Chapter 02 : Loving Your School

Structure of the school leadership

School leaders play a big role in the learning process. Those leaders help in maintaining discipline, ensuring academic progress and conserving the school environment. The leaders serve various roles depending on their positions. The arrangement of leaders based on their roles and position is called the structure of the school leadership.

Read the following paragraph and answer the questions that follow.

Maendeleo Primary School is one of the oldest schools in the country. Do you want to know about the leadership of this school? The leadership of this school is made up of the school committee, the head teacher, assistant head teacher, academic teacher, discipline teacher, teachers and prefects.

Structure of the school leadership

Figure 1: Structure of the primary school leadership

Responsibilities of school prefects

Read the following panegyric and answer the questions that follow.

Exercise 2

1. Who is the prefect responsible for school environmental cleanliness?

2. Mention the duties of the head prefect.

3. If you were a prefect, which duties would you like to supervise?

Obeying school rules and regulations

It is the responsibility of every pupil to obey school rules and regulations.

Consider the following situations.

1. A pupil whose shirt does not have a school logo has been involved in a motorcycle accident.

2. A pupil arrives and leaves school on time.

3. A pupil has missed examinations because of truancy.

Read the following stow and answer the questions that follow.

Amani Primary School is known for its well-disciplined pupils. The pupils obey school rules and regulations. Such rules and regulations include arriving at school early, attending all lessons, and wearing proper school uniform. All pupils arrive at school at seven o'clock in the morning in clean school uniform. Every day, lessons begin at eight o'clock in the morning and continue up to twenty minutes to two in the afternoon.

Mnyate and Asifiwe are Standard Four pupils at this school. Unfortunately, Mnyate and Asifiwe appeared to develop bad behaviour. They had been truanting regularly. Their class teacher always warned them against their behaviour and advised them to change, but they did not do so. One day, a commercial advertisement van passed nearby their school. Mnyate and Asifiwe listened carefully to the advertisement. Why do you think they were carefully listening to the advertisement?

The advertisement was about launching a new music band, which was going to take place in the afternoon. Mnyate and Asifiwe jumped over the school fence. A crowd of people attended the launching ceremony. Mnyate and Asifiwe squeezed themselves among the people. They then fell unconscious. Since their uniforms did not have school logos, it was difficult to know to which school they belonged. However, good people gave them first aid.

Fortunately, their teacher, Mr Masumbuko, passed by and saw the crowd. He went closer to see what was happening. He was told that two pupils had been squeezed up against the people during the launching of the music band. He asked, "Have you recognized them?" One person answered, "No, we haven't! Their uniforms do not have any school logo." So, Mr Masumbuko came closer to the pupils. "Ooh, My God! These are my pupils!" he said. Immediately, he reached his pocket, took his phone, and called the head teacher who sent some pupils to carry them back to school. When the pupils arrived, Mnyate and Asifiwe had already gained consciousness.

Exercise 3

1. Which school rules did Mnyate and Asifiwe disobey?

2. How would you help pupils with such behaviour in your school?

3. What are the possible effects of disobeying school rules and regulations?

Exercise 4

Match the items in Column A with their corresponding descriptions in Column B.

Participating in activities that promote the status of the school

Every pupil is responsible for participating in various activities at school to promote the status of his/her school.

Look at the following pictures:

Figure 2: Activities which promote the status of a school

Exercise 5

1. Which acts are presented from Pictures 1 to 4?

2. What have you learnt from the activities presented in the pictures?

3. What other activities promote the status of your school?

4. What will you do to promote the status of your school?

Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.

Behold here we come, to present what we have,

The knowledge you acquired, apply it to your lives,

The school is proud, proud of your effort,

Not only in studies, but also culture and sports,

You have inspired us, you are our role model,

Promote the school, that is our aim.

You promoted the school, that is well known,

The school is proud, of the awards you received,

We shall do the same, for school status,

Better academic performance, and competing for medals,

We shall never fail, with good strategies,

Promote the school, that is our aim.

Promote talents, we pray for you,

The country depends on you, you must know this,

You have paved the way, we are passing through,

Get rid of evils, to escape destruction,

That you may succeed, benefiting the nation,

Promote the school, that is our aim.

Vocabulary

Launch start something

Medal an award given to a winner, normally worn around the neck

Secretary a person responsible for writing and keeping records at the meeting

Status respect and importance that someone or Something is given

Truancy staying away from school without permission

Exercise 7

1. Write TRUE for a true statement and FALSE for a false one.

(a)Cooperating with fellow pupils can promote the status of our school. . . . . . . . . . . .

(b)Overseeing pupils' discipline at school is not the duty of school prefects. . . . . . . . . . . .

(c)Pupils' truancy leads to poor academic performance . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(d)Maintaining the status of the school is not the duty of the pupils but teachers alone. . . . . . . . . . .

(e)Pupils' good behaviour is among the things that promote the status of the school. . . . . . . . . .

2. Write a short story on how you will inspire your friend to participate in activities that promote the status of your school.