Newsletter 26.09.2025

We are in the newspaper! 🗞️

Have you read The German Corner yet?
The monthly newsletter of the German Embassy is featured in today’s edition of the Daily Guide.
It offers exciting updates on German-Ghanaian relations, culture, and cooperation.

Well-being survey

Last week, our well-being survey took place, giving us valuable insights into the overall atmosphere and satisfaction levels within our school community.

The evaluation of the primary school survey has already been completed, and the results show an overall positive picture. The charts highlight the details and provide a strong basis for planning further steps in a targeted way.

October menu

The menu from our caterer, North Ridge Café, for the month of October will be published shortly.

Holiday calendar 2026/27 finalized

In coordination with the Parent Council, the holiday calendar for Kindergarten and School for the 2026/27 school year was approved this week. It is now permanently available on our school website: https://gis-accra.org/en/organization/school-calendar 

Day of Movement and Relaxation

Inspired by the ZEIT competition “Stabile Sache” and motivated by our colorful school life, we will say goodbye to the first term with a special project day on Wednesday, 01 October 2025, before heading into the well-deserved autumn break.

Under the motto
“Moving together, relaxing together, experiencing together!”
GISA will become a vibrant place full of energy, creativity, and quiet zones.

All students from Grades 1–8 will work in mixed-age groups.

Nine varied workshops will focus on movement and relaxation, offering something for everyone:

• Energetic dance
• Gentle yoga
• Dream journey for inner peace
• Football and many more activities

We look forward to a day full of curiosity, joy, and community – and wish everyone a fun and active start to the autumn break! 🍁

Pedagogical Day and autumn break

Thursday, 02.10.2025: Full-day pedagogical day – school and kindergarten will remain closed.

• Kindergarten: focus on language support
• Teachers: adapting new curricula from the Thuringian Education Plan, based on groundwork done by the German Embassy School Addis Ababa

Friday, 03.10.2025: German Unity Day
06.–10.10.2025: Autumn break
First school day after the break: Monday, 13.10.2025

Grow with Football – Trial Days at GISA ⚽

Starting 14 October, our football trial days for children aged 10–14 will kick off.

• Training sessions every Tuesday and Thursday, 4:15 – 6:00 pm
• Limited spaces available, registration required
• Coaches:
  • David, DFB Basic Coach for Children’s and Youth Football, Berlin
  • Collins, Youth Academy Coach, British International School, HCMC
• Registration via WhatsApp: 024 311 5724

We spark the love of football and inspire children to build bridges through sport.

Download PDF grow wih football

Fresh German sourdough bread from Waves Bakery 🍞

Traditional sourdough wheat bread, freshly baked to order and available for pick-up at GISA.

Regular schedule:

• Delivery on Thursday afternoons
• Orders must be placed by Tuesday evening

One-time exception next week (due to the pedagogical day):

• Orders by Monday evening, 29.09.
• Delivery on Wednesday afternoon, 01.10.

Price per bread: 100 GHC
Orders via WhatsApp: +49 176 23288563

Kindergarten and Nursery

This week in the nursery, the children explored more sensory boxes 🪨🍂👂. With stones and leaves, they could touch, feel, and listen. Through such sensory activities, we foster perception, language development, and attention. At the same time, the children experience natural materials with all their senses. 🌱
We look back on an exciting week with the children. ✨

After the public holiday, we started the week together on Tuesday. During our morning circle, we continued to explore our ongoing theme “My Body” – even a skeleton 🦴 accompanied us in the daycare. The children were able to look at it curiously and playfully discover how the body is structured.
In the music learning time 🎶, the children got to know and try out instruments, sing together, and make music rhythmically. This fostered auditory perception 👂, a sense of rhythm 🎵, and musical expression 🎤.
In the German learning time 📚, our “article hunt” was the focus, where language development 🗣 was promoted through play.
During free play 🤹, in the movement room 🤸, and on the ActiveFloor 🖥, the children had the opportunity to try things out, get moving, and further develop their media skills 💻, body awareness 🧍, and social skills 🤝.
To promote fine motor skills ✂, we also carried out creative crafting activities that encouraged creativity 🎨 and perseverance 💪.
It was a varied week full of joy, movement, and new learning impulses! 🌈🌟

Primary School

Grade 1/2 was able to start refreshed into a short week after the long weekend. As every week, the children wrote letters to one another to begin the week. This beautiful ritual always concludes on Friday with the distribution and reading of the letters in the class council.
The children in Grade 1/2 learned how to read and fill in a table – but not just any table: a survey on well-being at school, which the children filled out themselves. The results were very positive.

The second graders practiced moving forwards, backwards, and sideways on the hundreds chart. Who lives below number 72? Who lives to the right of number 16? Feel free to ask the children at home.

In Science, Grade 1/2 will be building a plant model and labeling the parts (roots, stem, leaves, flower). For this, the children should please bring empty toilet paper or kitchen paper rolls – these will be used as stems. Please send the rolls by next week! Thank you very much.

In the Reading and Writing support group, Grade 1/2 was able to visit Grade 7/8 this week. First, everyone worked on their tasks individually, but after finishing, the younger ones had the pleasure of listening to the older students read to them, while the older ones enjoyed the undivided attention of their audience.

This week, Grade 3/4 worked in groups to study several letters and collect important phrases. From all their ideas, a shared word bank was created, which will now support them in writing. This work is an important step in preparing for the upcoming pen pal project with a German school – soon, the first letters can be written and sent.

Grade 4 also delved deeper into the four cases of nouns. With targeted exercises, they are now practicing how to use the cases correctly in their own writing.
This week we finished our study of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We also began our library session, where the students enjoyed listening to relaxing music and exploring some fun Jolly Phonics texts. A relaxed and stimulating week of reading and learning!

After the students had already mastered working with needle and thread surprisingly well, this week marked the next big step: transferring the patterns onto the fabrics and carefully cutting them out. It quickly became clear that a few details still needed to be adjusted – but that was exactly what made the process so exciting. Step by step, the fabric pieces began to take shape, and suddenly it was possible to see which garments they would become. The students could literally watch their designs move from paper into reality. With every cut, every correction, and every careful movement, their enthusiasm grew – as did their curiosity about what the finished models would look like.

Secondary School

In English, we focused on direct and indirect speech. In German, the first learning assessment took place, and in Mathematics, students worked at different learning stations.

In History, we dealt with the most enduring and perhaps most important invention in human history, the hand axe, as well as other important tools leading up to the Stone Age plow.

In IT, we worked more intensively with the program Word and already completed some related tasks.
In Ethics, we completed our first topic, Friendship. To go along with this, the children made their own friendship bracelets.

There was a lot going on again this week in Grade 6 lessons. In German lessons, we took a little detour into Geography and looked at different animals on the continents and in the world’s oceans. From there, we moved on to the actual topic: revising the cases – using the example of the penguin. We concluded our current topic of Friendship in Ethics with a creative activity: the children designed their own friendship bracelets. 

In English this week, grammar was the focus: we learned and practiced direct and indirect speech. In French, we learned the colors and practiced them through different exercises. This allowed us to look back on another varied and exciting week!

In Mathematics, Grade 7/8 students worked particularly independently and purposefully this week to prepare for the upcoming test. With the help of a skills check, they were able to identify their individual strengths and learning needs, and based on this, practice in a targeted way at a varied learning station setup. This not only strengthened their mathematical understanding but also their independent learning skills.

In Physical Education, teamwork and creativity were needed: in small groups, students developed their own mini-workouts, which they then presented to the class and carried out together. Various fitness exercises and reaction games were included – with lots of movement, fun, and motivation for everyone involved.
Students also showed great commitment in German lessons: at the end of their weekly plan work, they prepared presentations to clearly summarize their results. In History, they explored the idea of freedom during the Peasant Wars in the 16th century, and creative students designed a Luther rose.

📅 Dates & Outlook

🗓 Tuesday, 30.09.2025, 6:00 pm
Annual General Assembly (AGM)

💪 Wednesday, 01.10.2025
Day of Movement and Relaxation at GISA

📘 Thursday, 02.10.2025
Teacher Training Day – no school

🇩🇪 Friday, 03.10.2025
German Unity Day – no school

🍂 Monday, 06.10. – Friday, 10.10.2025
Autumn Break

⚽ Tuesday, 14.10.2025
Start of Grow with Football – trial training sessions for children aged 10 to 14
→ every Tuesday and Thursday, 4:15 – 6:00 pm

📢 Wednesday, 15.10.2025 – Save the Date!
Children’s Rights Walk in Jamestown in support of the NGO Universal Wonderful Street Academy
➡ Participation only when accompanied by at least one parent
➡ The school will organize a bus for the group
More information to follow.

🗣 Saturday, 18.10.2025
“130 Million – German Connects” – Day of the German Language on the GISA campus, together with numerous German-speaking institutions

🕯 Thursday, 13.11.2025
St. Martin Lantern Walk

📖 Friday, 21.11.2025
Reading Day & Maths Night

🎄 Saturday, 29.11.2025
Christmas Market

🎅 Thursday, 04.12.2025
Visit from St. Nicholas