Students and staff recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of Doha English Speaking School (DESS) with a fabulous Street Party where everyone enjoyed cake and dancing, and sang the Happy Birthday song to DESS.
Did you know that the official opening of DESS was attended by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani. The Amir, HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is a DESS alumnus.
The whole school was pictured from above, in the shape of the figure 40 on the school field, and there was a special 40th Anniversary Assembly with honoured guests including members of the DESS Alumni and George Savage, who was Headteacher at DESS when it was officially opened in February 1979. The former headteacher spoke to the children about his experience 40 years ago and described the special celebrations which took place to mark the school’s official opening.
Savage assisted the school’s current Headteacher, Sean Sibley, to bury the DESS 40th Anniversary Time Capsule (filled with lots of special memories of life at DESS today), in the school’s Jubilee Garden. It is hoped that the DESS Time Capsule will be discovered and reopened as part of the school’s 50th Anniversary celebrations in 10 years’ time!
For more information about DESS and the programmes they offer, visit their website at dess.org.
