Gustav-Walle-Mittelschule
Homemade Christmas presents for good causes
Every year the catholic church parish organises a singing of Christmas carols on the little square in front of the church. In a way this square is the centre of the district, surrounded by shops, the kindergarten, the office of the neighbourhood manager and a hotel. The parish always offers something to drink for free and for this year they had the idea to install some stalls selling goods for good causes. All the money of the evening should be lumped together in order to give it to one of the organisations in the district, e. g. the parish youth group for excursions or the youth team of the fire brigade. Of course, we wanted to participate and Classes 10 had some hard working weeks, looking for ideas, testing recipes, learning about preserving food and… and…and… Luckily they got assistance from the Home Economics teacher. So when the Carol Singing took place a lot of nicely decorated presents were ready to sell. In the beginning students were a bit worried if people were interested, but the evening was a big success! Everybody loved their presents, most of them were sold out quickly (some leftovers were finally sold to the school staff). And they got a lot of compliments even from the mayor of Würzburg who visited the Carol Singing.
And it goes without saying – we’ll participate again next year!
Show respect for the environment and culture in our neighbourhood
The following project is about the suggestion to motivate citizens in the district to consciously perceive their environment.
Our class 6g and class 2a students work together on this environmental project.
The aim of this project is to make people aware of the beautiful places in the district with posters and signs and to be careful with the environment.
Examples
- Here are beautiful old trees (please indicate their exact age) - they look nicer without rubbish
- Many animals live in the pond (poster with listing and naming) - they do not like waste and scrap
Our students deal with the topic of the environment and dealing with nature. They work with the elementary school students and teach them the content on this topic. Together with the elementary school students, the 6th graders develop signs and photos as well as texts in different languages
In a theater improvisation, the students present rules of conduct in dealing with the environment and sensitize their awareness of the beauty of nature.
Design an exhibition
about the history of the district
The neighbourhood manager asked the S. O. S. project group to develop ideas, to design and to create an exhibition about the history of the district. He got a lot of material, some more is stored at the castle museum in Würzburg. And he could arrange the collaboration of the History Department of Bamberg University. Our students are keeping that idea in mind. It will probably be carried out by students of computer science and technology together with the responsible teachers.
Rama dama (German: „Räumen tun wir” –
English: „Let’s clear up!“)
Every year our school organizes with the office of our neighbourhood manager a clear-up campaign in our district. Our students help to collect waste for professional disposal becomes. It has been a Bavarian tradition since 1949.
In the pictures you can see the students at work to collect the waste last year. They had a lot of fun and their behavior towards handling rubbish in their environment has been sensitized. For the time being this activity had to be postponed due to Corona. It was originally planned for March/April.
Planting
During a meeting the neighbourhood manager asked if the S. O. S. team could find combatants at school or in the district to brighten up the area around the churchyard by planting flowers, bushes etc. A group of students agreed to help, but in collaboration with some senior citizens of the neighbourhood. Because of Corona students couldn't start working.
Performance “We remember”
The Department of Arts and Culture organizes every year a lot of events remembering the anniversary of the destruction of Würzburg on March 16. And it’s a big issue for the municipality to involve young people in the programme. As a result, students from class 10 worked together with three artists to develop a performance remembering the night of March 16, but also giving the prospects for a peaceful future. Especially, as 2020 is the 75th anniversary. Starting in January, there were many hours of creative working with the artists. First, students had to revise their knowledge about that time in history, second, they had to find meaningful words to describe the horror of that night and their wishes for the future. For the planned performance they then needed a kind of costume. So they learned how to felt in order to make a face shield with a negative and a positive side which should be worn during the performance. Finally, it was necessary to transfer thoughts, ideas, emotions, wishes into a dancing performance. Being not skilled in performing arts (arts at all), students hit the ground running on one hand. On the other hand, they had to push the envelope till the first dress rehearsal on March 12.
Unfortunately, the second dress rehearsal and the performance couldn’t take place because schools in Bavaria are closed by reason of Corona. Maybe it is possible to show the performance later in summer on stage as part of another festival.
Polling station for the “Under 18 Municipal Elections”
In cooperation with the “Stadtjugendring” (an umbrella organisation for all 43 youth organisations in Würzburg) we were asked to install an official polling station for the “Under 18 Municipal Elections” on March 9 2020. Students had to organise the necessary equipment for polling: a room, put up a kind of polling booths in order to guarantee that the members of the town council and the mayor are elected in a general, direct, free, equal and secret election.
Art Attack - everything is green
“Green, green, green are all my clothes” - that was the assignment for a creative homework at the Gustav-Walle-Mittelschule. During the COVID 19 lockdown in 2020. The idea behind it was to enable a creative change in learning at home and during the monotonous exit restrictions. The students should go on a discovery tour in their own home and arrange objects of the same color into an appealing still life. This task seemed to inspire, because great results were achieved after a very short time. And so the project grew and was worked on in almost all classes. Even children who were difficult to reach during home schooling sent great pictures, which were then presented in an art exhibition. The model for the action was the renowned artist Pat Noser.
At the same time, the district manager of the Lindleinsmühle, Claus Köhler, was looking for an action with which, in times of contact restrictions, people could still lead to one another and was inspired by the art exhibition to launch the postcard campaign .
This is how a cooperation with the district management of Lindleinsmühle came about. Selected images were printed on postcards that were distributed throughout the district. In class, all students could write a card, for example to the grandparents they couldn't see during the Corona period or to the mom they wanted to thank. The students at the Gustav-Walle-Schule agree: "It was great experience that I make other people happy."
