Neue Stifte, neues Maeppchen: new German school thread

[finknottle]

Am starting in positive manner as we're 7 weeks into the new school year and all 3 of mine are settled and happy.
Well, d won't be if she does have head lice and has to stay off because she loves school so much.
S1 is in the second year of secondary & still thriving. Is class prefect for the first time which was a great ego boost.
S2 is in Y4 & has been doing better in class but his test results are still lousy (unfortunate choice of phrase if we are lice-ridden) and his teacher is convinced it's the language issue. He's trying harder which is a good sign. He lost the prefect election by 1 vote to his best friend and was chuffed to bits to be his "deputy" and that so many voted for him.

Had forgotten how wonderful the "erste Klasse" is.

By the way congratulations to your dd taipo! She must be pleased. Have you got much choice in schools (Gymnasium) around where you are?

In Berlin there was so much choice, and all so spread far over the city. If you found one you likes it might have meant 1 hour public transport trip every morning and on top of homework what a life that would have been for ds. Hannover is nice and small so even the other schools aren't that far really.

There are two Gymnasien in our town. I haven't really checked them out yet except to have a brief look at the websites. She has her heart set on one of them because it's mostly likely the one where her best friend is going. There's an open day in March and then I think we have to decide by the end of March where to send her.

I've just found out that the Gesamtschule registration day is before the other sorts of schools so I suppose that gives us time to find an alternative if she didn't get a place although it's only 10 days.

Would you find out that quickly whether or not she'd got a place?

Yes, you register and then within the next 10 days you find out. I hate it, they will be the longest 10 days to get through.

Before we moved to Hannover I had to come and register ds blind as hadn't had a chance to see any schools except on internet and then wait 10 days for the letter to come, all I knew was that we'd be living nearest to the school I registered at.

Dread to think if he hadn't got in we would have been allocated a place in one of the 3 other schools we had to write on the form. I didn't expect to have to have alternatives so I had to ask the secretary to just write some other schools in as I didn't have any idea of where they were or what they were like. How could I - I had one day to do everything.

Do you think it's the right school for ds or would you have chosen a different school in hindight?

Actually, I think it is the right sort of school for him. He's managing even though he got a 4 in maths and German. I have a meeting next week to find out what he has to do to get higher grades but I think a 3 is a standard good grade in year 5 - it's the school's method of not being too generous with the grades at first.

He loves his music class and has found friends so I am unsure about moving him over to the IGS anyway. I'd rather have them both at the same school but I'm fairly sure that the Gesamtschule gives the dc more of a chance, allows them a bad grade now and then and the chance to go up within the year. I hate the constant threat of Versetzung that is thrown about right up to year 10 in these Gymnasiums. After these last reports they already sent Versetzung gefährdet letters out to some parents. Poor dc, must be an awful feeling.

No, I wouldn't move him if he is settling in there and finding friends.

It must be so stressful to get one of those letters and have to fight to stay in a particular school.

I would consider a GS for dd but there are none as far as I know in BW. At least there was no mention of them in the info booklet we got about all the different types of school. Would probably have to travel about 30 miles into RP which is out of the question really.

I always remember my old school. We had 3 top classes and 2 lower classes and if on a rare occasion a dc had to move from top to lower class there were always tears and it was a tragedy. Remembering that (it only happened twice in my year) and seeing the reaction of the dc when they found out, I know what sort of pressure is on the German school dc every report day.

How was your meeting admylin?

Hi taipo, thanks for asking. Meeting went well and I think I did everything right. It all sounded positive and I felt much better after the meeting was over and I know there is hope!

I'm glad I found that internet info as I went in knowing what they were thinking and prepared for.

I'm glad it went well. Good for you and for dd.

That info was certainly quite illuminating.

I´m pleased the meeting went well. Have you spoken to dh about getting extra help for the dc?

Not yet Hupa. I have a meeting on teh 19th and the 27th with ds's teachers and am thinking of getting h to attend with me in the hope that the German teacher especially will say ds will definately need native German speaking help in the near future.

For the moment he seems to be managing, so that's my next big question: What on earth is he doing wrong (to get a 4 in german he must be doing something wrong)

Dd's German teacher sent me some great spelling practise books which I will order and go through them with her page for page. The maths teacher is going to sit her in the computer corner away from the class for the next exam to see if that helps her with her exam angst. She also suggeste dstudying with a friend at home instead of just me. So inviting a friend, study a bit then play.

It´s really good that they´ve come up with some positive ideas.
It´s probably quite easy to get a 4 in German you´ve only got to get a few endings wrong and forget a few capital letters. There were probably loads of native speakers who also got a 4. The idea of having a friend round is really great.

Found out recently that quite a few of the other boys got a 5 in German so not so bad for ds. He has no idea about the girls yet, he totally blocks any knowledge of existance of girls in his class!

Also found out that one boy who has been told off alot for not doing homework and forgetting things has infact a very ill mother (she has MS) and the father is away working alot too - now I feel so sorry for him as ds told me his evil English teacher even had this boy in tears because he wasn't doing his homework .

That´s awful. Poor boy.

How horrible that she reduced him to tears.

Lol at your ds blocking any knowledge of girls in his class. Dd does the same with the boys.

Some more positive news - we had our meeting with the teacher today and she confirmed the Gymnasialempfehlung for dd. There weren't even any buts, she was very positive about dd and even said she thought that dd's Ordnung (or lack of it) would improve.

Good news taipo. So can your dd relax now or could the empfehlung still change? Ours can change, so the Hauptschule one we got was just a trend and they said they can imagine dd would manage Gymnasium so she just has to concentrate on getting her maths grade up a bit (even a 3 would save her from Hauptschule) and in German they have a dictation soon but they know the text so we can practise until she is perfect.

She should be able to relax now. Afaik the empfehlung can't change and here the teacher's world is final so if you disagree with it you have to go through an official appeal process.

I'm glad to have avoided that. It could easily have been very different. Dd is bright but I'm sure there are equally bright children in her class who won't have made it for various reasons.

It's good that you still have time for dd. I bet you can improve the maths by at least one mark.

Doom and Gloom on Zeugnis day bei nightynight.

Ds1 got 5s and 6s all round, and his teacher says he may have to repeat the evil 4th class (like putting him through that stress again is going to help!!), but we already knew that.

Ds2 got 4 in Maths and 6 in Deutsch. HSU wasnt graded, due to his having spent so much time in hospital.
Evil teacher wrote "It is only due to his stay in hospital, that ds2 isn't put down into the 2nd class"

Negative cow! She could equally have written that his marks had been affected by missing so much school, which is the truth!!!

The 6 is especially disappointing, because ds's Lesetraining teachers and I have seen a big improvement since November, and I really thought that it would be reflected on his report.

That's bad news nighbynight. What did all their afternoon teachers say about it? It's a shame you work in Munich or you could move over the border into a totally different school system where your dc might get more help.

I can't get over how teachers here don't seem to be worried that some dc fail meaning they haven't been taught enough by them. I mean how difficult is primary school - even up to year 7?

Ds has history this term and he now knows that he has not only to do the set work, but has to show he has done extra research too or the parents more like it. Yesterday I printed him the life of Münchhausen with all dates and book title swritten about him, a list of different ways that we can learn about history (Quellen) in great detail with 10 times more than the list in his book. I felt abit stupid doing it bit if all the other parents do it then I will have to join in.

Last week was history of telling time from the sun dial to the wrist watch - well I made him a list of all possible ways of telling time and he was the only dc who knew so many ways in class - who cares, it got him a good mark inthe Klassenbuch.

oh admylin, that winds me up so much as well. We have turned in work that has BLATANTLY obviously been done by me, and the teacher never questions it! But as you say, if it's not done because the child can't, then they get told off.

One of ds2's tutors is a friend of the teacher, also he hasn't been with her for long. The other tutors (qualified teachers) are writing a letter, confirming that he has improved since November.
When he was in hosp, the school reported us to the JA because ds wasn't in school even though they had the phone number of the hospital from me. also, as I said before, we got unexplained pressure from a hospital social worker (no doctors opinion) to send ds to a psychiatric hospital. When I got a lawyer, they dropped this. However, the JA has now asked to see ds's report, and I am so supicious, that I wonder if the 6 in deutsch will be used as a reason to push him to a psych by the back route (legasthenie). If so will have to go back to the lawyer for more advice. Our town is so old-fashioned and small, everyone knows everyone else and I have a strong impression that they have all (teacher, social worker, doctor) talked about us unofficially. I just dont know (a) why and (b) what conclusions they have reached.

Ive already checked with an english ed psych, that given ds's progress with reading during the last 6 months, its extremely unlikely that he has LG.

OMG, nighbynight, this makes our troubles seem so small compared. How long do you think you're going to last in this sort of situation? Imagine life minus all these schooling problems. We and our dc could put our energy into something else. It makes me so mad to think that our relatives in the UK and the US are having great childhoods and sailing through their education with no help from their parents.

I'm going to be sitting with ds most of the weekend trying to make him forget that he has English as his native language and go back and learn only the English vocab that his teacher has taught the class because if he puts any other words down then he gets a minus point even if it is correct English.

H has the perfect answer of course, go and tell the teacher off and if that doesn't work tell the school head and then the education board whatever that may be here in Neidersachsen. He's always been in cloud cuckoo land though.

I dont know how long we will last. The thought of going back to a council estate in basingstoke or reading is pretty depressing too. But the price for a good standard of living is very high here.

I am trying to balance the two for my children:
on the one hand, hellish schools in de
on the other hand, grotty poverty in uk.

If the social worker stuff doesnt get too heavy, we will probably stay a couple more years, and then go back to the grotty poverty.

Re the English vocab: dd just learns the vocab list in the same way that she learns other school subjects. She realised pretty quickly, after some bad marks, that her native knowledge wouldnt be enough. But her english homework is still not too hard.