Christmas 2022 Newsletter

For the last two years the effects of Covid have prevented students and staff at AWSHS from holding the celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the inauguration of the school, originally planned for November 2020.

However, we are delighted to announce that the last weekend of November saw the entire school come together to celebrate our 12th anniversary – current students and alumni, parents, teachers and friends of AWSHS, EDP Trustees and other visitors from the UK.  The festivities lasted the whole weekend, starting with a Health Walk on the Friday in which most people participated, which rapidly metamorphosed into a moving disco competition.  Whilst ill-equipped to compete with the Ghanaian sense of rhythm, we were relieved to note that our UK visitors, notably the younger ones,  stepped up to the mark and acquitted themselves surprisingly well!

Two consecutive years of school-leavers had been deprived of a graduation ceremony and, as you may imagine, excitement was at fever-pitch when they all arrived on campus on the Saturday to accept their WASSCE exam certificates and congratulations from the assembled audience.  Many of these alumni have already commenced tertiary education.

As usual, there were numerous displays given by students and their teachers to keep the audience engaged and entertained, and also some talks from visitors.  The military parade,  performed by the very popular Cadet Corps, was as impressive as ever and the choir was in fine voice.  Science students conducted a fascinating experiment in the lab for all to watch, and those with a more sporting bent were able to adjourn to the pool where Mr Adama was officiating at a water polo match.

EDP Trustees Nick Robertson and Max Sayers did an impromptu double act with an entertaining and informative talk about starting a business.   But the prize for the most exciting address has to go to ex-fighter-pilot, BA captain and EDP supporter Jerry, who kept his student audience completely rapt while he described his exploits and showed videos of his dramatic career flying Tornado fighter bombers, following up with a geography lesson tracking the great circle route on a blow-up globe.

Our students have so many varied talents and are so eager to learn,  and we try to broaden the curriculum as far as we can.  For the next academic year the plan is to add Art and Design, and to this end we have already begun construction of a new Art Room.  Hopefully this will be followed by a Music Department in the next couple of years.

It is a phrase you have certainly read before, but we can say now with absolute certainty that the Sports Field is nearing completion!  It has been a long haul but we are confident that by the second half of 2023 it will be fit for use for activities which will include soccer, volleyball, handball and athletics.

Thanks to the generosity of the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, the swimming pool continues to be a great success. As at the end of 2022,  just over 11,000 children and adults have benefited from the Foundation’s “Learn to Swim” and “Water Safety” programmes. Moreover, the school’s water polo teams are competing with the best in Accra – and often winning!

To read the above, you might assume that we are neglecting our academic commitment, but this is anything but the case – indeed, we are in the top group of senior secondary schools in the region. Our student population numbers 550 (45% boys and 55% girls) and we have 55 staff;  101 girls and 91 boys sat the WASSCE exams this year (A level equivalent).  There are currently  23 alumni studying at the University of Cape Coast, 21 at the University of Education in Winneba, more at Legon and quite a few enrolled for distance learning at the Kwame Nkruma University of Science and Technology.

We would also like to tell you about some exciting new developments on healthcare at AWSHS.  Our policy of providing health checks to every new intake of students stalled during the Covid period, but in June this year we were very fortunate to enjoy the services of Dr Graham and Dr Mark from UK, who spent a week performing medical checks on new students.

Finally, our long and valued relationship with Canford School –  which you have heard much about in previous newsletters – has taken a new turn.   We were invited to select one of our teachers to spend the Spring Term of 2023 residing at Canford and learning about management and teaching methods.  Obviously there was much competition amongst AWSHS staff but Samuel Amoasah, our Social Studies teacher, was finally chosen and he will be coming over to the UK in January to embark on his adventure. It is a great opportunity, and we are very grateful to Canford.

STOP PRESS   

Here is a photograph of the lovely Vida at the anniversary celebrations – one of our earliest students who was diagnosed with a serious heart condition by visiting friend Dr Robin.   Thanks to many of you who contributed to her major operation at Korle-Bu Hospital in Accra she made a complete recovery, returned to AWSHS post convalescence, passed all her exams and became a midwife. Vida has just delivered her 200th baby!!!

Thank you for reading our newsletter. We are very grateful for your interest and  support and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

The Trustees of EDP: David and Inez Lunan, Nick Robertson and Max Sayers and AWSHS Founder : Peter Donkor