Grade 1s welcomed to DHPS
On Wednesday, the Deutsche Höhere Privatschule Windhoek (DHPS) held an enrolment ceremony for 83 grade 1 learners.This is a major event in the DHPS school year, because "for the new learners and their families it is a special step in the children's lives, a whole new and perhaps their greatest independence,” Principal Kristin Eichholz said during the welcoming ceremony.
The first school day of this year’s grade 1s at DHPS was all about friendship and diversity: Children and youth deacon Markus Laegel embarked on a “tour” of the savannah with the children and visitors and told them the story of how the rhinoceros and the giraffe mastered their first day of school despite external differences and became friends in no time.
Conni Hecht, head of the DHPS primary school, whose story was set in the vastness of the ocean, told the eager listeners how the little shark found many new friends through courage, tolerance, compassion and trust.
One of the highlights every year is the performance by the second graders to welcome the new schoolchildren into the school community. The song “Du gehörst zu uns, wir gehören zu dir, wenn du Freunde suchst, dann findest du sie hier” (“You belong with us, we belong with you, if you're looking for friends, you'll find them here”) underlined the welcoming spirit of the school.
In keeping with the traditional welcome ceremony at DHPS, the "oldest" learners took the "youngest" under their wing: The twelfth graders accompanied the little newcomers to their classrooms and through the exciting morning.