the letter of the law requires a parent or guardian to accompany the student.
Then, to the core, the letter talked at length of the lifeline- the school fees.
This is followed by another core: School Academic Progress. Here, the principal’s newsletter delved into internal examinations, in which form three and form four students sat for cycle one and cycle two exams. Consequently, all Form Three students were gifted report forms.
The newsletter noted that the fourth formers were to be issued with their respective report forms on 12th March. Moreover, with KCSE seemingly distant but within the year, the principal expressed some unease with the Form Four Circle One exam report.
To be spot on, ‘unsatisfactory performance’was the exact word used and being the principal, he attributed the’unsatisfactory performance’ to students’ inadequate preparation across the board.
With a zeal for a light touch, an alumini parent, Caleb Achando, dismissively says, “It takes two to tangle; in fact, with the student sandwiched between school and parents, it takes the three to tangle.”
However, in a strange coincidence, both Achando and the principal agreed to look forward to improved performance in the forthcoming cycles and the eventual KCSE exams. For Arsenal, and after having a good look at his past and this report, I would state categorically that he is an above-average boy. This is why I say. With a chain of plain Bs in English, Geography, Agriculture, Biology, Kiswahili, and C plain in chemistry, and a 35 percent D in mathematics, and a B+ in physics, performance in form three exam cycle Arsenal who guns to be an aeronoetical engineer was 7th in his class/ stream of 35 and 75th overall in a class of 500 students. While I showered him with praise for his above-average performance, yours sincerely was disappointed that Arsenal, my grandson, and his team are currently leading the English Premier League and are not interested in any sports whatsoever.
“Guka wacha ni some, (lemme devour books),” he told me when I reminded him that all work no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
Well, to crown his stay in Ururi Midland Usigu Sub County, his pet love team devoured Chelsea 2-1 over the weekend when he was at home. I wish you could have seen his antics as he watched the game. To the team’s credit, Arsenal won, and my grandson was over the moon, on cloud nine with the results.
Moreover, towards meeting this academic goal, the principal called on parents to discuss their sons’ academic progress with them. Moreover, the principal advises the parents/guardians to offer the son parental advice and guidance.
Good to go since Arsenal is the loving firstborn son of a senior law-enforcer and social worker mother, and with the grandpa, yours truly, sincerely, truly, able to scribble this for authoritative EN, such parental and parenting advice can be expertly shipped home. Come to think of it, if a parent or guardian is neither able to read nor able to guide the student, the student stands to be a stand-alone, lone ranger. However, that does not rule out a move on.
Still talking about academics, the newsletter notes that after half-term, form four students will sit for pre-mock exams. In contrast, form three and grade ten students will sit for end-term one exams and assessments.
Moreover, when the newsletter mentions grade ten, it rings a bell because the remarks section column reads.
READ ALSO: When bells ring louder than before: Are schools prepared for the aftermath of half-term?
For form three and other forms, good, average, fair, and so on come to mind. Come to think of it, the Jonnie come lately Compeyence-Based Education (CBE) has terminology like ‘above expectations’ in the remarks column.
” Can a person out of the CBE lineup, whose pioneers are now in grade ten, really understand things like above expectatip ”ningori,” cries Kabwe Makuti in Mororo.
Back to the newsletter, it informs that the academic meetings for form three and form four will be on March 7 and 22, 2026, respectively. Once again, the newsletter calls on parents attending these programs to contribute positively to students’ academic lives and crucial future careers.
By Ochieng Ndiewo
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