My Dear Friends,

As the school is soon going to be near a decade of its existence, I feel a great sense of joy that we have come a long way in fulfilling our dream of imparting quality education and forming the character of our students. This is seen with the good results we have secured in the NECTA examinations and also our students have been chosen to some of the top schools for continuing their advanced secondary education. They have also shown their grit and character after leaving this school. They have always expressed their gratitude for what they have been trained at St. Joseph.

OUR VISION:

INTEGRAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH EDUCATION:

Our intention is:

1. Not to make education a bookish study
2. Not to make education just memorizing
3. Not to create employment seekers
4. Not to produce directionless youth

OUR INTENTION IS TO SHOWCASE:

Our intention is:

1. Education as a tool for individual development
2. A tool for social change
3. A tool for nation building
4. A tool for imparting Gospel/humanitarian values
5. A tool for the creation of an egalitarian happy society.

OUR STRATEGY: 1

MILESTONES ALREADY ACHIEVED TILL NOW:

1. SUFFICIENT INFRASTRUCTURE: The school has the infrastructure required to carry on the activities of a full-fledged school. The school is situated in a congenial environment. The avenue is conducive to study. The academic and residential buildings are all located in a wide place, giving the students the opportunity to breathe fresh air and walk around in a relaxed manner. These days the campus is catching up with the greenery through the upcoming trees. The laboratories are hailed as one of the best in Tanzania.
2. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: The school has climbed the ladder of academic progress as seen in the increasing qualitative results of the school. The school has always stood first in the district level in the National examinations held during the last few years. It has achieved the landmark of being first in the diocese too. At the Kilimanjaro level, our position is 4th, where we just follow the top 10 schools on the list. At the country level, our highest ranking so far has been 38th in 2019 among 4500 schools. The majority of our students in Form Four passed with division one and we had very few Division Two in the NECTA. All this goes on to say that we are really moving forward and achieving greater success at the academic level
3. STUDENTS SELECTED FOR REPUTED SCHOOLS: As we have mentioned at the beginning of this report, our efforts are yielding fruit which is seen in our students who have completed Form Four are being selected to top government schools which are among the top ten schools in the country. This is a matter of great satisfaction for us as we are preparing our students to make an impact in the society in which they live.
4. ALL-ROUND FORMATION: We take the integral formation of the students very seriously as seen with the seminars we arrange for the students. Every Saturday workshops are arranged on various topics and even on other days talks are arranged upon the availability of resource persons. The students have expressed their satisfaction with this formation and the outgoing students share how it has influenced their personalities.
5. PREPARING FOR A CAREER: We are clear that we don’t want to create educated ‘unemployed’ youth. At every possible stage, we emphasize and prepare the students to form themselves towards a life where they will be confident to make their life an opportunity to give their best to society. This is seen in organizing various seminars on confidence building, experience sharing by various entrepreneurs, visits to industrial areas, referring students to technical institutes, guidance on scholarships, etc. The students are prepared to take life as a challenge rather than as a problem.

MAIN FEATURES OF THE GUIDING POLICIES OF THE SCHOOL:

1. TO FORM PERSONS DEEPLY ROOTED IN GOD: We are well aware that no progress without God is long-lasting. Unless our students are taught to be oriented towards God, they will soon be swayed by the evil forces of this world and all the efforts which we have put in will become futile. Our stress on the spiritual formation of the students will definitely move them strongly toward God. Besides, we as the management and the staff are also trying to be living examples to the children.
2. COMBINATION OF BUILDING COMPETENCE AND CHARACTER: We believe in building the competence of the students so that they may be able to compete with their peers at national and international levels. They cannot afford to be just mediocre but always try to excel in all that they take up. Further, competence without character is of no avail. All around the world, we see the most successful people being caught up in various scandals. A strong character alone can make a person truly successful in life. Competence and character are the two sides of the same coin which is called “life”.
3. ACCEPTING THE LEAST AND MAKING THEM THE BEST: Though we have a desire to be one of the top ten in the country, we have not been swayed by the desire to take only the best students. Though we get a lot more applications than required, we give priority to regions and our main desire is to reach out to students of the Kilimanjaro region. We have made it a practice to take average students and raise them to become excellent. This is clearly seen in our results since in the first batch itself we stood first in the district and fifth in the region.
4. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: We have begun the process of identifying the students, give them the aptitude tests and directing them towards a more relevant life in which they are good in. For this purpose, we have appointed one of the staff members, who has completed his Master’s degree in Human Resource Management as the HR manager of the school. We hope within the next few months, it will bring about the desired change.

OUR DREAMS AT ST JOSEPH:

1. TO MAKE IT AMONG THE TOP TEN: Yes, we know that with the selection of a mixture of good and average students, it’s not so easy to be among the top ten. But we know nothing is impossible when God blesses our efforts.
2. TO MAKE OUR STUDENTS THE NATION BUILDERS: We see our students as future nation builders who can be able to change the destiny of this country. That is why no efforts are spared to motivate them and lead them towards preparing them for this goal.
3. NO ONE’S TALENT SHOULD BE LOST: Being challenged by the job market and the negative policies of the government, we want to strive that no talent is lost and no one goes unemployed. This requires self-confidence to face the challenges of life and make a meaningful living in spite of the challenges. We are filling such courage among our students and we hope and pray that they will not become the victims of circumstances around them.

HOW DO WE INTEND TO DO OUR SCHOOL AMONG THE TOP TEN SCHOOLS? OUR DREAMS AT ST JOSEPH:

1. MOTIVATION TO THE STUDENTS: One of the good things we observed among the students is that over the years there has been a growing desire among the students both individually and collectively. This is shown by the recent batch which though was not so promising; still, they have performed better than the previous batches. Beginning this year, we hope to still improve the performance. The students are advised right in the beginning of the year to aim at something high. The best performers are given substantial financial incentives after the results. In fact, both in Form Two and Form Four, the results have been much better than what we had expected and as a result we have lost a lot of money by way of awards!!!
2. FREQUENT EXAMINATIONS: The students are prepared through tests, monthly tests and preparatory examinations. Various question papers belonging to different years are given to the students so that they are able to get ready with a variety of questions.
3. INTER-SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS: It’s been a practice now that we have inter-school examinations with different schools especially those performing well. These exams help us to see the performance to be evaluated by external evaluators. This has challenged the students to perform better and learn from the experiences of other schools.
4. COMMITMENT OF THE MANAGEMENT: The management of the schools is clear-sighted with regard to the path which we have to tread during the coming years. No stone is unturned to achieve this result. This enables the entire machinery of the school to work consistently towards desired goals.

With the above discussion, it’s clear that the school is:

1. Progressive
2. Forward-looking
3. Relevant
4. Committed

CONCLUSION:
As the years go by, we are becoming more and more excited to achieve laurels for our students and for our school. The fruits of my work so far are very encouraging. The management, staff and students are all working with great enthusiasm to achieve our goal of making the school among the top ten in the country and also to make our students future stars of the society. Having God with us, we are sure to achieve our desired goals. No doubt, the support we receive from our parents and our benefactors is pushing us forward to reach greater heights.