For many children, a birthday is not ‘Happy’ without cake. Cake is the sweet symbol for birthdays celebrations!

Chocolate cake loading…..

St Andrew’s School, Turi being a boarding school, a good majority of pupils celebrate their birthdays with their school family rather than at home. Perhaps the fuss made over their special day may be a little less than if they were at home; but there’s always cake!

After a busy day trying to figure out how and what makes the world go round, their House parents in collaboration with Mrs Mutiso and the kitchen staff present a cake; the birthday song is sang happily, cake is devoured and everyone is  off to their various evening activities.

The beauty of being in boarding school is that learning never stops, all activities are planned and geared towards some form of development- yes even birthday celebrations and movie nights! By the time the pupils leave Senior Boys and Girls at the end of Year 8, they will not only have had cake for their birthdays, they should also possess the basic cake making skills. The extra life skills they acquire are thanks to the after-school activities which aim at developing the hearts, minds, souls and bodies of the learners outside of the classroom. Camping, bike rides, bible study sessions, baking-examples of what pupils occupy their “free time”. Cooking is also part of Food Technology lessons.

Pupils hard at work during a food technology class

When the world literally stopped nine months ago thanks to Covid-19, stakeholders were forced to re-evaluate education as a whole. Teaching delivery methods, how individual students learn and the welfare of both teachers and learners have been closely examined both in the pre and post-pandemic times.

Learning and teaching remotely for those who have been privileged enough to experience it has had its challenges. However, speaking for the pupils at Turi- it has allowed them to become a little more useful in their respective homes. Baking has been a therapeutic escape not just for our pupils but for many subjected to quarantine and lock-downs world-wide. Leona Materu, Year 7 recently shared the ingredients of her chocolate cupcakes with her teachers and classmates as you can see below.

Like everyone in Kenya, we as a school and a community are praying that all will be well and we can get back to on-campus learning next year. We dare say teaching and learning is much more fulfilling in person. Life has truly changed since the last time we were together; for one we are sure the pupils will be the ones teaching us how to bake!

Chocolate cake complete!

We are open for enrolment. More information on our safe reopening plans and policies here

For child-friendly cake recipes

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/kids-cake-recipes