SOS Schools in Namibia

Swakopmund Secondary School

The SOS Secondary School opened in 1992. It has nearly 500 pupils.

Windhoek Nursery School

Update report from 2008:

The first quarter commenced with a toddler total of sixty four of which fifteen came from the SOS Children’s Village Windhoek.  Competition in the field of early childhood development is very strong and we’ve noted a slight decrease in toddler figures, annually. After closer investigation, it was found that most of the other facilities of which a large portion consists of day-care centres are not registered and the learning content is very limited.

 

The Annual Sports day, which was held together with the Windhoek dog club, was one of the events which provided a good platform for promoting the SOS Nursery School and its work.

 

A major clothing outlet, the Foschini group presented a donation, and this facility was chosen, most appropriately, to illustrate our devoted efforts in early childhood development. As part of our commitment and in honouring the conditions of this generous donation, one of the playrooms were named the Foschini Classroom. The funds will be utilised to support more than one hundred toddlers from the Family Strengthening Programme, as tuition fees for early childhood development and primary schools.

 

The long standing relationship between the SOS Nursery School and CLASH (Children with Language Speech and Hearing Impairments of Namibia), resulted in two Swedish dental students engaging in the dental awareness (Dental Care) campaign whereby all toddlers were taught how to brush teeth in the correct way as the theme was Dental Care.

 

To further encourage parent involvement, the SOS Nursery School embarked on a project (Enhancing the Playrooms through paint) whereby the parent(s) of the respective toddlers from a given playroom was given the task to get involved in creating an acceptable and pleasant classroom environment for their toddlers. The exercise was fun filled and the parents also had the opportunity to converse with the teachers in a more social manner, sharing about the child’s general behavior and performances.

 

More than 50% of the enrolled toddlers completed their final year at the Nursery School (pre-school level) and will attend Primary School in 2009.

Windhoek Primary School

The SOS Primary School opened in 1986. There are nearly 600 pupils in what , despite being overcrowded, is regarded as one of the best primary schools in the region. There is also an SOS Nursery School for about 70 children.

Update report from 2008:

This facility is still perceived as one of the best educational facilities in the capitol and is very highly rated amongst the primary schools. The principal and staff is constantly striving towards maintaining an above average standard in education and this contributed to the increased demand of admissions annually. The organisations involvement in the facility is decreasing every year due to the new educational regulations and this in a sense is contributing towards the de-stigmatisation of the SOS child. It is indeed encouraging to find that the contact between the SOS mother and teaching staff are increasing and that in itself further contributes towards the empowerment of the SOS Mother. The school has grown financially and the parent involvement in the School Development Fund is purposefully engaged in enhancing the educational facilities at the SOS Primary School. The school did not only excel in their academic performances but also in various sport codes.
Ownership by the parent and teaching community is almost achieved and their strive towards self-reliance is indeed commendable. 

Tsumeb Nursery School

Update report from 2008:

Seventy Eight toddlers registered and participated in the Early Childhood Development processes at the SOS Nursery School Tsumeb. The previous principal resigned in May after a service of ten years and Miss. M. Abrahams is appointed as acting principal.  Eight of the toddlers were from the SOS Children's Village Tsumeb who participated actively in the ECD process. We are pleased to announce that thirty eight pre-school children graduated on 23 October 2008. The Headteacher of the SOS Nursery School at Ondangwa, Me. Karen was trained in November in order to enable her to understand SOS Children, the organisation, and perform her duties as required. 

Ondangwa Nursery School

Report from the Headteacher at the SOS Nursery School Ondangwa, Namibia

During this period advertisements for the SOS Nursery School at Ondangwa were made by the Nursery School Headteacher by posting adverts at local shops, verbal talk with local community members and written messages placed at the village. The Nursery School Headteacher was also taken to the SOS Nursery School at Tsumeb for orientation and other familiarisation with the activities. The training went successfully. The KG principal had also managed to attend both trainings offered by Myrna Thomas and Bobby from the training centre (South Africa) all the training was very successful. It motivated us especially me the SOS Nursery School principal. I learned a lot about the children and myself. However, al lot of information was given to understand and the time was too short. I am suggesting in future the training period to be much longer as it is the only way we can catch up more. Both trainers have been very kind and helpful.  Warm thanks to them.