The Friends of WMIS e.V. support the Wangari Maathai International School in Berlin in a number of ways. It provides funding for improvement projects and activities around the school from its regular membership funding and provides the school management with an additional Education Budget for educational material. Let’s take a look at the difference that our support makes to a young school with an ambitious development plan.

The Wangari Maathai Garden

At the beginning of summer 2018, a group of parents and students from the Wangari Maathai International School together with some Nelson Mandela School families planted sunflowers and sowed flower seeds in front of the schoolhouse to start the Wangari Maathai Garden. By the end of summer, it had turned into a wonderful wilderness with amazing colours, smells and busy bees welcoming all the new families at the Einschulung of 2018. In 2019, the project was continued by teachers and educators. The association provides the financial resources for the garden. An application for third-party funding was successfully submitted to the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district office. As part of the project “Freiwilliges Engagement in Nachbarschaften  (FEIN)” – EN: Voluntary Engagement in Neighbourhoods – we have been granted up to 2500 EUR for the Project in 2019. We hope to continue the project of the Wangari Maathai Garden with all the school families that wish to take part in the years to come.

Kids in Need

In order to give every child in our school the same access to school events, the association has launched the project “Kids in Need”. The association has at its disposal a budget set by the general meeting from the annual funds. If there is a need (e.g. for initial equipment, excursions, school trips), please contact the class teacher, school management, or the board of directors directly.

Education Budget

Our kids benefit from bilingual education in small class sizes – for free. WMIS is a growing school and requires various resources in order to create a thriving learning environment for all kids. To that end, the Friends, in close collaboration with the school management and the parent board (GEV) have established a designated educational budget. It allows for funding of materials and services beyond the state budget and from which the whole school will benefit (separate from class-specific kitties). A first needs assessment summed up to roughly 10.000€, including e.g. buying additional textbooks so that complete sets can be used for mother and partner tongue, experimental kits for maths or resources for art projects. Paying for freelance support, e.g. for running the library, is conceivable as well, sufficient funding provided. Allocation of resources and prioritising rest with the school management. You can find more information about the educational budget here.