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Head Master's
Annual Report 2005/2006
My first year as
Headmaster of the Swiss School has been an intensive one. On 29th
August 2005, the RMS Swiss School started its 40th year of
existence under a heavy downpour. And it was not to remain the only
occasion that fell victim to the rain. The 40th Anniversary
Celebration had to be hurriedly transferred to the Schweizer Hüsli because
of the previous night’s rain, and it rained heavily during the second annual
soccer tournament, as well as throughout our Flea Market in the spring.
We were fortunate enough to be
able to maintain the previous year’s average enrolment figure of at least 80
children, of which 25% were Swiss, throughout this academic year. The
children greatly enriched the school community during the year under review.
With regard to the long-term prospects of the school, however, these figures
constitute neither a positive development nor an increase.
The School Committee is active
and supportive! After several intensive
meetings, the RMS Swiss School Committee showed understanding for the
strategic plans of the school administration and submitted its vision to a
thorough analysis. I therefore take this opportunity to say a
heartfelt thank you to the Committee members for their professionalism.
I consider it as anything but a matter of course in this day and age, to
undertake such time-consuming work on a voluntary basis.
The following strategic
objectives were adopted in the spring of 2006:
An increase in the number of
English lessons
When transferring to other
international schools, competence in English and the number of hours
attended are extremely important for our pupils with regard to the number of
credits they are awarded. The number of English lessons taught has now
been raised to the same level as French. Furthermore, the new English
teacher has worked out a new syllabus which will be enforced in the coming
school year, and which should make the subject English clear and transparent
for all concerned.
Closure of the
English-language kindergarten
Because of a decline in the
number of pupils, we had to close the English-language kindergarten at the
end of the school year. Pre-school now consists of Kindergarten 1
(formerly the playgroup for children between the ages of two to four) and
Kindergarten 2 (the existing German-language kindergarten). Both
kindergarten classes have English-speaking assistants at their disposal.
With this, the Swiss School is sending a clear signal: that educationally,
German is the main subject in pre-school. This will provide children
with a sound foundation for learning to read and write later on. At
the same time, their English competence will be further enhanced through the
presence of the assistants.
Introduction of a 10th
Grade in the summer of 2007
We plan to collaborate with
the distance-learning institute ILS from the summer of 2007 onwards.
Pupils who wish to complete 10th Grade will work exclusively with
materials from the Institute. In addition, RMS teachers will make themselves
available to these children a few hours per week. During these
periods, questions will be answered, subject areas explained and assistance
provided for laboratory experiments. Our teaching staff will play an
advisory role only. All course work will be supervised by specialists
from ILS, who will also conduct the examinations. The RMS Swiss School
is convinced that this offer will in particular benefit the German pupils
who wish to obtain their secondary school intermediate certificate here in
Ghana.
Our teachers are
professionals!
Much was asked of the
teachers, the administrative staff and the hostel mother last year. As
well as their normal duties, they had to work on the preparation of the RMS
Swiss School Model. They also invested an enormous amount of time in
the preparations for the 40th anniversary celebration. This
tour de force became necessary because of the short notice given them by the
school administration and the Committee. The first afternoon of the
two-day celebration was in my view particularly successful with its creative
ideas and fantastic games, which enabled the children to derive maximum
enjoyment out of the celebration. Extremely popular were the games
that had a Swiss “flavour”, such as Schwingen (a Swiss-style wrestling),
airgun shooting, arm wrestling, hammering of nails, Wilhelm Tell contests,
and tug-of-war. Here, too, a big thank you to all concerned.
A special thank you to the
local staff!
Your helpfulness and
reliability make you an indispensable part of the school administration.
We greatly appreciate your support and look forward to your continued
cooperation.
We have terrific children at
our school!
The way older children
interact with younger ones, and the younger with the older, is amazing to
see. This is not only evident during occasional inter-class sports
competitions, but on a daily basis, whether before classes begin or during
the breaks. Our school provides an ideal training ground for the
acquisition of social skills. It doesn’t go without saying that pupils of
different ages get on well together. It requires a lot of consideration for
each other. Dear children, you are doing it and therefore you deserve a big
compliment.
Thank you, dear parents!
It is my special wish to
express my gratitude to you, dear parents, for the trust you place in the
RMS Swiss School by sending your children to us. We are striving
towards the same goal: to give your children the best possible education
that will enable them to transfer successfully to a higher secondary school
or vocational institute. Your presence and participation contributed
in a major way to the success of school functions of every kind. We
look forward to a continuation of this cooperative relationship. If
you have also been pleased with our performance, kindly pass the word on.
It would be nice if the RMS Swiss School family would continue to grow.
Many thanks to all
institutions and their members who supported us in various
ways during the year. Please take note of the details on the last page of
the annual report. We highly appreciate the collaboration with you and are
looking forward to building upon this in the future.
Much more could be written
about our successful functions and events. I therefore invite you to
log on to our Homepage and click through our photo gallery. This will surely
provide you with many more insights. We are working on developing our
Internet forum into more of a mouthpiece between continents.
Thomas
Bopp, Headmaster |
