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Welcome to the 2024-25 school year!

Dear Community,


Welcome to the new school year! We utilise this Oryx Newsletter as a way of sharing information about our school’s events, student work, and notices of what is to come. 


An international community of learners…

The first day of 2024-25 welcomed 52 new students and nine new staff onto our campus here on Scheppmann Street. This brings our student population up to 460+ from over 58 different countries, with more students arriving over these next few days. 

In 2024, the WIS student population are from fifty-eight different countries.


In 2024, WIS teachers are from eighteen different countries.


You’ll see quite a few new friendly faces on campus! Our new teachers have extensive experience teaching at International Baccalaureate schools, and they come to WIS from India, Namibia, Portugal, Indonesia, and the USA. Our new school nurse Ms Susan Mawire (nursesusan@wis.edu.na) is originally Zimbabwean and has been resident of Namibia and a WIS parent for many years. Our new school counsellor starting on 1st September, Ms Bianca Salamon (bsalamon@wis.edu.na), is Namibian and has recently returned from the United Kingdom. The new staff have already contributed in remarkably positive ways especially as our school prepares for next week’s MYP Authorisation Visit. 


IGCSE Results - ending on the high note!

Cambridge released its global June 2024 IGCSE results on Tuesday, and Windhoek International School (WIS) announced that the 2024 May/June IGCSE examination results were arguably the very best in the school's history. An impressive 81% of all grades achieved by WIS students were between a C and A*, with a record-setting number of A* and A grades achieved by the cohort and 100% of Grade 10 students achieving at least a C. 


IBDP Results

The experience and expertise of our IB Diploma Programme teachers once again shone through, with the IB DP results remarkably similar to or just better than those which had been predicted by our experienced IB educators. We are still receiving some final calculated results, but we know that our IB Diploma student scores continue their trend of being similar to the global average of IB Diploma Schools worldwide. Please stay tuned for more information about the achievements and next steps being undertaken by our remarkable Class of 2024! 


IB MYP Authorisation Visit

On Monday and Tuesday, August 19 and 20, WIS will be hosting the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme Authorisation Team. Over Gonzalez the President of the Committee of UWC in Columbia and an IB Lead educator in Lisbon, and David Oloo the Principal of the MPESA Foundation Academy of Kenya and their supporting team, will be conducting a virtual visit of our school to ascertain whether Windhoek International School has the philosophy and practice sufficiently in place to become an authorised three-programme IB PYP-MYP-DP World School. My thanks to our MYP Coordinator Mr Adrian von Wrede-Jervis and the full MYP team for their hard work preparing for this visit. We are proud of our MYP approach and we look forward to next week’s visit.


Accepting bids for a new tuck shop service provider


After almost three years of excellent service, Westlane Spar will be handing over operations of the WIS Fish Eagle’s Nest Tuck Shop. WIS is therefore accepting proposals for a new service provider of this critically important aspect of our campus life. If you have any recommendations for the next service provider might be, or if you or your company would like to apply for this opportunity, then please read the Proposed New Tuck Shop and Cafe MoA and send your recommendation or schedule an initial meeting by emailing evandrunen@wis.edu.na 


WIS’s First Ever Middle School Principal!

We are delighted that Mr Derrek Berkompas has taken on the reins of a new and restructured middle school. Mr Derrek is the Principal of all students in Grades 6, 7, and 8. Mr Derrek has a heart for adolescents and a plan for how to make our middle school a place where all students flourish and all students truly learn how to learn. All student matters pertaining to these grades can now be directed through him. 


Thank you.

This is now my fourth year as the Educational Director of Windhoek International School. Each year is getting better for me, and I am excited to see all that the 2024-25 school year will bring. The start of a school year is always a time of excitement and the prospect of something new. For each of us, the possibilities are endless. WIS is a remarkable learning community and we are a school which puts students’ growth and wellbeing at the centre of all that we do. It’s going to be a great year.


Sincerely,

Ethan Van Drunen

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