Thornhill Primary School

Well, we finally got the school situation sorted out! On Tuesday Mave and Kuno were ‘assessed’ at Thornhill School, my first choice because of its location (right in town near the Main Mall, a 10 minute drive for us) and its fees, which are less than several of the other private schools. Both children – with their fine Delaware public educations – were reported to be excellent students and would have no trouble going ahead to Standard 7 and Standard 4, though Kuno is young for Std 4. The school year in southern Africa is the calendar year so a new year has just started so the kids either had to go ahead half a grade or behind half a grade. I was delighted that they accepted us even though they are really squeezed for room. They were very kind and accommodating. As soon as we found out the kids were accepted we cancelled our assessments at Northside. School started on Wednesday!

The school is a mini world unto itself. The students are primarily Batswana though there are South Africans of all hues, reflecting the significant South African population in Gaborone. There are a few Indians, not as many as had been suggested by others, and then a smattering of other Africans and Europeans. There are three classes for each grade or standard. School starts at 7:15, with me dropping them off around 7; they finish at 12:45 at which time I pick them up. There is a half hour break around 10:30 when they are encouraged to run around and have some fun. They all have hearty snacks at that point which they have brought from home. In another week or two activities (no extra cost) begin. Those run from about 1:30 to 4:30 and kids may choose to sign up for whatever they want – lots of sports, art, music etc. At that point a school lunch will essentially be offered (which they eat outside; it is a lovely if a bit small campus) or they may bring a lunch from home. So hopefully Mave and Kuno will find activities that coincide and I will pick them up later, giving me a longer work day and giving them a longer day.

They wear serious school uniforms – a dress, short white socks and black shoes for Mave (posts or small hoops only for earrings) and grey shorts and short socks, black shoes and a Thornhill white button down shirt for Kuno, becomes grey trousers when colder. They have special swimming ‘costumes’ and bathing caps for swimming (once a week) and special PE ‘kits’ – green Thornhill shirts, white shorts and white sports shoes for PE which is also once a week. On PE and swimming days they may wear their PE clothes. The kids look great in their uniforms and blend right in. Both came home with the names of five friends they had made the first day. Mave reported that the girls that she hung out with that day were surprised to hear her American accent as they assumed she was a new student from here. They like her American accent while Mave loves their Botswana/South Africa/English and whatever else accents. For Std 7 there is a field trip to South Africa at the end of the year that Mave is already sorry that she will miss.

Postscipt: In the book, Desert Doctor, by Alfred Merriweather, first Speaker of the National Assembly in Botswana, he writes of the new capital city around the time of independence: "Schooling had always been a problem in Botswana. In the old days there were separate primary schools for whites and Africans. Such a state of affairs could not be in the new town, and so Thornhill School was built." He goes on to write that the school had a "great prestige value among the people of Gaberones."