Middle school windheim: prevention also in the corona crisis

Corona still has a firm grip on school life. Nothing is the same as before: the rooms are mostly empty; school buildings and playgrounds are surrounded by silence – as is the case at the middle school in windheim. What has become of the "be smart, don’t start" projects and competitions started there before the school holidays?, "colorful instead of blue and "stay clear was initially up in the air. A continuation and completion of the actions in the school was impossible. A long-awaited trip to london by class 8M also had to be canceled at short notice. In the spirit of the "environmental school were on 21. April trees have been planted on the school grounds. A class trip or a joint planting campaign with the fruit and horticulture association windheim are currently simply unthinkable.

Schuler put his foot down

"But the crisis is also an opportunity for all of us. If everyone helps, challenges can be overcome", school social pedagogue tina muller is certain that. The whole school family is very pleased that on the last day before graduation, the students showed great interest in continuing the preventive competitions "be smart, don’t start" on smoking and "staying clear on the prevention of alcohol abuse.

Muller still remembers clearly when, at around 9.30 o’clock the first students of the 9. The eighth grade visited her and asked that the challenge "remain clear" not broken off: "for me, this remains a moving moment, because it was only at this point that I realized how seriously they take my preventive work with them – which they also confirmed to me several times."

No alcohol consumption

"Stay clear" is an alcohol prevention competition in which the 9. Class participated. The ninth graders abstained from risky alcohol consumption or binge drinking for six weeks. The competition was launched in the last week before the school holidays, but the class was not discouraged and continued to work on the project. Muller asked each teenager weekly from home via phone call, text message and e-mail whether they had been drinking alcohol. "We are proud to report that the class has been very successful in ‘staying clear’ and has a chance to win a prize for the class fund," says the school social worker, the school social pedagogue is delighted.

Clarification about smoking

In the "be smart, don’t start" smoking prevention project classes 5, 6 and 8M took part. From november 2019 to april 2020, muller had also queried here on a weekly basis whether the schoolchildren had smoked. During school vacations and vacations, the survey was also conducted by telephone, text message or e-mail.

Class 8 M also took part in the "be smart, don’t start" creative competition. "The students made three objects to educate other children and teenagers that "not smoking is healthier than smoking", muller explains. A "giant cigarette was made and a few holes were drilled in it. The eighth graders wrote texts about the topic on small handmade cigarettes, which they then inserted into the "giant cigarette" was.

They also made a quiz. For the younger classes they created a "flat cigarette with numerous cords on all sides. If you pull on it, a card with important information about smoking appears. Fortunately, all of the artworks were completed before school was closed.

The goal of class 8 M is to pass on the knowledge they have gained. If there is interest, the visual materials can be lent out to teachers, for example. Now class 8 M is worried about whether the "addiction week" will be a success 2020 will be a regular event in kronach, where the display materials designed by the competition participants are to be exhibited. Without a public exhibition, the eighth-graders felt that they could do worse in the creative competition through no fault of their own.

"The crisis is an opportunity for us all. Despite the distance, we are very close. We think of each other and wish each other to stay healthy", clarifies the school social pedagogue. The schoolchildren began to ask again how the school employees were doing. Many things are changing, especially the way we treat each other. A simple phone call and the question "how are you??" Regained meaning.

Background

Since the 2018/2019 school year, there have been a few school social pedagogues in bavarian schools. One of them is tina muller, who has been working for the middle school in windheim since july 2019. The school thus has a unique selling point in the district of kronach and beyond, since for the 2018/19 school year – in addition to other types of schools – only one school social worker position was planned for middle schools in upper franconia. The focus of this school social pedagogy is on group-based prevention work. Muller does not take on individual cases, but rather devotes itself preventively to entire classes or groups and offers offers that support the school in its educational work. This clearly distinguishes this position from youth social work in schools.