The children at St James have returned for the second term of the school year and James tells me all is going well. He has just registered the older children for their National Leavers exams which they will sit in November, all hoping to qualify for secondary school. This year there are 30 candidates which is great news but brings with it a challenge of how to pay for their registration to the government. Only 13 of the candidates pay the 27,000 fee, the other 17 make small contributions in food etc. Finding the money is always a challenge for James and I often wonder how he manages it! One thing he won’t have to pay for is ‘sitting’ fee or transport as St James is now a Registered Exam Centre so hopefully several other schools will pay to use our facilities!

St James has a new uniform! James was getting comments from some of the parents that their children ‘disappeared’ in the chocolate brown uniform which I do agree with as often in my photos they were almost one colour! James and the PTA have chosen sunshine yellow to replace the dark brown. The girls wear a yellow dress with a khaki collar and the boys a yellow shirt with khaki collar and shorts. The dress and shirt have the school emblem printed on them. I must admit they look very good and very sunny! I have made this photo into birthday cards to sell for St James!

New desks in the new classrooms! The children love the new desks in their new classrooms that many of you helped to provide! For just £20 you can sponsor a desk too and have your name or the name of a friend or loved one painted on it just like the one in the photo!

Ceiling, solar and paint for Hambridge Hall! The school authorities have told James that we need to put the ceiling in the four classrooms plus paint it before the children sit their exams in November. This is a bit of a challenge as the ceiling alone will cost over 6million UGX (approx £1500) which doesn’t sound a lot but it is in Uganda and is a lot for us to raise! We will plod on, brick by brick & hopefully succeed!