Pia Bregulla, Julia Wetzel

History and buildings of school

If you looked at the gable of the school, you would see the year 1910. But you will wonder about the 75th anniversary in 2002. The reason for this is the foundation in 1906. That time it was a private school only for girls.

At first there was only a small house as school but then it became too small for all the students. So they built a new school building. The new building was opened in 1911, but you were not allowed to finish school. After World War I the school was for girls and boys. That time the school was called “Stormarnschule” for the first time.

Today we have a new building and an old building but together it is only one school. We have two gyms, one computer room, a big sports ground and a cafeteria (see separate article). For concerts and the choir we have a hall, which is called “Eduard-Söring-Saal”.

Alexander Block and Alexander Fricke

Subjects at school (in our present grade 8)

German
In German lesson we discuss many different topics. We have grammar lessons, we learn how to write texts like summaries or we are reading important pieces of  literature.

English
English is really important to learn because people can speak English everywhere in the world so you are able to communicate with them. We learn vocabulary/ grammar and write texts. English is taught starting in grade 3 at primary school and continues until you leave school.

Art
In art lesson the students can be creative. They can paint pictures, work with wood, clay, and other materials which can be shaped into figures. If you are really good at art you are allowed to paint the school walls, which is a lot of fun.

P.E.
In P.E. we get to know many different kinds of sports. Sometimes we do athletics including running or we play basketball, badminton or soccer….. . American football is not famous in Germany. In the end of the year every school class takes part in a school tournament. 

Music
Our school is famous for its music lessons, because we have a lot of different choirs, orchestras and separate music lessons for students who are really interested in music. 

Physics
Physics at Stormarnschule is a very interesting subject. You get to know the laws of nature and you are allowed to do some practical research so you find out what  the earths consist of.    

Biology
In biology we speak about animals, nature, humans and cells. We write two tests a year. In biology we watch films about these themes.

Geography
In geography we learn something about different countries. Last year we talked about America. Here we write two tests, too.

History
In this lesson we learn about Martin Luther and the reformation, and the history of France. 

Latin or French
These languages are taught from grade 7 onwards. In French students learn a lot about France and the French culture.

Maths
In maths we learn geometry. Every week we get a paper about maths. 

Religion
In religion we talk about Moslems, prophets and drugs.

Christine Kreutzmann and Michaela Loose

Exams

At our school we write tests after every unit. In the main subjects (Maths, German and English) we write more important tests than in the minor subjects. We must write more tests in main subjects (in our grade 6 tests). For one test we have one period, which means we have 45 minutes. In the minor subjects we write one test in half a year and usually it takes only 10 minutes.

When students enter our school in year 5, they take English as their first foreign language. After grade 6 we can choose between Latin and French as our additional foreign language, and so it is our fourth main subject.

For the tests the teacher gives us marks from 1 to 6:

1=excellent            3=adequate            5=poor

2=good                  4=passed              6=failed

But it can be for example a good 2 or bad 2 (2+, 2-). This is only for the grades 5 to 10. After that we write exams for the school-leaving exam. The great final test in year 13 is called Abitur and opens access to any university.

Holidays

In Germany we have holidays four times a year. We have autumn holidays, winter holidays, spring holidays and summer holidays. The summer holidays are longer than the other ones. For six weeks we needn’t go to school and after these holidays a new school year starts. The other holidays are only two weeks long.

Andreas Schröpfer

The Teachers at school

There are 65 teachers at our school. The school was founded in 1906 and from this date to today we had ca. 350 teachers at our school. Here is a list of all subjects and the number of teachers at present:

- Biology: 4 teachers                        - Maths: 12 teachers

- Chemistry: 5 teachers                    - Music: 6 teachers
- Physics: 5 teachers                       - Computer Science: 5
- German: 13 teachers                     - Philosophy: 1

- English: 14 teachers                      - RE: 2 teachers

- Geography: 5 teachers                  - PE: 8 teachers

- French: 6 teachers                        - Art: 3 teachers

- History: 11 teachers                      - Latin: 5 teachers

Lucas Paffrath, Felix Kujawa

 

The student council

At our school we have a student council. The student council represent all students in our school. It’s the connection between teachers and students. The student council consists of  one student president and a speaker of the student council. There is also a treasurer who saves all the money for the projects and there are other positions.

We have students who everybody can tell problems. The students don't have to speak with them personally. They can also write them an e-mail. They can send it to an extra e-mail address anonymously.

There is a regular student council and an extra council for the 5th and 6th class.

Every year the student council organizes parties and other activities.

Julia Jastrembski

 

The Cafeteria

School days in Germany end between 1 and 2 p.m. So it is unusual for a school to have a cafeteria. Our cafeteria is called “Schlemmerkeller”. It was founded in 2001 and can be found in the cellar of the school building. In the breaks it is often filled with students and volunteer mothers (over 150!) cook there for the children.

After the 6th period (1 p.m.) you can eat lunch there on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The meals there are different and you can choose between vegetarian and normal food.

In the summer you can eat outside on the school patio. All the food you can buy there comes from “Hof Lütjensee”. That is the organic farm of Herr Fielmann.

You can buy in the cafeteria:

-rolls with cheese or sausage               -lollypops

-croissants                                          -pretzels  

-chocolate                                           -fruits & drinks

Tobias Kleinke and Lars Döscher

Activities

We’ve got a lot of activities in which you can take part in addition to the school lessons. Some activities are choirs in which we sometimes go on trips, for example a trip to England. There are some clubs where you can learn languages which you can’t learn at the school, for example Spanish, Esperanto and Low German.  After school you can take part in sport activities like soccer, acrobatics and athletics, too. Some other activities are art, mathematics and photo. Here are a lot of teachers who offer these activities.

Lasse Stein and Christian Scharwath

                    

Excursions

Schleswig-Holstein is the only state of the sixteen states in Germany bordering the North and the Baltic Sea. In Schleswig-Holstein you can visit the Hanseatic city Lübeck, where you see the `Holstentor` (old city gate). Ahrensburg is near the City state of Hamburg. Ahrensburg’s outstanding sight is the Renaissance castle dating from 1595. It can be seen in the picture.

 

                                                                       

Here is a map of Germany. The dot shows Ahrensburg.

Hamburg is also a hanseatic city. It is Germany`s second largest city (after Berlin). The largest economic factor for Hamburg in the past centuries has been (and still is) its harbour, which ranks at #3 in Europe and #9 worldwide with shipments of 9.7 million standard container units  and 140 million tons of goods in 2008. A typical Hamburg visit includes a tour of the city hall and the grand church St. Michaelis, and visiting the old warehouse district and the harbour promenade. Sightseeing busses connect these points of interest.

The Baltic Sea is in northeastern Europe, surrounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of east and central Europe, and the Danish islands. The Baltic Sea is great for swimming and sailing. In the North Sea you have low tide and high tide. In addition a part of the North Sea is wadden sea, very flat land that is flooded regularly. In this part you can wade and discover the animal kingdom.

Jan-Christian Schmid                        

 

 Our town

In Ahrensburg live 30,000 people. We have a really nice castle. It’s not the biggest but it’s great. Here is an old church, too, which belongs to the castle. Our town is located near Hamburg a big city with 1.7 million residents. Hamburg has a big container harbor. The middle of our town is the “Rondeel” (circle), where most of the stores are. Near the “Rondeel” is the “Ice cream parlor”; there you can get the best ice-cream. We have a little disco called “Le Disque”. In Ahrensburg are 4 primary schools and 3 secondary schools.

Ahrensburg is in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. But here in Germany the states are not like in Canada or the USA, they are bigger in America. We have 16 states (in German: “Bundesländer”) in Germany. We have an “Indoor park” for little children too. It’s called “Indoo”. It’s like a big playground where children can climb and do other things. Our school is near the center of Ahrensburg and close to the train station. Every year we have a town-festival. And a “Schützenfest”. That’s the club of people who shoot. Both are festivals like a Fair.

Pascal Ulrich, Hans-Christian Seidel

This information comes to you from the 8b English class at Stormarnschule, Waldstrasse 14, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany

         www.stormarnschule.de

Editors : Philipp Möbius, Olaf Habert

Teacher: Mr. Lasarcyk

February 2005

Update October 2010