Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg (DSJ) principal Thomas Bachmeier would like to thank the DSJ community for their support and wishes community members a wonderful Christmas season.
Bachmeier reflected on the school’s highlights from 2019 with the Rosebank Killarney Gazette. The school welcomed former German Minister of Justice Professor Herta Däubler-Gmelin as part of the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the German constitution.
The school was also visited by German film producer Sönke Wortmann. The New Secondary School (NSec) reached a significant milestone as the stream celebrated 30 years of existence. NSec allows 25 learners from disadvantaged schools to join DSJ each year with a school fee reduction of up to 95 per cent.
The school celebrated the 50th anniversary of the current facility in Parktown as well as its 113th annual Schulbasar fundraiser.
“Academically, we are looking back on a successful year, with 42 graduates in our IEB and 28 in our German Stream,” said Bachmeier.
Reflecting on the school’s challenges in 2019, Bachmeier said, “Despite being a foreign school, we are not immune to the challenging conditions in South Africa. Load-shedding, crime, the division of society, but especially the emigration of German families and the finding of highly qualified personnel was challenging. The school went through ups and downs during the last 130 years of history in this beautiful country and we remain very optimistic for the year 2020.”
Bachmeier said that next year marks the school’s 130th anniversary.
“In March 2020, we play host to the Sport Olympiade of the five German schools in Southern Africa. As the name suggests, the event sees the athletes from each school participate in a week-long sporting spectacle. We also look forward to our annual Schulbasar on 30 May, while we will also host the innovative science week – all of this in the first half of the year.”
Bachmeier would like to wish the DSJ school community a well-deserved rest and festive season. “I would like to take the opportunity to wish all readers a wonderful Christmas season,” concluded Bachmeier.
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