In just a year the number of Pupils at Capinahan Primary School climbs from 31 to 119 pupils!
It’s been over a month now, that our nutrition program was implemented at Capinahan Primary School with every child in kindergarten, first and second grade and now this week third and fourth grade receiving a free nutritious lunch from Monday to Friday.
Aside from loving their lunches, it has been noted that the children are now showing a positive attitude towards school. The 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Shello Garcia, confirmed that absenteeism has been minimised with the children hardly ever skipping school and puts it down to the fact that they are not only well fed but are able to get to school on the free shuttle service.  Earlier this week we mentioned the awards that the children have received and how many of these awards went to GSF children!
The feeding program has also given the parents a sense of camaraderie as they work closely together every day preparing the meals and volunteering to stay and help serve it too. Â
We are also thrilled to announce that this week (3 Sept) Grade 3 and 4 have now joined the school bringing the numbers up to 119 pupils.Â
The children are all taught in a multigrade system – very similar to many schools in the UK. In the classrooms we now have kindergarten and 1st graders together in one room with a teacher:
2nd graders have their own classroom:
and … 3rd and 4th graders share a classroom with one teacher:
The District Education Supervisor from the Department of Education has promised that additional teachers will be starting in October which will be so important in ensuring that our children receive the best possible education.Â
In just a year, the expansion of this small community school has been incredible, with numbers increasing from 31 children to 119 children.  There is still a lot more work to be done at the school, and if you are reading this, and can help in anyway, please do contact us. These children are the future and they need our help in ensuring they have the best possible education. 
Our GSF Children receive awards for: “Perfect Attendance, Most Courteous and Top Achievers”
Capinahan Primary School held their first quarterly awards and the children that attend school from the GSF Village stand out as the best achievers in academic learning, general behaviour and attendance.Â
We are so proud of not only our children but everyone who has helped make this  possible. The children are transported daily to school in the bus and without this free shuttle service, many children could not attend. Once at school they receive a nutritious meal every day, kindly cooked by our mothers and we all know that a well fed child is a well fed mind.  Because of these two factors, the children are motivated to attend school daily and their achievement levels increase. Â
We also have to thank Central Philippines University who come to the village every week to hold a class for the children. During the holidays it was during the week and now during term time back to Saturdays. Because of their commitment, our children have the edge academically compared to other children. CPU have developed their confidence and academically they are thriving – the children are notably more active during discussions, story telling and games.Â
The future is looking bright for our GSF Children – Education is the foundation upon which they will build their future.Â
Nutrition Programme at the Capinahan School.
As part of our commitment to The Capinahan School, we are delighted to announce that we now have a Nutrition Programme in place.Â
The parents firstly built a ‘Canteen’ in the traditional Bayanihan way.  The community spirit is as strong as ever and it is so heart warming to see everyone joining forces to get this building ready for the children.Â
Whilst the children are in lessons, some of the mothers will get behind the scenes and start cooking the nutritious food, which will be available every day. Â
Sadly, we learnt that the reason some children did not attend school in the past, was because the parents had no food to send to school with them (packed lunch). With this Nutrition programme now in place – every child can attend school and will receive a delicious lunch too.Â
However, preparing the food is not a simple task -  the school currently has no water system in place so every morning the parents fetch water from the nearby water pump and carry it to school.  This water is then used for the food preparation and also to teach the children to wash their hands before eating. Hygiene seminars have been held in the village so it is important that is taught to the children at school.Â
Ms. Annabel Roca, who is the parents representative expressed her heartfelt thanks to Greg and the Foundation for helping the children not only receive a proper education but good nutritious food too. The future is looking bright, and with this delicious ‘brain food’ the GSF children could well be the brightest!Â
16 Chairs delivered to Capinahan School.
Yesterday, 16 chairs were delivered to the children at Capinahan School for the second graders who are seven years old. Â They were so excited and wasted no time in helping to unload the truck.
These chairs were handmade by the local furniture store in Lemery and paid for with the money that two people have kindly donated: Maria Anna Patricia Rueda and Gabriella Tilbury.  The classrooms are small so these are fantastic in saving space as each chair has its own writing desk. Â
Thank you to both, Maria Anna and Gabriella for the very generous donations, which enabled us to buy the chairs for the children’s school.
The Children love their new tables at Capinahan School.
Yesterday we told you about the generous donation from Gabriella Tilbury to the Kindergarten School, and today we can show you pictures of the children sitting at the tables that were made because of this donation!
The classrooms looks fantastic with the different colours and shaped tables that can be put together to make rounds, squares and rectangles!Â
It’s so rewarding to see the children happy in their newly refurbished classrooms. We will keep you updated as things happen here!
Gabriella Tilbury donates her birthday money to the Capinahan School.
Amy’s daughter, Gabriella has very kindly donated her birthday money to the Capinahan School where we now have 82 children enrolled from the village.Â
The money has already been put to good use, with the parents buying the provisions to build tables for the classrooms. Â In just a day, they had made a variety of shapes and painted them in different colours to brighten up the classrooms. Â Such quick work – well done team.
The blackboard was also re-furbished with a new layer of blackboard paint.Â
A donation like Gabriella’s goes a long way. Â Thank you Gabriella – a huge inspiration for others to do the same. Â If you would like to help in some way, please do -Â every bit really does make a difference.Â
Three new teachers to join our Capinahan School.
We are delighted to announce that due to a huge rise in enrolment figures from 20 to 80 children, at our newly refurbished Capinahan School, we have secured an additional 3 teachers with the Department of Education.
Amy and the GSF team met with Celisa Beriong – OIC Division Chief Superintendant who oversees all 900 Iloilo Junior schools and 115 Secondary Schools, Gilbert Solidum – Division Head for School Governance and Operations and Juan Tamano – Supervisor in School Operations. They discussed the needs of GSF village and Capinahan Barangay in general in respect of the school and agreed that more than one teacher was now needed.  Both GSF and the Department of Education will enter into a partnership to improve the school in the future. Norma Palmejar (on behalf of GSF) will sit on the school council to ensure input and will have an oversight on the school governance.Â
This is such a fantastic step in the right direction for the children. The longer they are able to stay in full time education the better and having 3 extra teachers will now ensure this happens. Â Thank you to the Department of Education for your time and helping us give the children the best start in life.Â
We must finally say a huge thank you to Gabriella Tilbury who kindly donated her birthday money towards the tables and chairs in the school. Â Â
If you would like to help the future of the GSF children by donating please do. Every bit helps. Thank you.Â
The Turn-over ceremony of Capinahan Primary School.
After several months of hard work refurbishing the two classrooms at Capinahan Primary School, we are pleased to announce that the work is complete.Â
 
Amy Leverson-Gower who is on the Board of Directors at GSF, flew out from the UK to officially hand over the school, and joined DR Sanico, a representative from the Division office of Department of Education and the Barangay chairman-elect of Capinahan.Â
There are 82 children from the village enrolled in the Capinahan School from Kindergarten up to year 4 which is 10 years old, and they all attended the ceremony where school bags and supplies were handed out to them after the speeches.Â
In the short time that Amy had in the village she certainly packed a lot into one day!  Having left Iloilo City at 6am she drove to the the GSF Village and started off by visiting the Talipapa market for a much needed cup of native coffee. From there she had a little wander around the village and was amazed at how much everything had grown in six months; runner beans, tomatoes, aubergine and papaya were all looking fantastic.Â
She then had a quick cuddle with baby Greg who was born in February, a lesson on Moringa planting, learnt how to do hydroponics and mushroom cultivation, Â and then on to the school!Â
Amy did mention that the one thing she really noticed was that there was a real sense of community and happiness in the village. It is great to hear that our beneficiaries are doing well.Â
After a long day, the GSF team then returned back to Iloilo with Amy, where they all treated to  a “Happy Birthday DR” and “Team Building” dinner. Well done to the GSF team for all your hard work.Â
Thank you “Shiplake College”.
The week before half term, Josh Hamer’s school, Shiplake College, held a cake sale, fundraising for the children that Josh met in the Greg Secker Foundation Village when he visited in January.Â
Josh made some close friends in a short time in the village and wanted to help in some way when he returned to the UK.Â
After seeing Josh’s video from his time in the village, and listening to him talk about his time there, his school decided to support him and arranged for the cake sale to take place. The Shiplake boys brought in delicious home made cakes from home, and then sold them to the teachers and other pupils over three days. A fantastic amount was made and the money has gone towards buying the GSF children their new school book bags, books and pens. The children had their first day back at school today so already they are being put to good use!
The children in the village were so excited that a school in the UK had arranged a cake sale to help them and that Josh was a part of this. He was known as the piped piper in the village with the children following him around all day.
On behalf of everyone at the Greg Secker Foundation and the children in the village, thank you Shiplake College for all your support and kind donation.Â
The next exciting fundraiser that Josh and his friends will be doing is the Muddy Mayhem Run on Sunday 7th October 2018.  Money raised from this event will go towards a playground for the children.Â
“Brigade Eskwela” at Capinahan Primary School.
Monday June 4th, and, another school year begins!
Summer holidays in the Philippines are over, and today our children in the Greg Secker Foundation Village go back to school. Â
Last week, the parents, community, non-government organisations and other stakeholders were all involved in “Brigada Eskwela” which is a programme organised by the Department of Education whereby everyone comes together to prepare the school campus for the opening of classes.
Brigada Eskwela, also known as the “Bayanihan Para sa Paaralan (Working Together for Schools)”, added a new meaning to the Filipino concept of unity. From the image of barrio men bearing together the weight of a bahay kubo (nipa hut) on their shoulders to the image of volunteers braving storms and floods to help calamity-stricken communities, Brigada Eskwela brings to us a picture of people from different sectors of society repainting walls and blackboards, cleaning windows and doors, repairing fences and tidying the school grounds.
Capinahan Primary School has many children from our village attending so parents joined the local community and had a great day in helping tidy up, planting new plants and clearing away any old foliage.  The children made the most of playing in the play area too.
It is great to see the whole community come together like this to get the children’s school ready for the first day of term.  Even the primary teacher himself got stuck in and helped tidy up!
