A Joyful First Day of School at the Bilingual Elementary School

Plenty of music, lovingly prepared performances, and lots of joy marked the first-day-of-school celebration for the youngest students at the Steinmühle Bilingual Elementary School. Maria Gloerfeld, homeroom teacher for third grade, opened the ceremony in the Forum with the piano piece “L’Apés Midi.” The program then continued in English. Janine Küster, head of the elementary school division, welcomed the students and their parents before Marcel Kalb took the floor in German. He serves as the coordinator between the high school and the Bilingual Elementary School.

“The Sparrow and the Schoolyard Children” was the title of a poetry recital performed by children from third grade and the Flexible Entry Level (Flex) program. These age groups also put on a musical performance using sandwich wrappers, since singing indoors was still not permitted due to the pandemic.

This was followed by welcoming remarks to the audience, who listened to the words in high spirits yet with a touch of excitement—understandable on this day, as it marked the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of the youngest children. Together with two children from each class, Janine Küster then provided a glimpse into school life at the Steinmühle Bilingual Elementary School to make their upcoming daily routine a little more tangible.

The program continued in a really cool way—with a rap in English performed by Class 3 and students from Flex, under the direction of Katrin Weißenborn.

Video art, accompanied by music, once again depicted scenes from everyday life in elementary school before the first-graders were divided into their classes. Maria Bick will serve as homeroom teacher for Flex A, and Dr. Sebastian Verbeek will serve as homeroom teacher for Flex B.

And with that, the official “program” for the exciting first day of school for Steinmühlen’s youngest students was already over. Their first short class was waiting!

Janine Küster, the head of the school division, bid farewell to the parents and extended special thanks to those who helped organize this first day of school: These were Maria Gloerfeld and Katrin Weißenborn, who are primarily teaching third grade this year but who nonetheless organized the orientation with great care and dedication, as well as Friends of the School Association Chair Jasmine Weidenbach, who had prepared small welcome gifts for the first-graders and provided decorations.

Everything indicated that the small back-to-school celebration had been a hit not only with the girls and boys, but also with their parents. Janine Küster: “We had a wonderful, positive atmosphere, and photographer Till Buurman was kind enough to capture many of the moments on camera.”