Students at Steinmühle raised 1,135 euros for refugee children in Marburg through a charity flea market and a fundraising appeal held during parent-teacher conferences. The money was presented to the organization “Vielfalt Marburg e.V.” on January 27 at the “Portal Gisselberg.”

Last fall, students from several different groups came up with the idea of using this spirit of generosity to support refugee children in Marburg, and the plan was a complete success.

The members of the Children’s and Youth Parliament, the Student Council, and the Interact Club joined forces to organize a “charity flea market” on Parents’ Day: All students were asked to bring games, CDs, books, or other items from home and offer them for sale to their classmates in the school hallways. In the afternoon, guests at the parent-teacher-student conference were also asked to make donations. The organizers were quite surprised when, by the end of the day, they had raised €1,135.

In consultation with Ms. Fleck-Delnavaz from the Coordination Office for Refugee Affairs in Marburg, the money was donated to the organization “Vielfalt Marburg e.V.” to support refugee children in Marburg. During the donation ceremony at “Portal-Gisselberg,” the newly opened refugee center in Marburg, students from Steinmühle were able to see for themselves how their donation would be used: toys are just as necessary as learning materials. Ms. Fleck-Delnavaz was visibly pleased with the students’ commitment and thanked them for their generous donation.

How Parents Become a Dream Team—the Couples and family therapist Achim Schad gave a talk at the Steinmühle Forum

How can relationships in partnerships, families, and schools be successful in the long term? The answer to this question—which is so important for our personal well-being and academic success—was the focus of an interesting and humorous lecture by renowned couples and family therapist Achim Schad at Steinmühle High School.

“To break the negative cycle, the ratio of positive relationship messages to negative relationship messages must be 5 to 1.”
Achim Schad concluded his insightful and entertaining lecture at the Steinmühle with this formula for sustainable relationships. About 200 parents and colleagues attended the educational evening at the Forum and were thoroughly impressed by the engaging presentation given by the couples and family therapist from Wuppertal.

Going to a lecture titled “How Can Parents Become a Dream Team in Raising Their Children?” isn’t exactly easy, since it might imply that one’s own parenting isn’t exactly going smoothly. “Thank goodness there are still plenty of friends and neighbors from whom you can pick up a tip or two,” Achim Schad remarked with a wink.

Within just a few minutes, it became clear just how much experience the speaker brought to the table from his 35 years as a therapist and counselor. Using numerous examples from his work with families and couples—and always without a preachy tone—he presented team rules that can help a group become or remain a team. Ultimately, he said, it isn’t important for parents to raise their children the same way or always agree. What matters is that one parent’s instructions are accepted by the other and not corrected. Schad gave examples of “good and bad alliances.” The child and one parent should never side against the other parent. “That always goes wrong,” Achim Schad asserted. “However, if your child thinks your clear, shared stance on limiting video game time is silly, you can take that as a compliment for your good parenting.” Given the inherent differences between men and women, it’s not always easy to find a clear middle ground. “If you can’t agree at all, then define who’s in charge. On even-numbered days of the month, one parent decides; on odd-numbered days, the other,” Schad recommended. The speaker encouraged the parents in attendance with examples from his own parenting experience, in which things didn’t always go smoothly either.

In closing, Achim Schad expanded on the concept of the “dream team”: “The school and the teachers are part of it, too.” He said it’s a no-go when parents and children team up against a teacher. Schad couldn’t recall a single instance in his more than thirty years of experience where this kind of alliance had led to success. “A respectful approach and harmonious cooperation among parents, students, and teachers are prerequisites for a positive learning environment and academic success,” emphasized Achim Schad, who described Steinmühle as a “model school” in this regard. And with that, he encouraged Steinmühle to continue placing special emphasis on good relationships between students, parents, and teachers in its educational work.

For the last two days before the Christmas break, the faculty had scheduled its annual professional development event, and the school administration and academic leadership had succeeded in bringing a wealth of expertise to the school.

For the section on support for teachers’ daily work and health:

· Franziska Krummwiede-Steiner (Querenburg Institute, Bochum): Efficient Grading

· Kerstin Kuschik (b*brizzle School for Adult Education, Frankfurt): Voice Training and Preventive Health Care for Teachers [Images 1 + 2]

· Dr. Claudia Röder (Steinmühle): Strengthening Your Back in Everyday Life. A Short Guide to Back Exercises.

Dr. Röder stepped in at the last minute to fill in for the speaker, who was ill, and demonstrated her expertise in this area as well. [Figure 3]

· Peter Berger, M.A. in Psychology (Hardtwaldklinik II, Bad Zwesten): Staying Healthy as a Teacher. Strategies for Preventing Burnout. [Image 4]

· Dr. Sabine Paul (Molecular and evolutionary biologist at the Institute for Evolutionary Health in Frankfurt): Stressed? – Natural First Aid for Teachers. [Image 5]

For the section on working with traumatized students:

· Dr. Georg Pieper (Institute for Trauma Recovery): How can we address the problems faced by traumatized refugee children and adolescents at our school? [Images 6 + 7]

Even before the evaluation results were analyzed, it was clear that, overall, colleagues found the event to be very helpful and the atmosphere to be relaxed.

The outgoing board of the school association bid farewell to all staff members during the faculty’s Christmas party. In his speech, Dr. Pätzold reflected on the events that had left a particular impression on him, including the story of helping refugees escape, the construction of the Centrum and Forum, and difficult structural and personnel decisions. He expressly praised the contributions of Mr. Jöllenbeck, his deputy, and Mr. Jäger, the long-time executive director.

On behalf of the school administration, Mr. Gemmer expressed words of thanks to the outgoing board, along with the hope that the school community would have another opportunity to bid a fitting farewell to its long-serving board in a different setting.

In brief remarks, Ms. Opper and Ms. Rabben-Martin highlighted a significant event at the start of the new year: Mr. Nauheimer’s retirement and his farewell party in February 2016.

Afterward, the physics and geography student councils entertained the crowd with a varied program and hands-on experiments. Once again, a gratifyingly large number of former colleagues attended the traditional Christmas party.

Since the 2015–2016 school year, the Steinmühle boarding school has allowed international students to stay at the boarding school during the weekends when they would normally travel home. The boarding school is also open to this group during the Easter and fall breaks. A new position was created within the boarding school’s educational team to provide additional support.

Steinmühle has been welcoming international students for many years. They attend classes alongside German students and spend their free time together. As an educational institution, Steinmühle has great ambitions to further open itself up to internationalization. The educational approach aims to optimally prepare Steinmühle students for an independent life in the future. At universities and in the professional world, young people encounter many different nationalities and need the appropriate intercultural skills to communicate with people from other cultures and work closely with them. It is therefore important that students learn and practice intercultural collaboration as part of their daily school and boarding school life.

In the past, Steinmühle Boarding School has had very positive experiences with the integration of international students. For everyone involved, this cultural exchange is both enriching and challenging. When selecting countries, the boarding school is open to students from all nations. Currently, Steinmühle has students from countries including Russia, China, Korea, France, Poland, and Switzerland.

If you are interested in an international boarding school spot, please contact the admissions office at Steinmühlen Boarding School.