German Schools

[finknottle]

Get it off your chest

There are, as anywhere, good and bad aspects to the school system.

So if you want advice, help or an embittered rant - feel free.

On a postive note - anyone see the thread on Primary about security? I've just taken dd to kg and on the way back wanted to drop off a school library book ds2 has had since before Christmas and forgot again.
All I did is walk in, went to his classroom and left it on his PE kit so he'll see it at break.

No one worries unduly about security here. The caretaker has an office (all glass) outside the main building but he's rarely in it.

Is it only village schools? Looks so odd to me to have a school "locked down".

yes of course.

Good luck with it all admylin. Maybe if you are in Hannover at some stage soon, you could just ask some of the locals for advice about where the nice areas are/schools etc. I could tell people about Berlin because I know it but it is very hard to find out something about a place you've never been to or lived in, isn't it? I've googled around a bit but haven't found any good informative sites on where to live there etc.

Hi SSandy, just got around to thinking about schools again. I've arranged to go in to the head at the Grundschule to get the new copy of a Gymnasium Empfehlung (due to them scribbling over teh other one at that other school) - now I'm going to contact a few school sto see about Anmeldungen etc so can you help me with this email, I'm so useless at German I could kick myself.

Sehr geegret Damen und Herren,
in August 2008 ziehen wir nach Hannover. Unsere Sohn hat von seiner Grundschule eine Empfehlung für den Gymnasium.
Ich habe Ihren Internet Seite gelesen und finde dass Ihren Schulprofil meinen Sohn am besten passen würde.
Könnten Sie mir Informationen geben über mögliche Anmeldefristen und Dokumente die Sie benötigen. Da wir zur Zeit noch in Berlin leben muss ich im voraus alles arrangieren. (Maybe put: Ich bin nicht vor ort deshalb muss ich mich rechtzeitig informieren)
Danke, mfG,

Sehr geehrte ...dass kann ich!

How about this?

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
im August 2008 ziehen wir nach Hannover. Unser Sohn hat von seiner Grundschule eine Empfehlung für das Gymnasium.
Ich habe Ihre Internet Seite gelesen und Ihr Schulprofil spricht uns sehr an.
Könnten Sie mir bitte Informationen über Ihre Anmeldefristen und die nötigen Unterlagen schicken. Wir leben zur Zeit noch in Berlin, aber ich würde gerne im voraus alles arrangieren. (Maybe put: Ich bin nicht vor ort deshalb muss ich mich rechtzeitig informieren)
Ich danke Ihnen im Voraus,
mfG,

Thanks frogs , I can send off to all the schools I liked the look of and then start on the flat hunt!

HI admylin
waves across to Frogs (who by the way, admylin, has always given me great advice on schools)

Just wanted to say admylin that I would not 100% rely on them using the email facility much. Our school just doesn't respond at all to them IME. You could send an email but if you hear nothing back, perhaps follow up with a fax.

Sorry, don't want to make you panic anymore than you already are but if these are all year 5 gymnasia, you may be a little late. The ones here have had their entrance exams, application deadlines are past already. If so, your best bet would be the one with the bilingual stream I should think where they might make an exception for an English speaker. Agree with the others, am also dubious about how well English teachers will teach history etc but there will always be some Haken. Nadiya's son goes to a Gymnasium of that type here and seems to be managing fine with those lessons taught in English. For that school, I would call the head direct if the direct number is given on the webpage.

SSSandy hi. I've found out from the websites that the registration date is 1st of July in Hannover so that would maybe work out - always wondered why the Berlin dc had to register so early on. BUT - I might not be able to register at all if we haven't found a flat or a house. I was going to do: first decent school, then try to find house in the nearest possible place. Now I'll have to change thinking and try to get a flat before 1st of July or atleast signed for, for 1st of August IYSWIM! I think this might be a problem because a couple of the schools said that they chose pupils firstly from the nearby area, secondly by chosen profile and thirdly by having Geschwister at same school and then the dc from outside got a chance.

Quite alot of them do bilingual classes and one does AbiBac so you get 2 diplomas at the end - others are more scientific. Now depends really on where we find a flat.

I'll have to slightly change my Anfrage letter and try to explain this to them - and see what they say.

oh that's good then (1st July). Surely they must make exceptions for families applying from outside Hannover though. If you are not yet there, how can you have an address etc? I should think your application would stand out a bit since you are foreign and applying from a different town and imagine that would all work in your favour.

How about calling one secretary and seeing what she has to say, perhaps it is all straight-forward and no problem?

Does sound like there are a fair number of schools that would be ok which is good news too.

hi I'm back (excuse any bad typing. I'm breastfeeding while doimng this). DS has now been at new KG since Easter. They want me to come in for a chat about his behaviour. He won't play with the other children and is "too lively". before now I knew he was perfectly normal, and just testing the boundaries, as 3 yo do. Now I'm horrified to find myself embarrassed by his antics. I'm so upset I can't bear this. Could they realistically kick him out for not, in their words "obeying the rules"? He's just 3, FFS...Anyone out there to talk to? I'm all alone as dh is away all week being important somewhere. I've got to sort this by myself.

since Easter? Really haven't given it much time, have they? Why not ask for an appointment for next week when dh is back so you can go in together?

yeah I know. Easter. Unbelievable... He absolutely loves it there, but is being a bit demanding on them. I think he's a little daunted by the other kids speakign German, so he hangs out with one of the teachers for more attention. This is getting on their nerves!
Sadly, DH is nearly always away out of Germany (new job). A parent's meeting will be just me.

They could of course. If they can easily fill the place which I think is the case from other things you've written. They could tell you for instance that he is perhaps too young for kg and would benefit from being at home an extra year. Maybe they aren't preparing to throw in the towel though, just want you to assist them a bit in some way?

I can well imagine you not looking forward to it but I suppose you will have to go along and hear what they have to say. In the end it will be a matter of listening to their comments, maybe jotting down a couple of points, hearing what they think the way forward is and perhaps asking them to give you some advice on how you can support them or what you can do to help ds fit in their better. The other thing I suppose would be to say "thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me about this and let me know how he is doing, I'm going to think it through and can I get back to you in a day or two?" Sort of fob them off a bit.

Oh, poor you. It doesn't sound as though they are being very understanding.

Ds was going through a difficult phase before Easter which was odd because he had been quite settled and I had to speak to the KG about it. The Leiterin was actually quite supportive and saw it as much the KG's responsibility as mine to help sort things out. Since then he has calmed down again and I have followed up on the chat by informally asking how he's getting on every 2 weeks or so.

When you go in try not to be too confrontational but ask them what they are doing to help him settle in and emphasise that he is bound to be unsettled with it being a very new situation for him.

I understand fully when you say that you are embarrassed by it. I was too, also by what other parents might be thinking. It was all part of not yet feeling really at home here and irrationally thinking that people would be judging me and my dc. I have sinced talked to a couple of mothers who were really nice and had been through similar things with their dc.

Rather than you feeling bad about ds´s behaviour can you turn the tables and ask them what they propose to do to help ds. He can´t be the first child they´ve come across who hasn´t settled in as quickly as they would have liked, so they should have some suggestions/strategies that should help.
When ds started kindergarten in September all the new children were teamed up with an older child who was responsible for showing them around, explaining rules etc. Ds loved having this special friend and the older children loved the responsibilty. Maybe they could try finding one child he could team up with for a while until he´s more confident with his German.

thanks all. I've got to go and collect him now (they're still reducing his hours to allow him to settle in). You know, I would absolutely LOVE it if I go there and there's no negative comment whatsoever from them. Just one time, that's all I'm asking for. I would feel a million times better and can pass this positive feeling to DS. He's such a cracking kid, who's picking up German so bloody quickly it's frightening, but they want to subdue him.
What I don't get is when I've seen him there, he's playing or eating properly with the other kids and being a sweetie. I know that's just a fragment of the 3 hours they have with him, but it's not adding up, to me.
Right, gotta dash. Fingers crossed, eh? I'm SO emotional at the moment too as I only gave birth 6 weeks ago and am struggling on zilch hours sleep as well!

Hello everyone -I can finally join in this thread now as DS is having his first 'taster' session at Kita! Hurray!(I think!)

As some of you may remember I agonized over whether to send him to German Kindergarten or Army pre-school and for a while I thought the decision was out of my hands as the Stadt ones refused him (appparantly there are loads of new rulings this year).

However my German friend from church has a neighbour who works in a lovely, more independent one -they still get state funding so don't really know the difference, think it is a co-operative one with more parental input.

We visited yesterday, he has 2 settling sessions (has gone today with DH) and starts properly beginning of May! Feel a bit shell shocked at the speed of it all but really hope we made the right choice.

His teacher is lovely-speaks excellent English (only trouble i can forsee is that she will have trouble speaking to him in German!) and the other parents seem nice too.So far the school have been so helpful and flexible.

Hope everyone is doing ok -will keep you posted and am sure I will have lots more questions later!

Wish me luck -he was so happy to go today, I am so nervous! (He is my Precious One and Only!)

Good luck, trockodile! Hope he get's on OK today. It sounds like a lovely kg.

It's good that his teacher can speak English to help him settle in but I think she should speak German with him really or it may, in the long run, make it harder for him to fit in there. If he only hears German there he will soon pick up the language even if it is a shock for him at the start.

Well, he had a lovely time so a big relief. The teacher knows she has to talk to him in German-think she will find it easier when we are not there. All the children wanted to play with him and try out english words! I expect the novelty will wear off. He can't wait to go back.

I'm really glad for you that he's settling in so well and I think it's a great opportunity for him to pick up a second language.

How long have you been in Germany?

sounds great trockodile Expect some ups and downs though, you know how dc are, there will be the odd upsetting thing - fighting, being left out, etc which you will probably get anywhere but it is always hard on the mum. This sounds better than the one you had originally planned to get him into it. He will pick up German from the dc and be motivated to learn it because he'll want to interact with them.

does anyone know if a student aged 16 who is classed as an 'extaraordinarschuler' (sorry i don't know if i spelt that right) should be able to be allowed to have extra time on exams and not to be graded as native speakers?

CinderellaInCyberspace, no idea really but German schools don't seem to make exceptions to the rule at all.

Ds has a new boy in his class from Poland but with arabic as his first language and he is getting 6's all round in tests and homeworks which is totally unfair but the teachers don't seem to be giving him a chance to settle in and learn the language. He also walks home with us so he's not even in extra German lessons or anything.

I've never heard of an extraordinärschuler cinders. I think Berlin might be very different in this respect. I really don't know whether they treat non-native speakers of German any differently to native speakers. I think possibly they don't but that non-native speakers are entitled to Förderunterricht in German if the teacher feels they need extra help. This seems to be at the discretion of the teacher generally and dc just get this extra tuition without the dp being involved.

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your question either, cinders.

How demoralising that must be for that boy, admylin. Sounds horribly familiar though after what we went through with dd last year and she did speak German.

Bit of a rant. Dd got a 1/2 for her latest maths test but has to write the whole thing out again because it was unordentlich. Dd was showing me the test while we were waiting for the doctor and when she came in she rather nosily grabbed the test and looked at it. Even she agreed it was a bit much to make her write it out again! Mind you dd is very unordentlich so maybe it will encourage her to be neater next time.

oh dear think we will have to cross our fingers and see if she gets through to the next year

thank you