Accra - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the availability of international schools? What has been your general experience with them, if any?
It's fine - but we had high expectations for LCS based on other Talesmag reports and have therefore been disappointed. There is a lot of Youtube played for kids in lower elementary, which is weird and unnecessary, and our kids are bored despite repeatedly requesting the teachers challenge them. The first set of school marks (at least for elementary) are distributed in February, instead of quarterly, leaving little room for tracking progress. Very little is done on paper and sent home. Kids are not monitored very well (we have had issues with bullying and unmonitored internet use), which is in line with the hands-off parenting style and propensity for chaos that seems common here. Communication from school is frenetic - there are multiple platforms to monitor and information is distributed often very late, so it's easy to miss important information. Several families have opted to send their high schoolers to boarding school instead of stay at LCS. - Aug 2024
Most embassy families send their children to Lincoln Community School (LCS). A few go to GIS (Ghana International School). There are a couple other international schools that compete with GIS and LCS as well. Our children are very happy, the main reason we extended. We are in the middle school and elementary school. While there have been recent embassy students to graduate from LCS, several families have chosen boarding school at the highschool level. Some stating academics and others stating social reasons. We would have no reservations seeing our children graduate from LCS. - Sep 2023
I love LCS, the most popular elementary school. The bus comes at 715am, school starts around 745am. I think it takes a little longer to get home in the afternoons, especially on Fridays (maybe an hour). My kid likes the bus though. Great pre-schools, but they are around 7-10k per year, which isn't super cheap. - Sep 2022
Lincoln Community School (LCS) is the State-sponsored school. Some children attend Ghana International School (British curriculum), French school, or religious-based school. LCS is fantastic for elementary school. The school resembles a community college campus; kids swim for gym class, they learn French, they take field trips, and they are very engaged. The school is diverse and multicultural, the teachers are wonderful, and we've been very impressed. The downside is the commute- the bus ride is 1 hour each way but the AEA provides bus transportation. - Mar 2022
Main expat choices are Lincoln Community School (American curriculum, IB program) and Ghana International School (British system). There is a newer Muslim school doing IB as well. We've been pretty happy with LCS at the middle school and high school levels. Good teachers, generally a good mix of challenging academics and holistic development. Impressive extracurriculars, especially swimming and other sports but also a Saturday academy for music and art lessons. - Nov 2019
I'm familiar with two international schools: Lincoln Community School, which is an IB world school and Ghana International School, which is a British-model school. GIS is very, very close to the Embassy (the back entrance to the Embassy is on the same road as GIS, about 500 meters away). A few families choose GIS, but the vast majority of kids attend LCS. I would say people are generally at least satisfied, if not thrilled, with LCS. The school is a particularly good fit for our family and we absolutely love it, but that's not a universal feeling. Some families feel it's not rigorous enough. We've enjoyed the very welcoming and community-oriented atmosphere and the "whole person" focus of the school. We have a child in late elementary and a child in high school and have been happy with both kids' experiences. I can't speak personally about GIS but we have friends with kids there and they are happy. There's also a French school, I think. - May 2019
There are a couple international elementary and secondary schools, of varying quality from what I hear from those who send their children there. The main school, Lincoln, is quite far from the embassy neighborhood and kids are on the bus for a long time. - Apr 2018
Most embassy kids go to Lincoln Community School, but there's also Ghana International School and one other Christian-based school. The embassy provides a shuttle bus for these three schools. - Aug 2017
Lincoln is the best one available, I would rate it as barely OK, they tend to have all their student shows in the evening at 6pm in the open air gym at prime mosquito time, so it really loses any cool points from me for that. Many of the teachers are local Ghanaians, with about 50% American or Western teachers. In my experience, the school's communication with parents is terrible. - Apr 2017
There are many education options available. We have been happy with Lincoln Community School (there are others such as a French school and GIS), and the Little Explorers preschool (fantastic and highly recommended, though there are others). - Aug 2016
Our children go to Lincoln Community School and they like it. The school has big communication issues but they are improving. Lots of after-school activities. Some mission kids go to the American International School and love it. Not as many after-school activities there but they can accommodate special needs better than Lincoln. I'd suggest researching both to see what works best for your child. - May 2014
It seems to be better for younger children. - Apr 2012
We do not have school age children. There are 4 main schools:Lincoln International, an IBS school;American International School, a Christian school, Ghana International School (GIS) and the German-Swiss International School. While the location of GIS is very convenient, most students go to Lincoln. - Jun 2011
Unlike 99% of the children, our children do not go to Lincoln Community School. We chose instead to send our kids to the German Swiss International School, where they have a bilingual program. The school is smaller and has a family feeling - we know all the kids and probably 90% of the other parents (at least by sight) and classes and grades frequently have programs together so learning across ages is practiced. The teachers and headmaster are all very accessible and have been active parts in our children's education. I also like that it has opened up other avenues outside of the embassy community. The previous reports we had read here about LCS were not very positive (2007 time frame, reports from 2006 and older).My friends who have children at LCS seem happy with the school presently, but report some dissatisfaction with the training and classroom methods of the local Ghanaian teachers, particularly in the kindergarten class. Since IB came to LCS, people seem happier. One family sends their children to Ghana International School and is happy with that. One family homeschools. - Feb 2010
For English speaking the main expat schools are British school,Christian school, and Lincoln. Christian school was started to improve academic opportunities and has very small classes - but limited social opportunities for older kids. Lincoln has IB program and graduating kids have gone on to some impressive colleges. However, several parents complained that the elementary IB curriculum didn't lead to amastery of all the basics - especially in mathematics. - Feb 2010
Lincoln Community School is used by most US Embassy families and appears to be very good for younger children. Seems fine for older kids too. The Ghana International School is closer to the embassy, but it does not appear to have comparable facilities. There is also a Swiss school and a German medium-level school. - May 2009
