SOS Schools in Ghana

SOS Nursery School Asiakwa 

Class enrolment:

Class	Boys	Girls	Total	Boys	Girls	Total
Nursery	5	7	12	4	10	14
Class 1	11	5	16	12	8	20
Class 2	7	6	13	8	11	19
Total	23	18	41	24	29	53

   Academic Activities

• Teaching of French Language in the nursery school has been started. It is estimated that Class 2 pupils will build vocabulary of at least 100 words before they enter Primary 1 in September 2009
• The use of ICT for teaching in the nursery school has also started. Each nursery school class has been provided with one Dell desktop computer and a set of speakers to aid E-learning. Teachers have been given in-service training to effectively use ICT in teaching
• Evening prep was organised for all pupils from the village in the school during the evenings

Staff Development ( recruitment, resignation & retirement, workshops)

• One nursery school teacher has completed formal training on Early Childcare with Ghana Education Service
• A one-day refresher course was organised for teachers on lesson notes preparation in the nursery school

SOS Primary School Asiakwa

The SOS Primary School opened in September 1992 and the table below details the number of pupils from the SOS Children's Village Asiakwa and from the local community.

                  SOS                     External

SOS Junior High School Asiakwa

            SOS                     External 

Through the SOS Nursery School, Primary School and Junior High the staff numbers were as follows:

Summary of activities for all the schools:

Academic Activities

• Evening prep was organised for all pupils from the village in the school during the evenings
• Students participated in various academic competitions during the period and a JHS 2 student placed 2nd in the regional Spelling ‘Z’ competition in Koforidua and proceeded to the National contest involving 22 contestants from the 11 regions. She placed 7th in the National contest
• The school came from 5th to 1st position in the District league of B.E.C.E. results for the 2006/2006 academic year
• BECE finalists sat for the years’ examination. Results have since been released and our students were placed in their first choice schools. Two JHS and three village children also sat for the SOS International College entrance exams and were successful. They have since been admitted in the college.
  

Social Activities

• The school was engaged in a number of competitive and friendly games with other private and public first cycle schools. The first ever Cross Country race was organised by the school. Student participants were given certificates. Some talents were unearthed. The school is planning to link these students up for proper support
• The school participated in a quiz contest with other schools during the 75th Anniversary of the Cocoa Research Institute, Tafo.
  

Staff Development ( recruitment, resignation & retirement, workshops)

• A workshop on child centred methodologies was organised for the entire teaching staff at the end of the academic year. This was a collaborative effort between the International College and the schools
• Six staff are pursuing various sandwich courses on professional development. One nursery school teacher has completed formal training on Early Childcare with Ghana Education Service
• A two-day training session on effective supervision was organised for Heads of School, Assistant Heads and Departmental Heads to sharpen their supervisory skills
• One staff resigned during the period in question. She has since been replaced
• An Art teacher has been employed to handle BDT (Creative Art option).
  

 Difficulties & Challenges Encountered

• Staff recruitment and retention is a major challenge for the school
• The school still lacks access to internet, a necessity for the new educational reforms
• There is the need for renovation works to be done on the school plant
  

Possible Solutions / Recommendations for 2009

Review of remuneration package for teachers

SOS Secondary School Asiakwa

The SOS Secondary School, which opened in September 1996, has 120 pupils.

SOS Nursery School Tema

Introduction:

The nursery school has a total number of 179 pupils and 20 children at the crèche with 15 teachers, 4 maintenance staff and 2 administrative staff. The school lost a 4 year old girl after a short illness at the hospital. There is also an SOS Nursery School for 175 children in seven classes. One class, for children with special needs, has a maximum of twelve children.

Students enrolment:

Class enrolment: Nursery School        

*From the SOS Children's Village Tema

Staff Strength:

Academic Activities:

• The process of setting up a computer laboratory at the nursery school has begun and children would be able to have some lessons in the laboratory in the first quarter of the coming year
• 2 teachers resigned from the organisation but have since been replaced
• 2 teachers have completed a diploma course in Early Childhood Education and are awaiting final results
• Another teacher is currently reading a diploma in Pre-school Education
• One other has undergone training at the National Nursery Teachers Training Centre
• A three day in – service training programme was organised for the 2 crèche Educators on appropriate methodologies to be used in teaching 1 – 2 years olds
  

Social Activities:

• Pre-Easter fun games were organised for the children. They competed among themselves in many events. These included Lime and Spoon race, Sack race, dressing up games, football among others. Refreshment was sponsored by Nestle Ghana Ltd. And they also awarded the children with rulers and erasers
• Children from nursery class 2 also went on an excursion to the Old Polo Grounds after Independence Day
• A graduation ceremony was also held in July and 64 children graduated to class one
  

Difficulties and Challenges Encountered

Difficult situations usually arise when financially related issues arose and funds are not immediately available.

Possible Solutions

Prompt release of funds would help greatly.

SOS Primary and & Junior High Schools Tema

The school, which opened in 1978, has a student population of 629 and staff strength of 44. Ten student teachers from the University of Education, Winneba and Three National service persons joined the school for the period under review. However, due to the new educational reforms introduced in September 2007 the school will require additional five teachers.

General Enrolment:

Class Enrolment: Primary

                  SOS                     External

Class Enrolment: JHS

            SOS                     External

Staff Strength

Academic Activities

• Subject teaching was introduced at the upper primary to improve teaching and learning
• There was a restructuring of the school syllabuses due to educational reforms by GES
• 7 new teachers were recruited to replace resigned and retired teachers
• In March this year five of the JHS students participated in the National Scripps Spelling Bee competition. Two students-Miss Isabel Kubabom and Miss Gabriella Ampem-Darko won awards for emerging winner and second-runner up respectively in the event. Isabel accompanied by her coach Evangelina Bortey traveled to the USA to participate in the international Spelling Bee competition.
• The Girl who Won the National laurels competed in a similar competition  in Washington DC, United State of America
• Four students traveled to the United States to participate in the Life Link Model United Nations Conference. They returned on Monday April 7th, 2008
• In April this year the BECE was written. The school presented sixty-one (61) students. We expect 100 percent distinction in this year’s results
  

Social Activities

•  The school also participated in a soccer tournament organised by the Adikanfo Fun Games at the TDC Park. The school emerged first in that competition.

• Six Australian teachers visited the school and made a donation of scholastic materials and footballs
• Mr. Titi Offei and his colleagues from Multi Media Group (a communication firm based in Accra) made a donation of 75 classroom desks and chairs to the school
• The school has taken delivery of  a set of musical instruments worth GHC 13000. This amount was a donation by pupils of a partner school in Norway to further unearth talents in the pupils of the SOS School
• Staff members of the Basic School-Nursery School and SOS School undertook an excursion to Ada
  

Staff Development (recruitment, resignation & retirement, workshops)

•  In January all members of staff were retrained to make the implementation of the reforms smooth. As a follow up to this, staff members from Tema also embarked on a trip to the Asiakwa School to interact with their counterparts on the implementation process
• Two teachers resigned to take up appointment elsewhere.
  

Infrastructure

• Canteen (Azumah Hall) renovated
• The dilapidated block which used to serve as science and art department was pulled down to create space for the construction of a new block
• Difficulties & Challenges Encountered
• Midstream resignation by teachers
• Lack of classrooms due to old buildings being pulled down
• Disciplinary issues involving pupils/ students
• Increase in utility tariffs
  

 Possible solutions/ recommendations for 2009

• Adequate budgetary allocations to enable teaching learning materials and payment of utilities
• Speeding up  the building of the new block of classrooms

Tema Secondary School

The SOS Secondary School, which opened in September 1986, has about 240 pupils in six classrooms. The SOS Secondary School Tema shares with the SOS Primary School a classroom for special education, a library, a music room, a multipurpose hall and a sports ground.

SOS International College Tema

The International College in Ghana is a secondary boarding school in Tema, about 35 miles from the capital Accra. It opened in 1990. The school buildings were donated to SOS Children by Valco (Alcoa in Ghana). There are 280 pupils in ten classes. There are about 22 full time and 3 part time teachers. Most of the teachers are Ghanaian graduate subject specialists, with others from India, Ethiopia and the United Kingdom. The syllabus includes both IGCSE and International Baccalaureate.

The International College caters for talented youngsters from fifteen English-speaking African countries and helps students to gain places at university in Africa with some students gaining scholarships to universities in USA, Canada and United Kingdom. The college also seeks to focus pupils' attention on the development of Africa in order to instil a sense of social responsibility and commitment to the continent in line with the college's motto “Knowledge in the service of Africa”. The school has close links with United World Colleges and is a full member of the European Council of International Schools (ECIS), the Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA) and the International Schools Association (ISA).

As part of the curriculum, pupils at the college participate in community outreach activities. Recent projects have included literacy programmes, helping in homes for disabled persons, clean water supply. In recognition of these community programmes the college was awarded the 1996 Robert Blackburn Award.