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".

It is a very friendly letter for German verhältnisse isn't it! I'm going to ask dd's teacher to have a chat to her about the Probestunde, she listens to him more than to me! Dh can't come as he will be in Hannover 4 days before and then has to work back in Berlin - he could have trie dto change his date but now he's booked everything so I will have to do it all alone (am used to that anyway)

Isn't the end of term usually a waste of time though? What with Sportfest, Sommerfest, Klassenfahrt etc they don't seem to do much work for the last 4 to 6 weeks. It's the same in UK I think so not specific to Germany.

Wonder where the head teacher is from, they both have names I've never heard very often. Going to pick dd up early at 11am today as the Erzieher are on strike and her last 3 lessons are usualyl for swimming on Wednesdays so that's cancelled.

Venskaitis sounds Latvian or Lithuanaian to me. fwiw.

Well, as I guessed, dd is not begeistert about the Probestunde. I spoke to her infront of her teacher and said it'd be great to come back and tell her old teacher and class mates what sort of school and class she will get but she couldn't even manage a small smile. Haev to work on it - might ask her teacher to have a word too when I'm not there. Looks like I will have to try and stay with her maybe.

why doesn't she want to do it, is she quite shy and nervous about it? Dd doesn't mind that kind of thing because she would be quite curious to see what it is like.

I think things are working out very nicely in Hannover so far - as if it were meant to be in fact. How are you progressing with ds and the gymnasium?

As far as teh Gymnasium is concerned, al lwe have to do is turn up to the Anmeldung and then wait and hope he will get a palce. I know they have more dc than places and soem have to go over to another Gymnasium but I hope he gets in due to the bilingual side and I'll put his name down for the music thing they offer. I heard one dc didn't get in and the mum thought it was because she didn't tick the music box at the registration.

Yes, dd is very shy and quite scared of going to a new class. She can be confident and talkative but it really depends on the circumstances. I hope she can do it and that she clicks with the teacher too. She can somehow tell if an adult is genuine child friendly or not. I wish she would be more easy going but she is getting better with age so I hope she can start afresh in Hannover.

OMG, can you tell I was typing fast - tea's on and I didn't want to burn it!

I think it's very understandable that your dd is nervous. My dd is also very shy and that was a real problem for her when she started here as she wouldn't speak to or even look at her teacher at the beginning and this particular teacher seemed to think there was something wrong with dd rather than realising that she was just finding it difficult to settle in. She's better now but still doesn't really like talking to adults. She's always been fine with other children though and is now quite popular in her class so it makes me quite angry that the first teacher wasn't more sympathetic and understanding.

Taipo, I know exactly what you mean. Some adults/teachers don't understand shyness in dc, dd needs ages to get used to people. When she started kindergarten she didn't speak for a whole year, not a word in any language but she played quite happily, made friends and even went back to the afternoon sessions - it was as if she just couldn't speak and she tends to slip back into that way when she feels überfordert or is in a new situation. I told her teacher here in Berlin about it and that it is due to high sensitivity and that she can be very anxious and he was great and understood - I'm debating should I say anything or see how she gets on in her new school?

Ds is also extremely sensitive and on his last day at Kindi it was too much for him to cope with the emotion of saying goodbye and leaving so he blocked and just ignored every one and sat quietly waiting for me to pick him up. The Erzieherin took it as an insult and was totally beleidigt at his behaviour and she told me so. I was shocked at how childish and unprofessional she was.

Admylin, your poor d. Going in on her own to a new class in a new school in a new city - lots of children would be nervous. Adults too, thinking about it, in a new workplace.
Could you go in with her? I bet I'd have to with s2 and d. You'd also get an idea of the teacher too then

The primary here has had a new school secretary this year and she is lovely. When I ring up (usually Krankmeldung) and say "This is Finknottle" she goes from neutral to "Oh, Hello! " and when I need to sort stuff out she listens & helps & smiles. The old one was a dragon. I think I saw her breathe fire once.
The new one met me and d out and about in the village last year and came up to her and said, "You must be (d), you're starting school after the summer hols. I know your brothers, (s1) and (s2)" She'd seen her name on the list, wasn't sure how to pronounce it so she called the kiga to ask.

The head even smiled at me yesterday She's been looking though me for 18 months. I know it's because she was at my friend's funeral and heard me read and is trying to be nice because of that, and doubtless we'll clash again but for now, I appreciate it.

As you were. Normal ranting will resume soon

at stupid Erzieherin.
Mustn't ruin my glow having been smiled at by the primary head...

at KG teacher. Very strange to say that she was offended.

I think you should speak to her new teacher. I didn't at dd's first school here (partly because I didn't know what to expect) but did speak to the head and the new teacher of the new one and explained the situation. New teacher was better but I still get the impression that she doesn't really understand dd and interprets her shyness as rudeness which tbh is how it does come across sometimes but you'd think she'd have experience of that.

Hi finknottle, so nice to hear something positive! My email from the school was very friendly too so another positive for the German school thread!

I know, taipo the shyness does come across as rude I suppose - I just hope that helping shy dc to come out of their shyness is part of being a teacher and when dc spend atleast 6 hours a day in school they should have plenty of time and experience. I'll report back after our trip to Hannover anyway. Sometimes it really bugs me when dd doesn't answer when my friend speaks to her or when she gets spoken to (on rare occasions) in the shops. I have to try my best not to get cros swith her and always try and explain about polite and it not hurting to just say yes, no or thankyou, sigh... we'll get there. Can't complain, ds is little mr charming and very well spoken out side, has never put me to shame (yet, touch wood)

ooh well done Finks getting a smile from the head. Couldn't ahve been wind I suppose?

Thanks for your mail. I am still trying to think of a solution to your ds' German. I have such nice workbooks for English, mostly American, but the ones I have seen for German are really quite dry. I'll get back to you tonight

dd passed all the end of year tests

she will be going up the year....
even managed a one in one of her lest favourite subjects

and ds has a place at te out of town kindergarten

YAHOO cinders! Sounds excellent! More positive news on the Gemran schools thread and we'll need to take a day off MN to recover

How are the escape plans doing?

hello

dh will hopefully get his doctoriate in october

and then we will be discussing everything

he needs a major major major pay rise...or we will be in a major fiancial pickle

dd says she may stay here to finish her schooling ...but Iam so pleased for her.Lots of children in her year are swopping courses or leaving...

she has done so well

must go am cooking at the mo

till later

She has done amazingly well cinders, good for her. Must have been really hard for her settling in and getting through the year.

So we'll expect reports on a severly drunk English mum and dd rollicking around a small Austrian village and disturbing the peace! What a relief for you, huh?

What subject does dh do? We needed nearly 3 years to recover from h's doctorarbeit and his fisrt postdoc job - the pay was rubbish and even now he's done his 4th year of post doc on quite good money but in the UK where he applied for jobs he was being offered 25k in London which is a joke really after studying so long and being so highly skilled. The US isn't much better. That's in Science though.

oh dear no no

have not drank anything really for four months....and yesterday as a big treat we got some champers!

dh is a vet ....he nearly finished his doctoriate, last time we were here...

but then we moved to england and he was working within a small practice...
back so he could finish it,he is on half of his uk wage

I try to tell myself the research is important, but i hate living over our overdraft..

tis a hard choice..
but I feel as a family we all need to be happy...

so the story continues

Haven't been on here for a while.

Congratulations to your dd cinderella.

Just need to let off a bit of steam really. Dd came home today with her essay she did last week. She got a 1/2 for it so that was great (ignoring the fact that she has to rewrite it because it wasn't 'ordentlich' enough!). Then she started to tell me about the maths test they did today and got really upset because she didn't finish a couple of the questions so is convinced she has done badly.

I got an e-mail from a friend in the UK whose dd was really suffering from the stress of the Y2 sats tests so it's not just a problem here but the pressure here is just constant really - at least one test a week atm and also so important for the future.

Anyway she's calmed down now so perhaps she just needed to let off some steam too!

It makes you feel stressed too taipo I bet. I don't know what the correct approach is for a parent to all testing. Are you supposed to put them under more pressure to achieve? Are you supposedto say it's not that important (when in fact for their secondary options it IS important?). We haven't yet encountered this constant testing and I must say I do dread it if we are still in the system next year. Did they give you any indication of how dd is progressing with these tests and what her overall note is likely to be for year 3 or are you pretty much in the dark?

I really think primary is getting far too pressurised everywhere these days. I don't think much of the SATS testing either, takes up a lot of school time that could be better spent on fun-based learning IYAM. Dad has Korean friends and he was telling me one mum was extremely upset because her son obtained 93/100 in an English test and not 100/100. I have quite a few Ukranian friends here and they all expect constant 1's from their dc in every subject and it is a disaster if they ever get a 2 in anything.

Yes, it does make me stressed! I don't know either how to approach it. It does indeed matter very much here, but I'm reluctant to put too much pressure on dd because of the trouble she had last year fitting in. I tend to say to her 'just do your best' which seems a bit wishy washy but I really don't think kids of this age should be under this much pressure. We do know how well she's doing because each test is handed back with the dc's mark plus the average for the class. So far she's always been above average so I'm not too worried about next year. I don't think she needs to be top of the class but I admit I would be disappointed if she doesn't make it to the gymnasium. Does that make me a pushy parent?!

I think you're right about kids being under more pressure everywhere. It was certainly true in Hong Kong where there is an even more rigid banding system at secondary school. I think we've lost sight of what should be important in childhood. Dd said this week that their music lessons have sometimes been cancelled because the teacher has wanted to do extra German or maths to prepare them for the next test. I would complain but I have a horrible feeling that a lot of parents would support the teacher on this one because they are so worried about their dc getting good marks.

Dd has just had her last Klassenarbeit for the year in maths and she got a 3. I didn't tell het off but I was so sad because we practised for weeks and at weekends. I really don't see how I can help her anymore. Looks like we'll be lucky if she gets a 3 on her final report and I just hope she can make up for it with her other subjects.

To see if she'll get into Gymnasium you add up all the marks for maths, German, Sachkunde and Fremdsprache and divide by 3 and if they have 2,4 or above they get into Gymnasium or that's what they told me here - ds got 1,6 but if dd is going to get a 3 next year too she'll have to be damn good at everything else to make the grade. Although if she goes to Realschule they have a 6 month period to make good marks and go up to Gymnasium I think. I just think they need atleast 2 more years at primary school before the decision is made which was quite good about Berlin as they leave primary after year 6 and not year 4 like alot of Germany. Now we move to Hannover, dd has exactly half a year to improve her maths and spelling, question is do I take work with us on holiday this summer or give her a break? We'll be away most of the summer holidays and then moving house but seems along time for her not to practise.

I'd take work with you, at least for maths.

I am so dreading all this testing. You know I have really plugged away at the maths all year with dd but the last couple of weeks we have been working more on Schreibschrift. Thought the maths was more or less under control . Yesterday she had a Rechenmeister to do in her practice book, kind of one page test with some addiction/subtraction, multiplication/division and that division with Restzahlen (53:5 = 10 R 3 kind of thing). I could have pulled my hair out, honestly girls (or even HER hair out) - was feeling premenstrual. She couldn't seem to do ANY of it fgs.

I think we should manage a 5 in maths for year 3 no problem at all tbh. I am really wondering what the answer is to maths. I am inclining towards just letting it slide and giving up on it these days

It's hard, isn't it? Dd is slipping back a bit in maths too. Last test was 3+ and now she's worried about the one she did yesterday. I'm reluctant to do loads of extra work with her because tbh I find it stressful enough just to get her to complete the homework every day. In her last report (which she got in Feb) she got a 2+ for German and maths so that was fine. She'll get at least a 2 for German I think for the next one but not so sure about maths. Her friend got a couple of very bad marks for dictation earlier in the year and her parents wouldn't let her play out for a week after the second one and made her do lots of extra work. Seemed a bit harsh to me but there is a lot at stake I suppose. Perhaps she'll thank them for it later and I'll wish I'd been pushier!