The Jacaranda Primary and Secondary School is the only entirely free primary and secondary school in the whole of Malawi. We give tertiary education scholarships to all our secondary school graduates. And we provide our 400 students with Health, Nutrition, Agriculture, Reading, Arts, Music, Sports and Home Support programs.
12 primary and secondary school classes:
The Jacaranda Primary and Secondary School follows the Malawian curriculum. A child entering the Jacaranda School will benefit from 12 years of entirely free education: Primary school runs from Standard 1 to Standard 8; Secondary School from Form 1 to Form 4.

The children take the Malawian national exams:
- Primary School Leaving Certificate Examination (PSLCE) at the end of Standard 8
- Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) at the end of Form 2
- Malawi School Certificate Examination (MSCE) at the end of Form 4: depending on his or her MSCE results, a student can enter universities in Malawi

Tertiary Education:
- We give college scholarships to all our secondary school graduates. We currently have 14 students in college in Malawi, studying Business Management, Human Resources Management, Hotel & Catering, Electronic Engineering, Rural & Community Development, etc. Ten more graduates will join them in June 2011 for a total of 25 college students, as we also sent one student to college in California in the US, where she is doing very well. In February 2011, John Kalombora, who graduated from Jacaranda in 2008 and whom we sent to college in Malawi for two years, was hired by an international bank in Malawi. He is our first student starting qualified employment in Malawi.

Medical Program:
Many of our students are in poor health when they arrive at Jacaranda School, due to malnutrition, lack of hygiene and difficult living conditions. We also have many HIV positive children who need special care. We have hired a nurse who comes two days a week, screens the children, gives them first aid and then directs them to the clinic or hospital. We provide transport to the children and their guardians to go to hospital. Due to lack of funds, we have not been able to hire the nurse on a full time basis. We also wish to build a small clinic for our students and their guardians. If you would like to help develop our Medical program, please click here.

Nutrition:
Most of the Jacaranda School children arrive to school on an empty stomach and cannot afford lunch. Every morning at the 9:30AM break, each child gets a half-liter cup of multi-vitaminated porridge. After noticing many secondary school children were tired and losing focus in the afternoon, we decided to give them a second cup of porridge at lunch time, and we have since observed a clear improvement.
Every day, we also provide lunch to several HIV positive primary school children who need a good, balanced diet and nutrition.

Agriculture:
We have developed several agricultural activies at Jacaranda:
- School garden: the children, under the guidance of their teachers, learn how to plant, grow and harvest a variety of crops (maize, cabbages, tomatoes, beans, soja, potatoes) around their school campus, and in the vegetable garden we have created on a nearby piece of land in the village. We use the produce of the garden to feed the children.
- Chicken Farm: we have recently started a chicken farm with 150 broilers chicken (raised for the meat) and 50 chicken layers, who provide eggs. We feed the children with some of the meat and the eggs, and we sell the rest for the self-sustainaibility of the project.
- Farm: we also keep a variety of animals such as pigeons, local chickens, guinea fowls, rabbits and turkeys. The children love to come and see the animals, learning firsthand about nature.
- Greenhouse: we also have a project in progress: the construction of a greenhouse that will allow us to plant and grow tree seedlings and flowers. We will use some of the trees and flowers to plant on the Jacaranda school campus, and we will sell the rest as an income-generating activity.

Reading:
Four years ago, we started a little library with 11 books put on a shelf in the pantry of Marie Da Siva's family house, the house she had turned into the Jacaranda School. Today, we have refurbished an old building and we have over 6,000 donated books. The children use the library on a daily basis, consult American or British reference textbooks, borrow books at home. One of our volunteers organizes daily reading sessions with primary school children. And teachers use reading books in their classes.

Arts:
Arts are part of the school curriculum. The children learn how to draw, to paint, and to do crafts. The children also help in painting and decorating their school. One of our latest programs is the transformation of stones picked in the school yard. Children paint the stones and turn them into beautiful flowers, paperweights, decorative objects, with an array of creative designs. Recently, our primary school also took part in a fashion show in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi, with several designs from our students selected, made into dresses and presented during the show.

Music:
Music is very important at Jacaranda School. In 2010, the children with the help of German volunteers and using donated instruments, put together a school band, with songs they composed themselves. In October 2010, our school band was invited to the Lake of Stars Festival, the biggest music festival in Malawi. The children performed a full set and played with headliners Noisettes (from UK) and Nomfusi (from South Africa). Apart from the school band, we also have a school choir, and children perform many African traditional dances. We would like to further develop music at our school and teach music as a subject in primary and secondary school. We also would like to record a "Jacaranda School Band & Choir" CD.

Sports:
Jacaranda children learn and practice several sports during Physical Education classes and in their sports clubs: soccer (boys and girls); netball; volleyball. And every weekend the children come and ride the donated bicycles we keep at the school. The Jacaranda soccer team competes in a championship with teams from neighboring schools. We intend to further develop our Sports programs, for instance by introducing basket ball.

Home Support:
We support 18 very impoverished families at home on a monthly basis, thanks to donations sent by friends and supporters. The monthly donations help the students' guardians puchase food, clothes, medicine, for their child. We have also fixed several dilapidated students' houses, changing roofs, fixing walls and floors, replacing doors and windows. This Home Support program is very efficient, as we monitor the proper use of the funds disbursed. The children's lives and school results quickly improve.
Jacaranda primary school students and teachers
Jacaranda secondary school students
Subjects taught at Jacaranda Secondary School:
- English (Language & Literature)
- Chichewa (Language & Literature)
- Mathematics
- Physical Science
- Biology
- Agriculture
- History
- Geography
- Social Studies
- Life Skills
- Business Studies
- Bible Knowledge
- French
Marie Da Silva with our 2010 secondary school graduates, whom we are sending to college
Some of the Jacaranda broilers chicken
Reading session in the library
Natasha riding a bike with the help of Alinafe
Alex with two stones he painted
We renovated Innocent's house, one of our Standard 6 students, thanks to donations from Robert Burke.