SOS Schools in Sierra Leone

SOS Nursery School Bo

 

The SOS Nursery School Bo remained determined to provide quality pre-school education to both SOS and community children in Bo. However, the distance from the township and the village continued to pose problems for the many children from the community wanting to access the services of the nursery school. As such the year 2008 saw a decline in the number of pupils at the nursery school.

 

With this backdrop, the nursery school carried out its usual academic functions in the year 2008 with a total of 210 pupils, of which only four are children from the SOS Children's Village Bo.

 

In March 2008 the nursery school held its annual sports meet at the SOS Children’s Village playground. This programme ended with the distribution of certificates and trophies to distinguished athletes.  In June 2008, eighty pupils graduated from the nursery school to commence primary school education at the SOS International School Bo.

 

For the academic year 2008 the children were taken on visitations to places of historical importance and they also paid visits to other preparatory schools in the township of Bo as part of its work plan for collaboration and site seeing programmes for the pupils. These programmes were put in place to expose and widening the horizon of the children and to encourage them to interact with children from other schools in the community.

 

A resource person from the “defence for children international” had a talk to the pupils and staff on education, law and use of public property. This session had apparently developed a sense of awareness on the part of the pupils as to how to handle with care their own school books and materials and school furniture particularly so for the older groups.

 

The nursery school continued to work closely with the Community Teachers Association and held several meetings to discuss issues on the welfare of the pupils and school. The SOS Nursery School also uses the opportunity to sensitise constantly the CTA and the community on the SOS VMV. On the other hand, three teachers of the nursery school joined other teachers from the community in Bo at a training programme of Nursery School Teachers organised by Njala University in Bo on the theme “development of early childhood education in the southern region”.  At this session, the SOS National Nursery School supervisor was a resource person and trainer.

 

All teachers of the SOS Nursery School Bo joined colleagues at the National teachers Workshop held at the SOS Nursery School Freetown with the theme “stubborn, professional, integrity teacher for quality pre-school education in Sierra Leone”.

 

The end of the academic term in December 2008 was marked by the usual Christmas party, carnival and cultural displays.

 

SOS Primary and Secondary School Bo

The combined SOS Primary and Secondary School opened in 1985. It has a total intake of about 610 pupils. It had been a school for 450 pupils but in 2004 the school introduced a so-called double-shift system to help meet the demand for education in Freeown. There is also an SOS Nursery School which used to be for about 150 children and in 2004 increased to over 250 children by using the double-shift system.

 

The SOS International School Bo had shifted its operations from a double shift system to a single shift due to the drop its number of students due to the apparent distance between the school and the township of Bo. Thus, for the year 2008, its total student population was 504 of which 119 are SOS children and youths.

Nevertheless, the school continued in its relentless efforts to provide quality education for SOS children and children from the community. Although the National Primary School Examinations results of the school was below its standards for the year 2008, the middle secondary school examinations results was outstanding and earned the school another award by Channel 9 social club in Bo as the most outstanding international school in Bo.

Social and other activities continued to a part of the schools programmes in the year under review. The school held its annual inter-house sports meeting in March 2008. Debates, radio talks and best speaker contest were all part of activities undertaken in collaboration with other community schools as to expose, develop and identified hidden talents of students and make them responsible and tap their holistic development.  In a similar vein the school undertook organised inter-private school games and sports competition as well as exchange visits of students and staff with “Florence Preparatory International School and Every Nation Academy Preparatory School Bo”.

The school has reached its full fledge senior secondary school status at the beginning of the third quarter of the year 2008 with senior secondary school III and the students will undertake their first national senior secondary school examination at the end of the second quarter of the year 2009.

Teachers training and human resource development remained part of the school’s objective in the year 2008. Thus, all teachers took part at the SOS national teachers workshop held in Makeni with the theme “stubborn, professional, integrity teacher for quality education in Sierra Leone”.

In December, 2008, the school held its usual annual prize giving ceremony during which students were awarded for outstanding performances. This was followed by a Christmas jam splash for students.

The school very much look forward to its results from its first national senior secondary school examinations in 2009.

 

SOS Nursery School Freetown

At the start of the year 2008, the SOS Children’s Village Nursery School Freetown commenced operations with a total number of 485 pupils of which 27 were children from the SOS Children's Village Freetown.

 

In July of 2008, 142 pupils graduated from the nursery school to enter into Class 1 at the SOS International School Freetown. New admissions of new pupils at the beginning of the last quarter, ended the year with 487 pupils of twenty-eight were children from the SOS Children's Village. The educational and social programmes of the nursery school continued to attract hundreds of community children in and around Freetown.  To cope with this demand, the SOS Children’s Village Nursery School Freetown continued to operate a “Double Shift System”.  One additional classroom block was constructed and donated to the SOS Nursery School by COMIUM, one of the reputable mobile phone companies in Sierra Leone.

Montesori, as well as other social activities, continues to be an integral part of the children’s education. As such, on 14th March 2008 the SOS Nursery School held its annual sports meeting at the SOS Children’s Village playground. This is to enhance the physical development of the children and more importantly their individual talents. This sport meet was extremely packed that it shows already that the Children’s Village playground is getting smaller for this annual activity.

Partnership, collaboration and exchange visitation with other community nursery school’s, was very visible in our work in the year 2008. The pupils of the nursery school took part in various sporting invitation of other pre-schools such as Sierra International Academy”, “Martile International School” Ronsab Pre-Primary School. The NGO ‘Right to Play’ collaborated with the SOS Nursery School in training its co-workers on early childhood games and other play programmes for children and participated in the sporting activities of the nursery school. Counselling sessions on health matters, good behaviour and other basic civic education programmes were undertaken for level III pupils.

The staff of the SOS Nursery School Freetown took part in National Nursery School Teachers Workshops at the SOS Nursery School in Freetown in September 2008 organised by the National Director in collaboration with the National Nursery School Supervisor so as to improve on staff performance at work. During this workshop two other community schools were invited and various topics discussed ranging from quality pre-school education, to child protection, child rights all under the theme of ‘Stubborn, Professional, Integrity Teacher’ for Quality Pre-School Education in Sierra Leone.

Before the closure of the school for the Christmas holidays, the usual Christmas carnival was organised for both pupils and parents at the SOS Children’s Village Freetown. This event normally marks the beginning of the Christmas fever for pupils, parents and staff of the SOS Nursery School with the sharing of various food dishes, colourful dressings, music and dancing with children blowing and bursting balloons all over the place.

 

SOS Primary and Secondary School Freetown

The combined SOS Primary and Secondary School opened in 1976. It has a total intake of about 850 pupils. It had been a school for 550 pupils but in 2004 the school introduced a so-called double-shift system to help meet the demand for education in Freetown.

 

The SOS International School, Freetown continues to operate a “Double Shift System” in-order to accommodate the many community children seeking quality affordable education. The school’s student population at the end of the year under review was 1,215. For the year 2008, the school’s overall academic standing and image in National Examinations fell below its normal standards, partly due to indiscipline reasons from students. Nevertheless, the SOS International School Freetown was able to maintain its standing on one out of three National Examinations for the year 2008.

Out of classroom activities contributed to the social and physical development of the students. The school’s annual athletics sports meet was observed in March 2008 at the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology. In May 2008, the school held its annual Thanksgiving Service at the Ebenezar Methodist Church in central Freetown. The service was well attended by parents, guardians and well-wishers after which students marched through the streets of Freetown. Far more extra curricular activities were undertaken by the school in 2008, in the bid to develop other hidden talents of the students. These were all done in Partnership and collaboration with other schools in the community. One significant partner of the school is the Ministry of Education and the West African Examination Council. The school is a centre for all national examinations and at the same time the school receives some support in terms of recognition and some educational materials from the Ministry of Education.

In the year 2008 a limited scholarship award was given out to outstanding students and that of students in need.

For the delivery of quality education, the school focused on teachers development and training. Periodic internal trainings of various teachers were undertaken as well as teachers attended the usual annual teacher’s workshop during the third quarter with the theme “stubborn, professional integrity teacher for quality education”. This workshop was also attended by two other community schools in our bid to promote and strengthen their capability and improving their standards in terms of quality in the community.

In the interest in developing the overall general health conditions of the students and pupils of the school series of medical, health and hygiene counselling sessions were undertaken. Organise talks on personal hygiene, cleanliness, contagious diseases and HIV/AIDS were done by the resident nurse of the SOS Children’s Village Freetown and Care International for the benefit of students and pupils from the community.

The SOS International School Freetown remained a competitive force within the educational system of Sierra Leone, not only in terms of quality education for children from the SOS Children's Village and children from the community but also for the many Sierra Leonean’s outside the country seeking quality education for their children in the country.

For the Christmas holidays, the school closed down its operations with an end of term Christmas jam splash party for all students.

 

SOS Nursery School Makeni

Despite the many challenges for the SOS Nursery School Makeni as a rather new project, the year 2008 started with seventy-one pupils and ended with a hundred and thirty-nine of which thirty-two are children from the SOS Children's Village Makeni.

 

The nursery school held two CTA (Community Teachers Association) meetings in the year during which parents of pupils were sensitised about the rules of the school, the expectations as well as the VMV of the organisation.

 

In July 2008, the nursery school held its first graduation ceremony for twelve (12) pupils who successfully completed pre-school education and passed the entrance examinations to start class I at the SOS Primary School Makeni.

 

The SOS Nursery School Makeni developed meaningful partnerships and collaborations with other community schools with programmes of exchange visits of both pupils and staff. The nursery school worked closely with the branch of the Ministry of Education in Makeni as well as with the Inspectorate of schools department in Makeni. This led to the donation of substantial quantities of school materials to the nursery school by the Inspectorate of Schools in Makeni. A comic match between girls of the Red Cross Pre-school Makeni and girls of our nursery school was organised in May 2008 of which the SOS Nursery School lost. The pupils of the nursery school fully participated at the inauguration programme of the SOS Children’s Village Makeni in October 2008.

 

The holistic development of the pupils is given due consideration and so teachers are encouraged to pay individual attention to each pupil. The training and development of the teaching staff was also part of the work of the nursery school with intermittent “learning cycle" programmes organised to improve staff performance. The teaching staff was able to attend and participated in the National Annual Nursery School Teachers Workshop held in Freetown at the end of the third quarter of 2008.

 

The SOS Nursery School ended the year 2008 with a Christmas concert and party.

 

SOS Primary School Makeni

The SOS Primary School Makeni, is picking up in momentum in terms student population and quality service to the communities of Makeni. The school started the year 2008 with one hundred and four students and ended the year with a hundred and ninety-one students of which forty are children from the SOS Children's Village Makeni.

 

The school for the year under review had developed further partnerships and collaboration with viable partners including the branch of the Ministry of Education and the Inspectorate of Schools for the North. A representative from both W.H.O. branch in Makeni and the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society undertook counselling sessions and health talks at the school for the general benefits of student and staff. The school participated in football competitions with two other schools of the community. The students of the school fully participated at the inauguration programme of the SOS Children’s Village Makeni in October 2009.

 

The school had series of CTA (community teachers association) meeting with parent and guardians of students to discuss their student progress and developments as well as to address other issues of policies, VMV and global objectives of the organisation.

 

In the third quarter of the year, the school established its national primary school examination class and look forward very much to getting its students ready to take this exam in the year 2009.

 

Teachers and co-workers training and development played a key role in the work of school for the year 2008. Necessary internal trainings of teachers were undertaken to improve on quality teaching and service to students. The teachers also attended and participated fully at the National Annual Teachers Workshop held in Makeni during the third quarter with the theme “stubborn, professional, integrity teacher for quality education in Sierra Leone”.

 

The year 2008 ended in December with carol singing and a small Christmas party for the students and staff.

 

The school anxiously look forward to its first taste of the National Primary School Examinations in the year 2009.