After more than three decades of providing quality international education, Westwood International School community has embarked on a journey of re-establishing our prowess in the education sector. Like any other working entity, we have faced goliaths in our journey, but always came out on the other side as victorious due to our resilience. And now, we want to share that journey.
As the Head of School, I believe this is an excellent time for Westwood International School to position itself as the school of choice for all the internationally minded parents and families within Gaborone and beyond. The school is building on a solid reputation that it has gained over the years and most recently, by its outstanding IB diploma results of 2021. Although Westwood has had challenges in the past, we now have a dynamic and thriving community of learners who believe in the strength of our educational programs.
We are the only school in Botswana offering all three IB programs. This represents a continuum, a journey if you will, from Early Years right through to High School. Our enquiry-based education puts the child at the centre of learning. Our students enjoy holistic educational experience that sets them up to be successful graduates and more importantly, lifelong learners. It is for these reasons I believe that Westwood is well-placed to be the number one school in Botswana.
As our school continues to thrive and grow, we now look forward to the next exciting phase in the school’s history. Along with the school council, we look at the future and the development of our facilities such that Westwood International School will offer the best educational experience for our students. We plan, over the coming years, to construct a state-of-the-art Secondary facility for our High School students. This facility will provide the best classroom spaces, Science Laboratories, Art and Design Studios and open-teaching spaces for our high school students. We also aim to incorporate the very best technology, creating smart buildings. We plan for our spaces to be sustainable – incorporating green areas into our design and giving our students the best possible educational opportunity to set them up for success.
With the completion of this new development, we are confident that Westwood International School could become one of the leading educational establishments in the region. With a focus on technology, sustainability, and state-of-the-art facilities, we think the future is very bright for Westwood.
Journey of victory
We do not shy away from admitting to challenges – whether financial, educational, moral, or otherwise. Since joining Westwood, I have had to overcome several of these. It has taken a great deal of resilience on the part of the entire school community to come back from the difficult times of the past. However, I believe that we have all learnt much over the past two years and we are now a stronger institution, a stronger team.
The outstanding IBDP exam results of 2021 were a moment of immense satisfaction, for both myself and the School; a reward for all the hard work that the team has put in over the last few years. These results, 100% pass rate and highest average IB grades in the school’s history, showed the entire community, that at its best, Westwood is truly an outstanding school.
From the moment that I joined Westwood, I tried to encourage all the members of our school to join me on a journey towards improvement, a journey of raising standards and a personal and collective journey of believing we can do better. Having worked in a number of excellent international schools on different continents, I have had the good fortune of seeing excellence in practice. I know what it looks like and I firmly believe that at Westwood we can also achieve excellence.
One of the things I have emphasized, for example, is the need to bring international mindedness into our classrooms. This requires that our educators be aware of global trends and make connections to the important events happening around the world which would support and motivate our young people to also be aware of what is going on in the world and make connections with global trends and events too; I believe it is more important than ever. International mindedness is an awareness that we are part of a global community where all nations are connected. This aspect could be especially important in a rapidly developing country like Botswana. Internationally minded people appreciate and value diversity of cultures in the world and try to learn more about them. These are some of the challenges that have I set our staff and students. I’m delighted to say that on our road to improvement I have seen many positive signs of success.
The school is on a journey. I believe that we’re heading in the right direction and that most members of our school community now have a clear idea of our destination. My role, as Head of School, is to continue to inspire people to work towards that destination.
*Robert Jones is the Head of School – Westwood International School
