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Miss Hair is settled in Oyugis and did some visits yesterday. She met with some 'bead' ladies who knew who she was, were excited about her visit, and treated her like royalty. They cheered and applauded her! Once the locals knew she was there, two Nyandiwa pupils came to find her. They were looking forward to her visit to the school this week. At the base in Oyugis are 40 school uniforms, funded through our partnership, which Miss Hair will personally deliver to school when she visits for the first time today. How exciting! Today, Miss Hair will visit Nyandiwa School for the first time. We look forward to hearing all about it!  An early start to the day to make the journey from Nairobi to Oyugis - a 330km journey. Tired with lots of travel but pleased to be 'home' with friends in Oyugis. Miss Hair has met Leonard, the Amani UK Schools' Link Worker, who supports our link with Nyandiwa School. It's a but warmer than Aylesbury with temperatures over 30 degrees at this time of year!  An update from Miss Hair, received on Friday evening... Landed safely. Flight was long and a bit bumpy - but OK. Have checked in to guest house for night one. Early start tomorrow for long drive to Oyugis.   Miss Hair sent us a message this morning from Heathrow. Her plane is on time and they've made it into the air. Last seen travelling over Europe.
You can track her flight here: https://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW65 Last term we told you the very exciting news that Miss Hair will be visiting Nyandiwa School.
Unfortunately, Kenya postponed their presidential election to the exact same time that the group would be visiting. Elections in Kenya can sometimes be accompanied by civil unrest so Amani UK, the charity we work with, in discussions with the schools’ group, decided to postpone the visit. The visit will now take place around the February half term – Miss Hair will be travelling the week before half term and will be in Kenya for two weeks. She will spend lots of time at Nyandiwa School and also visit some of the projects supported by Amani UK. This will include spending time with widows and orphans, many of whom will attend Nyandiwa. This is a momentous step in our link with Nyandiwa School and we are delighted that Miss Hair is representing our school in Africa – how exciting - The entire school and local community are behind her all the way! Our collection at our Christmas Nativity performances raised over £500 for our two nominated charities. This means that around £260 will be added to the funds we have already raised for Nyandiwa and the Amani charity to support Miss Hair's visit, Nyandiwa school, and the children and families.
Thank you. Miss Hair's October visit to Kenya was postponed due to the Kenyan elections being rescheduled for that week. Expected civil unrest meant that it was not safe for Miss Hair to travel at that time.
The group will be travelling to Kenya in February. Watch this space! ‘Give it Up for Nyandiwa’ is a sponsored event. We are inviting all our staff, children and families to choose something to give up for one week (beginning Sunday 1 October). You might choose to give up chocolate, television, the internet, your mobile phone, coffee, diet coke, crisps, or something else of your choice. We ask you to invite friends and family to sponsor you, and all the money will go towards our link. Your child will bring home a sponsor form to complete. We are happy for other family members to join in too. We also welcome other ways of fund raising:
Let’s all get on board and raise an amazing amount for Nyandiwa! You can download the newsletter and sponsor form below: 
We have the most exciting news to share with regarding our link with Nyandiwa School, Kenya. Miss Hair will be visiting the school very soon!
Travelling with the charity, Amani UK, Miss Hair will travel to Kenya during half term and will spend two weeks in the country. She will spend lots of time at Nyandiwa School and also visit some of the projects supported by Amani UK. This will include spending time with widows and orphans, many of whom will attend Nyandiwa. This is a momentous step in our link with Nyandiwa School and we will be building up towards her visit throughout the next few weeks. It is also a momentous step for Miss Hair, who will be visiting Africa for the first time (and isn’t fond of spiders and insects!) We want to let her know that the entire school and local community are behind her all the way! Much of Miss Hair’s travel costs will be met through donations from local businesses and charities. We are grateful for the support of the local community and if any parent is able to access any grants, we would appreciate this greatly. The Exchange Church, which meets each week in our school, are also supporting the project financially, and prayerfully, as part of their mission. We want to send Miss Hair with a huge suitcase full of goodies for Nyandiwa School and also a HUGE donation to be spent on school priorities. All donations will be processed by Amani UK and will be released to the school when spending priorities are agreed – just as all our previous donations have been. One area we have already committed to is to buy some uniforms for orphans who do not have any, so that they can attend school at Nyandiwa. In addition, we want Miss Hair to identify some families who are in most need and be able to support them directly – by buying a blanket for an orphan, or a school uniform, or a roof repair for those who desperately need our support. We have a special fund raising event coming up which we are treating as our Harvest celebration. Our aim is to raise at least £3,000. If you know of any organisation or business who offers ‘matched fundraising’ please do let us know as soon as possible – we would love to double our funds! We have received a letter from the headteacher at Nyandiwa Primary School (see below). In the letter he refers to some verses in the Bible (Numbers 6: 24-26): "I pray that the Lord will bless and protect you, and that he will show you mercy and kindness. May the Lord be good to you and give you peace." The new gates, paid for with donations from Buckingham Park, have now arrived at the school.
 A group from Amani UK have recently returned from a visit to Oyugis. They brought back a letter from the headteacher to all at Buckingham Park. The funds raised at Christmas will be used to improve the perimeter fencing around the school and to purchase new gates. This will help school security but will also prevent goats and other animals from wandering in and devouring the crops grown by the children! The pictures of children in their classes have also been sent to us...  We raised an amazing £947 at our Christmas Concerts and this has now been paid into the charity account.
The team from Amani UK will liaise with the headteacher at Nyandiwa so that every penny can be spent on their school priorities. Thanks for your generosity! As promised, we have received fabulous news about how the money raised at our sponsored event has been spent. Our 'Get Active' sponsored event has provided a printer, some school uniforms and security grills for the windows at Nyandiwa School. Additionally, and very significantly, Nyandiwa School now has electricity through more of the school buildings! Not many schools in rural Kenya have electricity but Kenya Power has been given the task by the Kenyan government to provide electricity local to all primary schools in Kenya. The task then is for the school to find the funds for the connection from the school to the main supply outside the school and the wiring and fittings. Thanks to the children and families of Buckingham Park raising money at the 'Get Active' sponsored event, Nyandiwa now has classroom lighting and power outlets for equipment. This is great news!  Our sponsored event has raised over £1800 for Nyandiwa School (and a similar amount for Sport Relief).
This is tremendous! We have paid the money in to the Amani UK account and the Amani team will be speaking to the school to discuss their priorities for using the funds. Amani will also be able to use our 'Gift Aid' funds to support some of the charities core costs in Kenya, such as supporting Leonard, the schools liaison officer who supports the link between our two schools. We will update you once we have heard from Kenya to let you know how the money will be spent. We have also sent an 'A to Z' of Buckingham Park School for our friends at Nyandiwa. The school have been in contact to thank everyone at Buckingham Park. Leonard, the local schools worker, reports that the school is using the funds for school desks, and renovating the floor of a classroom and a ramp. Most excitingly, the money has also been used for a desk top computer (as the school now has electricity). The desk top computer was delivered last week and the teachers and pupils have had a look at our website! This will improve the communication between our two schools and we look forward to speaking to them by email. The photos below show the pupils and staff using the new computer and also some of the chairs and benches bought with the money...  We raised an amazing £644.36 at our Christmas Concerts and this has now been paid into the charity account. The team from Amani UK will liaise with the headteacher at Nyandiwa so that every penny can be spent on their school priorities.
Thanks for your generosity! A team from Amani have visited Oyugis and have taken some letters written by our Year 5 children. We have received letters from the children at Nyandiwa school and these have been shared with our children.
Thank you to everyone who made a donation at our Christmas Concerts. We have raised over £400 for the school, thanks to your generosity. We have received a message of thanks from the school for the funds which have been used to renovate classroom flooring and create a ramp. The pictures below show photos of the renovated floors and the pupils standing on the new ramp to one of the classrooms. ll the materials have been supplied by Amani using funds raised by our families. The floors had previously been breaking up and dusty, creating a very poor learning environment for the children. Thank you to everyone who sent in stationery items for Nyandiwa School. The team from Hazlemere Church are in Kenya in July and they will take the items and also with some wonderful 'traditional tale' books created by our children. Here is a photo of the Amani Team delivering our gifts (packed in Sainsbury's bags!)  |
About NyandiwaWe are privileged to be linked with a school in western Kenya, Nyandiwa Primary School. Nyandiwa is situated about 3.5 kilometres from the town of Oyugis. Archives
July 2019
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About Us
- News Blog
-
Parents
- Attendance
- Parent Handbooks
- Uniform
- Weekend Words
- School Meals
- Breakfast Club
- School Times and Holiday Dates
- 11+ and Secondary School Admissions
- Assessment in Year 2 and Year 6
- Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
- Easy Fundraising
- Adverse Weather Conditions
- Give us your feedback
- Parent Survey Feedback 2026
- Children
- OUR CURRICULUM
- Wellbeing and Family Support