Welcome - School Enrolment Ceremony for Learning Groups 5

by Gerd Feuerstein

Stetten a.k.M. (gfe) Even though it was not the first time, most of the learning partners of classes 5.1 and 5.2 had a tingle in their stomachs yesterday at their enrolment in the Stetten Community School (GMS). During a small ceremony, the "newcomers" were warmly welcomed by the school administration, the teaching staff and their future classmates in the presence of their parents.

There was a proper noise level in the packed refectory when headmaster Christof Probst stepped up to the lectern and - without even saying a word - gained the necessary attention just by his appearance to welcome the numerous parents, guests and pupils. Probst expressed his friends that so many parents and children from Stetten a.k.M. and the entire surrounding area had again "decided in favour of our community school". Then the "fives" were warmly welcomed by their predecessors - the current sixth graders - and each was presented with a small gift in the form of a "mini school bag". In addition to a small sweet and an eraser cube, this also included a pendant with the so-called "GMS ABC" with the most important new terms such as learning partner instead of pupil, learning companion instead of teacher or LSÜ instead of class work: "We are looking forward to our time together, hope that you will become good friends and have a lot of fun learning," were just three of many good wishes, in which the "sixth graders" also promised the new ones that they would be "happy to help" with any questions or problems.

After that, the learning partners had their first lesson and got to know the learning group rooms, their fellow students and the like. First of all, the two learning guides Annemarie Ziegler and Ronja Okafor had to introduce the learning partners to their new learning group room and to get to know each other. Meanwhile, the parents were provided with all kinds of information about the community school and its special forms of learning and special offers by headmaster Christof Probt and vice-principal Jürgen Lebherz. For example, the learning partners in a GMS have the chance to decide each year whether they will work at the Hauptschule level or at the Realschule or Gymnasium level: "This goes hand in hand with a high degree of differentiation and individualisation of the learning process," Konrektor Jürgen Lebherz pointed out.     

First-class catering: learning partners from learning group 8 provide the physical well-being. From left to right: Klara Fiebig, Gabriel Pera, Anna Nuber, Lara Steinborn, Lenja Bücheler, Levi Meyer, Saskia Beck, Leonie Hipp, Lara Kaiser

While their children were still in the learning group rooms, a delicious coffee and cake buffet was waiting for the parents and siblings in the hallway, for which some learning partners of learning group 8 had put in a lot of effort and sacrificed a lot of free time, while their fellow pupils had long since been able to enjoy the beautiful late summer weather. Thus, a lot of information and experiences were exchanged between parents, school management, staff and students before the school day began the next day.       

A total of 46 learning partners were enrolled in the Stetten Community School. 28 of them come from Stetten a.k.M., eight from Straßberg, three from Beuron, two each from Meßstetten, Schwenningen and Sigmaringen and one from Winterlingen.