Cornelius Hope Academy Primary School

The Village of Hope received registration to operate a primary school on the ground, April 1^st, 2007. In anticipation, construction began in the fall of 2006. And on May 8^th, 2007 Cornelius Hope Academy Primary School (CHAPS) opened its doors for grades one and two for 19 children.

In January, 2008 CHAPS was expanded to teach 200 students from Kindergarten (grade 0/ECD) to grade 6 (You can read our newsletter announcing this and also download a PDF reporting on the Grand Opening celebrations).

In January, 2009, our student body reached 350 children, grades 1-7 with 16 full time teachers, including a Sports Director and a full time Remedial teacher. As the last classroom block planned to complete CHAPS is built this year, we will have the capacity in 2010 for 500 primary school students.

As we believe we are all equal in God’s eyes, about 70% of our student population is sponsored through Child Care Plus. The rest of our student body pay school fees. The friendships forming as they learn together are beautiful to watch! To keep things equal, once a child is enrolled in CHAPS, every pencil, pen and notebook is provided.

A morning feeding program is also provided so our children start the day on a full stomach and ready to learn. Currently about 200 CHAPS students come and start the day right with a hot breakfast.

We keep class sizes of 25, maximum 30, to ensure quality and individual attention. Testimonies speak for themselves and we praise God for Takunda who had a 6% finishing grade and had to repeat grade one at a local school. But with attendance at CHAPS, and in one term, scored over 70%, reads English and Shona (the local language), prays out loud and performs in front of an audience with confidence!

Because of the unstable educational system and CHAPS high standards, the Village of Hope wishes to see our sponsored children right through their education. For this reason, a Secondary School registration has now been applied for and we are praying will open on a small scale in January 2010.

A Christian education is key to giving the children of Zimbabwe HOPE… FOR THEIR FUTURE! These are the future leaders of tomorrow.

Hope Community Preschool

(graduating class of 2008)

Hope Community Preschool opened its doors to children in 2003 as a half day program and service to the local community. Today it runs as a full day program, and approximately 60% of those that attend it Monday through Friday, are sponsored by families in Canada through the ChildCare Plus Sponsorship Program (link).

Each day these children come they are prepared for entrance into grade ‘zero’ (or ECD – Early Childhood Development) at CHAPS, taught a Bible story and about the love of Jesus Christ, ABC’s and 123’s, and fed a full balanced diet while under our care. They will sleep on clean mattresses and have a clean blanket to curl up with. Most of these children have already come through our feeding program in one of the local ‘plots’ (see Community Outreach Program).