It’s a good problem to have, if you think about it: Too many students and not enough room. That means there are a lot more kids in Bulembu who are getting an education. But that can also make for an uncomfortable learning environment for both teacher and student. To accommodate for this growth, Bulembu Christian Academy has once again expanded and added a new high school campus.

As the children returned to school in the new year and after their recent holiday break, 74 students eagerly returned to a newly renovated building at Bulembu Christian High School.

“As we planned for 2012,” explained Dennis Neville, Director of Education,  Bulembu Christian Academy, “We found that the ideal situation would be to create a high school campus for our older children. We wanted to create the right learning environment for the older children as well as create a campus that they can be proud of and consider their own.”

Staff members worked hard at converting the former Welcome Centre into the new campus just in time for this school year to begin. The high school boasts five main classrooms, which include Grade 7, Form I, Form II, Form IVA and Form IVB, and a number of specialty classrooms including rooms for geography, design and technology, travel and tourism, and Afrikaans. (Forms I, II and III are essentially Grades 8 and 9 split over three years while Form IV is Grade 10.) The school also has an equipped science laboratory, a computer room and a small library.

“Our children need to spend more time reading and researching their work,” explained Dennis. “The library is an important part of this campus.”

Eleven full and part time teachers take part in the education of these students, and while they’re excited about enriching each individual students life, they are also faced with some challenges. Vital resources for the school are at a premium and Dennis hopes to be able to add textbooks, teacher resources and reference library materials soon. The other challenge is that this new location is only a temporary one until the permanent campus can be built.

“We are trusting God for the finances to put towards the construction of this new campus over the next two years,” Dennis said. Until then, he and the students are looking forward to seeing tremendous growth in 2012.

“Last year was an awesome year where we saw incredible results from our highest grade,” Dennis added. “We’re very proud of all that they managed to accomplish, and I’m excited to see both the teachers and the students make the high school campus a place of rich learning but also of fun.”

By: Theresia Whitfield