1. The Bavarian school system

Primary education:
Children normally attend “Grundschule” after they reached the age of six or seven. In grade 4 parents and their children have to choose the further way of their school education. That means they have to make the decision between “Hauptschule”, “Realschule” and “Gymnasium” according to their knowledge and ability in order to begin their Secondary Education.

Secondary education:
Hauptschule (grade 5-9 or 5-10 with option M) is the compulsory stream of secondary education. Pupils with vocational orientation reach the Dual System through grade 9. Those attaining the Intermediate School Certificate through course M (7 -10) enjoy the same educational mobility as Realschule graduates.

Realschule (grade 5-10) aims at the Intermediate School Ceritificate. It has an important distribution function for upper secondary education, especially for the Fachoberschule. Students entering the work force with this certificate often prefer office-related careers.

Gymnasium (grades 5 -12, outphasing course 5 -13) aims at the General Higher Education Entrance Certificate (Allgemeine Hochschulreife), which provides access to higher education, normally without further entrance exams. The upper secondary level (grade 11-12) allows students to set individual priorities when selecting their courses.

Since a reform of the school system in Bavaria the Gymnasium doesn’t take 9 years any more, now in the G8 pupils have to attend school for 8 years.
The new system aims to prepare pupils faster and better on their active life.
A new thing is for example that pupils now also have some lessons in which things they learned are asked again and improved. There’s also a new subject “Natur und Technik” that wants to encourage the young children to get interested in the things that happen in nature and prepare the pupils for later subjects like chemistry and physics.
Even the upper secondary level has changed. Now it comprises grades 11 and 12 instead of
grades 11,12 and 13.

5th grade:
main subjects: Maths, German
subjects: Biology, Arts, Music, Sports, Geography, Religious Education
selectable subjects: English/Latin (as main subject)

6th grade:
History in addition (subject)
selectable subjects for class 7: Latin/French, if you started with English (you have to take English, if you took Latin)

7th grade:
Latin, French or English in addition

8th grade:
Physics as main course in addition
Economics as subject in addition
selectable main subjects for class 9: French or Chemistry, if you already have English and Latin (you have to take Chemistry, if you took English and French)

9th grade: French or Chemistry in addition

10th grade: Geography isn’t taught
Political education as subject in addition

11th grade: Biology, Economics and Political education aren’t taught
Geography is taught again
Chemistry as subject in addition, if you are on the linguistic branch (E-L-F or L-E-F)
Italian may be taken instead of Latin as main subject

12th grade :
----> you have to take some basic courses:

• German
• Maths
• one foreign language
• History
• two out of Physics, Biology and Chemistry (one for 4 semesters one for 2 semesters)
• one out of Geography, Political education and economics
• Religious Education/ Values
• Sports
• one out of Music or Arts
• if you took another foreign language for 11th grade, you also have to take it

----> You have to choose two main courses (where you do your A-Levels):

• one has to be a main subject , the other one you can choose freely. 

----> Then you have to choose two other courses out of your basic courses - you must take into consideration that you have to do your A-Levels in the

• linguistic/artistic field
• mathematical/ scientific field
• social field

 
13th grade: In this grade you have to write one research paper in one of your two main courses.
In May you write an exam qualifying you for university admission - a written test in your two main courses and a test in a subject you can choose - it depends on your main subjects – and one subject for an oral exam called Colloquium.

From class five to class seven the pupils are in the lower grade, from class eight to ten in the junior high school and from class eleven to class thirteen in the sixth form. In class eleven we have to select our two main courses and ten (eleven) basic courses.

2. Viscardi Gymnasium

1973: year of foundation
1975: inaugural year
1994: E. Hage becomes headmaster
2003: extension of the school buliding
2006: a number of 85 teachers and 1131 pupils work and study at Viscardi Gymnasium

Name of the school:
Gianni Antonio Viscardi (1645-1713)

• He was a famous architect in Bavaria during the electorate of Max Emanuel.
• His two most important works: Trinity Church in Munich and Fürstenfeld Monastery

- linguistic branch:
Students learn three foreign languages (English Latin, French). In grades 11,12,13 Students can take Italian instead of Latin or French.

- scientific branch:
Students learn only two foreign languages (English and Latin or French). Special stress is laid on subjects like Maths, Physics, Informatics, Chemistry and Biology.

2.2.2 Exchange programmes

There are exchange programmes with pupils from Livry-Gargan, Montbèliard, Avignon and Verona.

2.2.3 Languages taught

The following list tells you about the sequence of our foreign languages:

Our daily routine:

• 6 lessons every day, Wednesday and Thursday 9 lessons
• After 2 lessons- each 45 minutes -we’ve got our 1st break of 15 minutes, again 2 lessons then our 2nd break of 25 minutes
• Our 7th lesson is free at our long days

 
One day exactly described:
1. class divided in Latin 2, Italian and English 2
2. class divided in English 1 and Latin 1
3. Maths
4. Chemistry
5. History
6. French

How we spend our breaks:

• Walking around the school area
• Playing with equipment from the “active break“

Sometimes you can see the latest “Viscar TV“ programme or listen to the music of our school radio in the auditorium. You also can go to the library from the 11th grade.

Meals at school:

• In the breaks you can buy sandwiches, cookies or salad.
• After school you can get different menus. One with meat, one vegetarian and one dessert.
• If you don’t want to eat something like that you can go somewhere else to get food from there. Quite close to the school there is a Chinese restaurant, 2 Döner men and a supermarket.

In our system there are the marks 1- 6. 1 is the best and 6 is the worst. So if you have got two or more “fives“ or one or more “sixes“ you are not allowed to go on to the next grade and you have to repeat the last school year.
The marks in each subject are set together by two different kinds of tests. There are short tests. You do not know when they will be written and they are as important as the oral marks, so they are put together to one mark. Then there are the long tests, you know when you write them. These tests include everything that was taught from the last test on. These tests are really important because they are counted twice. Then all the marks are put together and so we get the marks for our school reports.

- circus Kunterbunt

Practise:

• Monday: 13.05 o’clock- 13.50 o’clock
• Tuesday: 13.05 o’clock- 13.50 o’clock
• Friday: 13.05 o’clock- 14.35 o’clock.
• But sometimes, when we have an important performance, we practise -15.20 o’clock.

Teachers:
Hedi Paul, Petra Fuchs

The circus was founded in 1990.

Important performances:

• Olympic-Hall 2004
• South-Africa 2006
• Olympic- Hall 2007
• Next exchange with South- Africa 2009

  What can you do?

• Perform magic
• Drive unicycle
• To juggle with balls, jugglemaces and rings
• Play diabolo/ develstick
• Swing pois
• Sometimes a little bit of dancing
• Walk on stilts-athletics

• athletics
• badminton
• different school teams
• acrobatics
• one week of skiing for grades 7

2.4.2 Arts

• theatre group
• working with textile and handicraft
• arts and computer
• music classes (violin, cello, double-bass and e-bass)
• choir
• orchestra
• big band

SMV - The SMV a is group of pupils, who try to improve school-life with many (fun)activities. Leaded by the school representatives and supported by two elected teachers, the SMV is divided into different working groups.

Wintersport AG - Once a year, the Wintersport-AG organizes a day in the mountains for giving the pupils the possibility to go skiing and snowboarding together.

Sport AG - The Sport AG organizes little sport tournaments every Friday afternoon, for example volleyball, soccer ,basketball or badminton.

Party AG - The Party AG organizes parties for the whole school a couple of times.
For example a big fancy dress party during carnival, a rock concert in summer, and in 2006, because of the Soccer World Championship, it organized a WC- Party including the transmission of the match Germany vs Ecuador.

NIVA AG - The Niva-AG organizes just one event , but it’s a quite famous one. The sixth of December is “Nikolaus” day in Germany, and at the Viscardi, the pupils are able to write letters to their friends. Those letters are delivered together with some chocolate by some older pupils, who are dressed like Santa Clause, Santa’s little helper and angels. Those pupils, who receive many letters, have to do some funny things like dancing or singing to get them.

Schülerzeitung “ VISCY”
“ VISCY” is the name of Viscardi’s school intern magazine. During the year, the “VISCY” issues can be bought at about 5 times a year.
Our school magazine as it exists today is called “Viscy” and was founded in 2003. Starting with only 3 members, it was rebuilt after the old team had left school after their Abitur. Thankfully, the team grew from year to year so there are now 20 students working for the magazine.
We try to inform the students, entertain them and be critical about political and school-intern topics. Unfortunately, we aren’t as supported as we should be. Our circulation runs around 300 (in our school there are 1200 students) – and it’s still not easy to sell all of them. And moreover, they say the magazine is much too expensive (we sell it for one Euro). Also, we often have to hear that the magazine is trash and “the worst thing [they’ve] ever seen“. But when we ask what we should do or write to make it more interesting, they can’t tell us.
Nevertheless, we believe in what we do and we will always try to make a school-magazine our school can be proud of. And if we have to lower the circulation to 50 – we’ll do it, just to make the students that buy every edition happy.

SMV- Weihnachtsbasar
Every year, a little Christmas market takes place at the Viscardi. Although the whole school participates it with selling little presents, Christmascookies or Christmascards, it is organized by the SMV.


- Tutors:
Older pupils offer pupils from lower grades a programme once a week in the afternoon. They play with them, make little things, help them.

- Mediation:
Specially trained students grade 10 and older help to resolve conflicts among fellow students.

- First Aid:
Students from grade 9 look after ill or hurt fellow students. They get a training by the Maltese Cross.

- Talking Time:
In grades 6 and 7 students get one lesson per week to discuss their problems.

- Fighting drugs:
To prevent drugs there is a so-called “Suchtprävention“ in the 7th grade. Last year for example in addition -a play was shown, in which the life of an drug-addicted was represented, in order to make the dangers obvious.

- Active break:
During the active break students can borrow sports equipment and play.

- Oaxaca:
Oaxaca is a town in South Mexico and in its suburbs there are many shanty towns. The school education and sanitary equipment are extremely underdeveloped. These are the points Oaxaca AG is trying to improve with success.
Now the children get a hot meal in kindergarten and are at school every day.
They care about the children. That’s very important for them because otherwise they would be completely on their own. Education helps them to have perspectives for their future.
It’s financed by donations. The last donation came from the money our school earned by organising a Christmas market.

Energy saving competition of the district:
2001, 2003, 2004 first prize
2002, 2005 second prize

Agenda 21 school