Parent's Review of Windhoek International School in Windhoek

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Review Your Child's International School

What is the name of your child's school? (Please report on one school per survey.)

Windhoek International School

In what town or city is this school located?

Windhoek

How would you describe this school? (i.e. American, British, International, Local, etc.)

International

What grade levels are represented at this school?

pre-K thru year 13

How do most children get to school everyday? (bus, train, walk, etc.)

private car

How would you describe the facilities at this school? What extra-curricular activities are available?

The buildings are fairly well maintained but lack an overall coherent structure. The classrooms are spread far and wide and are connected by covered walk in some instances and not in others. The rationale offered by admin is that the physical plant is modeled on an African village, however, in the 21st century this concept presents many safety issues especially in regard to dismissal time and small children wandering into the unregulated car park unaccompanied.

What has this school done to help your child transition from the curriculum in your home country into the curriculum in your new country? Are there programs to prepare your child for repatriation?

Curriculum wise, not very much. Indeed, the school's timetable, based on the accepted Namibian schedule provides for about only 5 hours of instruction per day. School takes in at 7:20 am and dismisses at 1:30 p.m. There are two breaks within this period. It is difficult to believe that the children even get enough instructional time given the fact that a typical year 9 student has 12 different courses within a given week. Some of the courses only meet once per week, so only a cursory understanding of the material can be expected. Core courses do meet more regularly, but a large portion of the time is devoted to correcting homework--the teacher literally walks down the aisle correcting notebook work. Textbooks tend to be of British or South African issue. Returning to the standard driven educational system of the US would prove challenging for those who spend any length of time at WIS no doubt. Parents often have to supplement their children's education with private tutors or supplementary classes taken outside of the school.

How would you describe the social activities available for parents through this school? Are there parent-teacher organizations?

There is a PTA, but their aims seem to be geared toward fund raising. They do do a good job in supporting the activities established by the administration. However, the group shies away from addressing issues concerning long-term goals, school vision, quality teacher recruitment and retention as well curriculum strengthening and improvement.

What advice would you give to someone considering enrolling their child in this school?

Given that the school charges ex-pats three times the amount it charges native Namibians (2009-2010 academic sch. yr), we'd recommend looking into other options. Additionally, there is a great need, especially in the high school division, to cultivate a basic sense of professionalism among the faculty. We've had numerous "run-ins" with faculty members that stem from a lack of communication, lack of knowledge regarding acceptable methods of assessment and/or lack of mastery of content area. These are all minimal level skills that appear to be largely absent among a good portion of the WIS High School staff. Monitoring of such by admin does not appear to exist and when parents attempt to address these issues on their own, they are literally shouted down by teachers. Additionally, the student/ teacher rapport of some faculty members is just down right appaling.

We are not sure that this is unique to WIS, but it certainly did not meet with our expectations and does not sit well with parents who are plucking down thousands of US dollars in tuition.

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