"Excellence through inclusion"
KYANINGA INCLUSIVE MODEL SCHOOL
KIMS is not just another school in Africa, it is an important aspect of Kyaninga Education Hub, an organisation dedicated to improving teaching and learning by offering training in Inclusive Education. KIMS is the realisation of Kyaninga Education Hub’s vision for outstanding education for every child by all teachers in every school in Uganda. KIMS is a unique school located in Fort Portal, Western Uganda, that offers a wonderful, engaging and child-centred education to a diverse group of children, including children with disabilities and typical learners from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.
At KIMS we hold dearly to our hearts the story of the little girl and the starfish.
A girl was walking along a beach, there were thousands of stranded starfish, when she came to each starfish she picked it up and placed it back into the sea. A man observed the girl and said “You can’t begin to make a difference “. The little girl replied as she placed a starfish in the sea
“Well, I’ve made a difference to that one!”
This is our simple objective – to make a difference to each and every one of our children so that they can make a contribution to the world they live in.
LEARNING TOGETHER
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR YOUR CHILD
In the knowledge that it widens horizons, promotes understanding and develops empathy in all children, the inclusive education at KIMS brings immense benefits to both children with and without disability. By learning together, expectations are increased and learning outcomes improved, for everyone.
- Dual UK/Ugandan curriculum
- Student-centred learning
- Positive learning environment
- Learning through play
- Individual attention in small classes
SSC
KIMS Special Support Centre (SSC) shares learning facilitates and allows for students with disabilities to be taught alongside their nondisabled peers.
KIMS actively celebrates diversity and every child is recognised for their own unique qualities.
REHABILITATION AND THERAPY
Within the SSC, our team of expert special needs teachers develop individual learning plans for children with disabilities, enhanced by rehabilitation therapy such as occupational, speech and physio in partnership with Kyaninga Child Development Centre. Our aim is for all children to become functionally independent and go on to become valued and productive members of their community.
UPPER KEY STAGE 2
Upper KS2 Classes cater for children ages 11 – 13 and prepare childen to sit there PLEs or entrance exams into international schools.
PART OF A WIDER SOLUTION
As a model school, KIMS provides local teachers, trainers of teachers and those responsible for implementing educational policy, with the opportunity to experience best practice at first hand. KIMS demonstrates how teachers can use more engaging and inclusive teaching methods to improve the learning of all children. Seeing Children with Disabilities learn and succeed is gradually breaking down the barriers and stigma that currently exist within the Ugandan education system.
OUR IMPACT
KIMS was set up in 2020 to address the alarming reality that only 9% of Ugandan Children With Disabilities attend primary school. The main reasons for this are:
- lack of physical accessibility to schools
- lack of training on the part of the teachers and those responsible for training teachers’
- negative attitudes held by headteachers, teachers and community leaders towards CWDs
Despite Ugandan Government policy being supportive of inclusive education, the reality on the ground tells a different story – one where thousands of children, scorned by society, are kept in back rooms denied their right to even the most basic education.
If we are to achieve a more equitable and inclusive world, in which children with disabilities can access a meaningful education, we need to stop talking empty rhetoric and start by putting into the practice the idealism that unites us.
At KIMS we model the changes schools can bring about to become truly inclusive, despite the challenges such as a lack of resources and overcrowded classrooms prevalent within the overwhelmed Ugandan education system. KIMS is living proof how it can be done.
The provision of high-quality education for all, breaks the cycle of poverty, providing hope and life choices to even the most marginalised children.