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Khartoum’s Most Prized Possessions: UNITY HIGH SCHOOL

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By Ashraqat Asmaa Ahmed

Unity High School was founded in 1902 by Bishop Llewellyn Henry Gwynne and the Coptic church from Egypt. Unity began as an all-girls school which was a new and not entirely desired concept in Sudan!

A teacher from Lebanon was brought to teach the students, kicking off the School’s legendary history – by 1904, Mrs Bewley was quick to recognise the potential of Unity and proposed some amendments that greatly enhanced the school’s reputation. Thanks to her efforts, in the same year, Unity surpassed its academic, sports, and extracurricular activity expectations and won several awards in Khartoum’s annual exhibitions.

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At this stage, the school councillors sought it fitting to assign Sergeant Seabright the task of building the school’s very own building (now known as the Old Hall).

By 1927, Unity introduced its secondary school plans and added a variety of new subjects to the curriculum such as Geography and History.

School textbooks were printed in England and promoted cultural blending and fostering Unity between the two nations.

The Cambridge examining board, IGCSEs, was put together by as early as 1937!

By 1949, UHS had a diverse student body consisting of female students from nine different nationalities, including Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, and Ethiopia.

Soon enough, Unity was known as the leading international school in Sudan.

FUN FACT: Princess Anne took a trip to Sudan and made sure she visited Unity High School back in the seventies!

Sports Day

UHS has always always always been known for the passion it has for sports! Every single basketball, football and volleyball match was met with outstanding enthusiasm from the entire school! Students, parents and friends were always seen cheering for Unity’s marvellous teams.

However, the one day every student and staff member swears by as unforgettable has always been Sports Day – the school’s annual tradition that still lives on for 121 years!

As students enrol into the school, they’re automatically assigned a team; Dinder, Meroe, Mara, and Nile. These teams are named after geographical areas of significance around Sudan!

Unity High School’s Sports Day featured a dynamic range of activities, including sprint races (50m, 100m, 200m, and 400m), jumps (High Jump and Long Jump), and the Shotput competition. The day also showcases team spirit with tournaments in basketball, football, and volleyball.

UHS is VERY serious about its sports, specifically tournaments against other schools as its teams has won many trophies over the years.

Buildings

The school is sacred and is planted deep into the roots of the students. The first ever building (the old hall) was preserved and used to educate and graduate thousands of students until today!

The Old Hall is more than 115 years old.

The primary school campus was organised into three main buildings, known as A, B, and C blocks. Building A housed various facilities, including the primary art room, music room, TV room, detention room, Primary Library, and the Primary Principal’s Office.

Building B was dedicated to Arabic and religious studies, featuring the Secondary art room and the library. It was situated across from the well-known Old Hall, which contained the staff room, Principal’s office, and the Clinic.

Building C accommodated the science labs on the ground floor and maths classes on the upper floor, with an open area adjacent to the big field. Additionally, the F block comprised English, Geography, History, Sociology, and Business classes, along with the isolation room. Beneath the F block, you could find the gym and PE offices.

What’s Unity High School without 7aja Amira?

 

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Model United Nations

MUN played a significant role in catalysing the students’ already high intelligence by instilling public speaking skills, and awareness of the world around them and learning how to, as a team, tackle the world’s most outrageous crisis! 

UHS students’ passion for sports was simultaneous to academic knowledge and education hence why the growth of MUN was so smooth and quick!

 

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Core Memories For EVERY Student

This historical masterpiece of a school came with many signature annual events that were always organised to top-notch levels.

Every student that graduates from UHS can tell you how the speeches given by the graduating class Head Boy, Head Girl and President, would tug at the emotions of every student with their bitter-sweet goodbyes of their final high school chapter.

Prize giving, bake sales, bazaars, talent shows and many more events made UHS worthwhile.

The Staff Who Made It All Even More Memorable!

How can we ever forget the staff members? UHS’s staff members are a family!

The staff at UHS played an essential role in maintaining the school community cohesion. Each member contributed to the school spirit. From Mr. Tony’s weekly Golden Student announcements to Mr. Joe’s amusing speeches at assemblies and Mr. Basheer’s leadership of National Anthem Mondays. Moreover, Mrs. Fayhaa’s enthusiastic cheers during basketball tournaments and Mr. Kamal’s humorous jokes in Arabic classes fostered a positive and dynamic atmosphere at UHS.

Every single person who was a member of UHS had a task assigned to them that they amazingly fulfilled and played a role in the making of this institute.

However, we would like to conclude this article with a list of core team players that we believe gave Unity High School its evident reputation!

Honorary mentions to:

Mrs. Stephanie, Mr. Joe (Head of Secondary)
Mrs. Sanaa (Secondary School Secretary)
Mrs. Mona (Primary School Secretary
Mr. Tony and Mr. Ben (Head of Primary)
Mrs. Hind (Head of Art)
Mr. Eldirdiri, Mr. Micheal and Mr. ElNazeer (Physics)
Mrs. Hibat, Mr. Kamal, Mr. Mohammed, Mr. Daoud, Mr. basheer and Mrs Aafaf (Arabic and Religious Studies)
Mrs. Hanadi (Head of ICT)
Mrs. Fadwa (Geography teacher)
Mr. Elias, Mrs. Fayhaa (Head of Pastoral)
Mr. Taj (lab tech since 1974!)
Mr. Chris and Mr. Mamdouh (Math teacher)
Mr. Bakheet (School Bus Manager)

We hope this article gave you an insight to what life was like as a member of the UHS community!

To all the ex-Unity students, we hope reading this article felt like a warm reunion with all your favorite classmates and staff members!

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