Rising Academy Waterloo

Turning adversity into achievement

Rising Academy Waterloo is an independent pre-school through
secondary school on the outskirts of Freetown Sierra Leone. Founded in 2016 in the wake of the
Ebola crisis, the school has defied the odds; doubling enrollment during periods of significant
economic hardship and outperforming some of the country’s best schools despite fees being less
than $1 per day. Rising Academy Waterloo has not only become a cornerstone to its local
community but it has also developed innovations that have now reached over a quarter of a
million students across Sierra Leone and beyond.

Overcoming crippling financial shocks and school closures has
instilled in the Rising Academy Waterloo team a profound commitment to ensuring children learn,
regardless of the obstacles they face. In the last two years, the school’s children have
achieved a 100% pass rate in their major public exams, making it the top-performing school in
its district and one of the top schools in the country. To deliver these outstanding results at
such an affordable cost, Rising Academy Waterloo focuses on three simple but powerful ideas:
great curriculum for every lesson, great coaching for every teacher, and actionable data to
drive continuous improvement. But it is also built on a culture that believes it can achieve
extraordinary things with modest means. “We do more than anyone thought possible, with less than
anyone thought possible” is part of the school's values.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the school was part of a team that
pioneered a radio education programme, “Rising-on-Air”, ensuring continued learning for its
students. This 20-week programme of radio lessons for all grade levels was selected by the
Ministry of Education in Sierra Leone to be broadcast not only to parents in Freetown but to the
whole nation and was also adopted by neighbouring West African countries.

The school has also become an innovation centre for other
educational tools such as Rising’s free-to-use, multi-award-winning AI-powered virtual maths
tutor, Rori, which has already reached over 80,000 children via WhatsApp. Furthermore, the
“RisingFaster” programme, designed and tested at Rising Waterloo to help children who had fallen
behind catch up, now reaches over a quarter of a million students in public schools across
Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Rwanda.

If awarded the World's Best School Prize for Overcoming Adversity,
Rising Academy Waterloo plans to invest the prize money in establishing the “RisingBeyond”
alumni network with the aim of extending the school's impact by fostering lasting connections
and support among graduates, enhancing community development and involvement. This project will
symbolise the school's long-term commitment to its students and their futures regardless of the
challenges they might continue to face.