Newsletter 10.01.2025

With this first newsletter of 2025, we return from the winter break and wish all our readers a happy and healthy new year!

Classes began with a distinguished visitor from Germany. Former Federal President Christian Wulff honoured us with his visit and impressed us with his genuine interest in the school.

This week also marked the new ‘Made in Ghana’ project period, and the pupils can look forward to exciting experiences. From a creative wood workshop, in which the artistic Adinkra symbols are to be made, to a rousing dance and music project that brings the rhythmic diversity of Ghana to life, to exciting insights into language and traditional games, there are hardly any limits to the variety. Culinary delights are also on offer, as participants can get to know the delicious Ghanaian cuisine in a cookery course. In addition, projects such as weaving or art with fabric invite you to try out the craftsmanship of the West African country for yourself. With such a colourful selection, there really should be something for everyone!

We welcome Esther Asamoah Donkor as our new administrative assistant.

The new menus for January are also online.

The parent representatives, the board and the school management would like to invite you to the Townhall Meeting on 16 January 2024 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the assembly hall. At this town hall meeting, the school management and the board will give the parents a review of the first half year as well as an outlook for the coming half year. After the presentation, they will be available for your questions and suggestions. The parent representatives also wish you a peaceful and relaxing festive season and a happy new year.

We still have fond memories of last year's Walk for Children's Rights. The Universal Wonderful Street Academy is organising this walk again this year. On Saturday, 18 January 2025 at 10 am, the time has come. The route is approximately 2 kilometres long and will be covered at a leisurely pace.

We would like to start at 9.30 a.m. with all interested parties from DISA by bus. We would be very pleased about a lively participation.

You will find a registration form in your children's bags on the first day of school after the holidays. In order to plan the bus(es), we need to determine the number of participants.

Of course you can also come directly to Jamestown. The attached flyer contains all the important information. No prior registration is required for participation in Jamestown.

The Run for Children's Rights offers us the opportunity to stand up together for education, protection and opportunities for children in Ghana and worldwide. Join us and help us and the Universal Wonderful Street Academy to set a strong example.

If you have any questions, please contact us directly: Judith Doe, telephone number: +233 20 683 7155.

Sustainability at the German International School Accra

Sustainability is very important to us! In cooperation with Sika Plastic Recycling, we are committed to recycling waste. On the last Friday of every month, Sika Plastic collects emptied PET bottles, drinking water sachets, waste paper and shredded paper at DISA. For every kilo of recycled materials, DISA receives 2 GHS (2,000 GHS per tonne), which is invested in sustainability, maintenance and renovations at DISA. You can support us by bringing these materials to our labelled collection point in front of the canteen. Please make sure that bottles are emptied beforehand. If you have any questions, please contact the administration! 🌍♻️

Kindergarten and nursery:

We started the new year together in the nursery with a lot of joy and wish all families a happy, healthy and prosperous new year! On Wednesday, we celebrated a farewell to the kindergarten. We wish him all the best and lots of fun with the grown-ups! The children were also very creative and designed beautiful scratch pictures.

At our kindergarten, we had a very relaxed start to the short week and the children had plenty of time in the three days to get back into the daily routine of kindergarten, play with their friends and talk about their holidays. We also had a visit from Christian Wulff and his large entourage at the kindergarten this week. The children were very excited that so many people wanted to see how, where and what we always play and learn here at the kindergarten. We also used the learning time to talk about our holidays and drew pictures of our favourite Christmas presents. In the ‘English Club’ this week, the advanced children learnt more word sounds and expanded their vocabulary. We then played the game ‘Rhyming match Bingo’. Here, the children had to combine named words with a matching picture that rhymes with the word. Whoever gets four correct answers in a row wins. On Friday, we had plenty of time to play in the garden again and were able to unwrap a surprise package together that had been waiting for us here during the whole holiday. There was a new marble run and we are really looking forward to trying it out next week!

Primary school:

In science lessons, class 1/2 researched the water cycle and the importance of saving water. In English lessons, the pupils worked in groups to collect creative ideas for their perfect ‘dream holidays’ and designed appealing posters. The children also quickly got back into the rhythm of their work in German lessons - with creative writing, reading exercises and tasks for reading and writing for the first time. Class 2 will start maths next week with the topic of multiplication. In addition, the DaF children will begin language assessments to document their learning progress.

Class 3/4 started the year 2025 with lots of joy and new energy. We were happy to see each other again, had the chance to exchange a bit about our holidays, and spent plenty of time settling back into the classroom and the lessons.

The first day after the holidays was really exciting with the visit of Christian Wulff. We talked about the inauguration of the new president of Ghana, John Mahama, and his vice president, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, and worked on interesting questions for Christian Wulff.
Afterward, we celebrated the birthday "kids" from the holidays and then returned to our regular school routine. Thursday was a bit special as we chose new projects on the topic of "Ghana." Before that, we gathered so much information about Ghana in class – it was really fun!

Friday almost went according to plan, but instead of English, we did Ethics and reflected on our own feelings with a Smileyboard. We also started preparing our own class party (the date and time are still to be decided).

Next week, Laura Luetzelers' German group will write a German test on the topic of reading, in sports, we will focus on gymnastics, and in math and English, we will start with new topics. There were a few small changes in the educational Booster and three children participated in their new groups for the first time today. Next week, there will be a detailed overview of the different subjects.

Two girls from class 3/4 proudly accepted their certificates from Mildenberger Verlag. They had written their own stories on the topic of ‘Making children strong’ as part of the educational boost programme and submitted them to a writing competition. We say: ‘Great achievement!’ and offer our sincere congratulations.

Secondary school:

Welcome back. Class 5/6 hope you enjoyed your holidays as much as we did. On Wednesday, we received the former Federal President Christian Wulff and therefore prepared for his visit with questions.

‘What was your favourite subject at school?’

‘Was it stressful being Federal President?’

‘What was your job as Federal President?’

Some changes await us at the end of January. There will be a new timetable and, of course, there will also be report cards. Next week we will be working with the intern Lennard Brodner in German. An extensive course has been planned here, dealing with the topic of classism and including a play. In Geography we had to do some maths this week: Time difference from London to Athens? Berlin to Accra? Why actually? And then summer and winter time... Also: Happy Birthday Nana Adwoa We wish you a great weekend

The 2025 school year began with an important visit from Germany. Former Federal President Christian Wulff visited our school on Wednesday. The Federal President took the time to answer many of the children's questions. The pupils learnt a lot about what a Federal President actually does and why he visited Ghana. Lessons also started again and Year 7 got their maths work back. In geography, the new topic ‘Climate’ was started and we travelled virtually to Yakutia, where people are currently living in temperatures as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius. In history, the seventh-graders traced the life of a serf around 1,000 years ago.

The pupils were delighted to see their school friends again and shared their experiences from the holidays. In PE lessons, we are looking at the topic of game development. To this end, we played Brennball on Thursday, which the pupils really enjoyed. We wish everyone a successful and happy year 2025, Class 7

Outlook:

Thu 16 Jan 2025                     8am - 10am, Townhall meeting

Sat, 18.01.2025                        Demonstration for children's rights

Fri, 31.01.2025                          Issue of half-year information (school reports)

Thu, 27.02.2025                     Exhibition ‘Made in Ghana’

Fri, 28.02.2025                       School carnival

Mon, 03.03.2025 - Fri, 07.03.2025
Fri, 07.03.2025                       Spring holidays

Mon, 10.03.2025                    First day of school after the spring holidays - according to plan

Sat., 15.03.2025                      GISA Cup