FOUR TIMES CHAMPIONS IN FIVE YEARS

The Headline is staggering but true. This year Braeburn had a full strength side and were clear favourites to win, but an injury to our star shooter Kamba Mukanda led to some team difficulties. The group matches proved no problem, dismissing opposition with ease, but with several fingers injured and a shooting problem for Kamba, the team faced a few challenges against an energetic Hillcrest team. There was outstanding adaptation and Lurtanya Dias stepped into the starting line up and eased the pressure. The team adapted brilliantly as a whole and they eventually beat a well drilled Braeburn Garden Estate in the final. A special well done to the girls, who have proved themselves as the finest players and team on the KAIS circuit for a number of years.

On Wednesday the 24th of April a few of our cross-country runners, myself and Mr Owino woke up very early for morning flight to Eldoret. We had the incredible opportunity of visiting the town of Iten, also known as the 'Home of Champions', to do some high altitude training at 2400m above sea level.

At Iten we ran alongside and met some incredible athletes, as well as met a variety of passionate international runners who were there to be inspired and learn from the Kenyan runners and coaches in the area. We stayed in a training camp founded by Lornah Kiplagat, multiple world champion, and we were trained by our coach Ruben who encouraged, motivated and inspired us with his knowledge and training program. Often we were joined by children from the town who trained alongside us and raced our athletes for fun.

A training camp is not a luxury camp and the runners were up early every morning for their first run. Breakfast and some recovery time followed before we set out for some speed work. Speed training was done on a 400m track which has been set up in this humble town for all the athletes that visit, as well as those training within the town. Evenings were spent doing a recovery run. It was definitely not always 'fun' and many of our little runners had to persevere when legs were tired and they didn't think they could do any more. However, we arrived back at Nairobi in high spirits, excited to go back next year ... and with very stiff legs.

Gearing towards the Global World Scholars in The Hague, Netherlands Braeburn High school basked in the glory of winning with the BGR students’ names beaming across the giant screen, shouting to all and sundry of the school’s determination for a place in the global stage at the meeting of Nations, in Hague.

Watching the Braeburn Secondary School students taking to the stage, and walking away with over 60 medals chiming around their necks after they braved the sweltering heat was indeed a moment that defied description; Small steps taking a leap towards Global stewardship. For the WSC challenge, the students were divided into two categories - Junior and Senior. Years 5 to 12 students within the age group of 11-18 years participated in this event. The team of 10 scholars brought laurels to the school by winning assorted medals in individual and team awards.

The regional round for this competition comprised of four categories: Scholar's Challenge, Team Debate, Collaborative Writing and Scholar’s Bowl. Iida Kari 9 gold medals, 2 silver medals and a trophy Sree Sundararaman 6 gold and 3 silver medals and team trophy Ronak Raisingani 5 gold, 2 silver and team trophy Rowena De Guzman 5 gold, 1 silver and a team trophy Reanna Varsani 4 Gold and a team trophy.

Sree Sundararaman and Rowena De Guzman

Congratulations to Sree Sundararaman and Rowena De Guzman for achieving TOP IN KENYA awards for last years IGCSE examination series.

Sree Sundararaman TOP IN KENYA– Geography, First Language English and she gained a High Achievement Award for Environmental Management.

Sree also achieved the TOP IN KENYA Award for the Best Student accross 8 academic subjects

Rowena De Guzman TOP IN KENYA– Physical Education

The trip to Kiambethu Tea Farm was educational, remarkable and amusing. We arrived and were welcomed by the owner - Fiona - and were shown what type of tea leaves they pick, and how they picked them (one by one which was very surprising). After that, we had a tasting of the tea they made with homemade biscuits. We  had a chance to grind the leaves and make our own tea!

Following this, we were all taken through the forest and shown trees and plants with medicinal purposes. We were accompanied throughout the forest by tea farm worker Julius and a big group of monkeys (which some of us were lucky enough to feed!). We came back home tired and full with 20 times the knowledge of tea we had before we came. Thank you so much to Fiona and the tea farm workers for welcoming us into their home.

By Alex, Year 5