A proportion of the school - roughly 30% - are given a free place. The remainder will pay for their tuition.
These 30% are specially recruited from rural areas or disadvantaged slum districts, through a specialist process. We look for young people, prepared to stand out from the crowd, who perform well at school, but are also interested in somehow benefiting society.
It's a three-stage process:
1. We ask schools carrying out their Primary Leaving Examinations to select pupils for us to interview
2. We then interview them in their own language, trying to relax them and encourage them to speak their mind
3. Children are then short-listed and brought to a central location where they are given extra testing for artistic ability, conversational ability, maths etc.
Less than 5% of those originally picked are accepted onto the programme and, of these, we also need a commitment of cooperation from parents, as our school is in Kampala and we will need some land from each pupil, which parents will farm on their behalf during their schooling.
The recruitment process is challenging, but we have been very successful to date, with only one selected member having to be excluded and all members participating fully on the programmes.
If you are a capable and talented young person in Uganda and would like to participate, but are in Primary 6 or below, you can still participate in our Young Social Entrepreneur Programme and you will be invited to join the Chrysalis School when you have completed Primary 7. If you participate fully by attending training and planting for us, then we will sponsor your school fees.