Reflections

Looking back at the year is always a meaningful exercise, as it feeds the mind with the different achievements, challenges and opportunities we were able to experience. This past year has, once again given us much reason to celebrate our learning and our community. 

We have had the biggest ever IB Diploma class graduating on the 23rd of May. A proud moment for WIS in its long history of doing the IB Diploma. We are keenly awaiting the Class of 2026 IBDP results, which will be released on 6 July 2026. We have also been fortunate to complete our second cycle of MYP eAssessments and will have a large group of our Grade 10s move into Grade 11 to start the IBDP in August of 2026. These are huge milestones for our students, our families and our whole community, as they put us on par with the international community. 

We were also able to afford many of our students the opportunity to experience the outdoors with our excursions in and outside of Namibia. Each grade level had the opportunity to visit a destination in Namibia, and notably, the Grade 9s completed the now traditional Orange River trip. We were fortunate to have our students travel to the Okavango Delta twice as well as to Damaraland to support the EHRA conservation project. Then again our trips to Gobabeb and the Waterberg afforded our students the opportunity to support conservation and education initiatives in Namibia. Thank you to Mr Forrest and all the teachers who plan and accompany these trips. These are often life-changing experiences that create precious memories for our students.

Our Global Alliance Exchange Programme further afforded a group of Grade 9 students the opportunity to visit Annie Wright Schools in Tacoma as well as NIST in Bangkok and ISWA in Perth, Australia. We were also able to send two of our staff members to visit Annie Wright Schools in the US and in exchange students from these schools visited WIS. Looking ahead, we are planning to join Youth for Understanding to host students from Germany in February and possibly send of our students on an exchange to Germany later. 

All these opportunities make our school a truly international experience for our students and connect us to the world. Looking ahead, we are expecting the NEASC Accreditation team at the end of September to help us move into our next accreditation cycle. Being accredited by NEASC ensures that our school’s High School Diploma is recognized in many universities in the world and affords our students to apply to universities with both the IB Diploma and in certain institutions the High School Diploma. We are continuing our efforts to have the MYP Certificate and IB Courses recognized in Namibia for entry into Namibian tertiary education. 

At this juncture, I’d like to thank and appreciate all our teachers, staff and families for the support you give to WIS and for the opportunities we are able to create for students, teachers and our school to move from strength to strength, keep learning and growing and working on becoming stronger in our quest to provide an excellent education for young people in Namibia and from abroad. 

Respectfully 

Margarete Reiff 

High School Principal/Deputy Director & Career Guidance Counsellor