Thirty one years, and the atoll's senior school for twenty of them
How the school is organised, what the departments hold, and how a family on another island is kept in the picture.
Six departments, forty six teachers, and a duty nobody here takes lightly
The school opened in 1994 with grades eight to ten and about a hundred and forty students. Grades eleven and twelve were added in 2005, and that is when it became the senior school for the eastern islands rather than only for this one.
The school is organised in six departments: mathematics, sciences, languages, Islam and social studies, commerce, and the practical and physical subjects. A department holds its own syllabus, its own marking standard and its own examination papers, and a head of department sits in on lessons across the whole department every term. That is the machinery that keeps a school of forty six teachers marking to one standard, and it is worth more than any amount of inspection from outside.
Alongside it sits the form teacher system. Every class has a form teacher who is the person a family deals with, who holds the student's file, and who telephones home. Subject teachers report to the form teacher in writing every fortnight about anybody they are worried about, and the form teacher makes the call in that same week.
The duty that weighs most here is the boarding one. Sixty four students live in this school's hostel from Sunday to Thursday, a good many of them at thirteen or fourteen years old, two hours from home. Their parents have handed them to us. The warden and two assistant wardens live on site, the roll is taken four times a day, the gate is closed at eight in the evening, and a student who is unwell is taken to the health centre and their family telephoned before anything else happens.
For grades eleven and twelve, students go on from here to whatever comes next, and the careers desk exists because a student on an island has far less information about that than a student in a city, not less ability.
The leadership and the heads of department
Mohamed Shakir
Twenty three years teaching, nine as principal here. Teaches one grade twelve mathematics group and holds the reduced hostel rate conversati...
Fathimath Rahma
Holds the form teacher system, the reports and the telephone hour. She is the person who decided every parents' meeting would be held twice,...
Ali Shamveel
Chemistry to grade twelve. Wrote the laboratory rules with the technician and arranged the practical mornings for the four feeder schools.
Khadeeja Nasiha
Lives on site with two assistant wardens. Rewrote the roll calls and the pairing arrangement after the first fortnight the hostel was open,...
What boarding involves and what it costs
What does boarding involve, and what does it cost?
Sunday morning to Thursday afternoon, in two blocks with a warden and two assistant wardens living on site. Roll at seven, half past one, six and nine. Gate closed at eight in the evening. Three meals cooked on site and a laundry arrangement.
Nine hundred rufiyaa a month. Fourteen places a year are held at a reduced rate for families who ask, and that conversation is with the principal and stays there.
What happens if a boarder is ill?
They are taken to the health centre and the family is telephoned before anything else happens, including before the school telephones anybody else.
For anything serious the school arranges a boat at any hour and does not wait to be asked or to be paid. The warden's telephone is answered at night and the number is given to every boarding family at the start of the year.
Can we visit, and when?
Yes, and please do. Saturday visits are the easiest because the boats run for families, and the school asks every boarding family to come once a term.
About three quarters manage it, and it makes a real difference to a young student to have their family see where they sleep. Tell the office the week before so the warden knows to expect you.
The telephone hour is Tuesday, four until five
Ring the office and ask for the form teacher by name. Every parents' meeting is also held twice, once on a Saturday morning.