Under the slogan “ show your best, expect the best”, the “Positive Week” school project was held between 20 th – 24 th September 2010 in the secondary school. Already last school year, the project’s coordinators Declan O'Leary, Regina Machek, Régine Wengeler, Carolyne Ardron and Monika Güllüoglu started to plan and put together an extensive programme of activities. The overall aim of the week was to celebrate all positive aspects about the school and to generally adopt a positive approach both in the classroom and outside.

Duration:
20th – 24th September 2010

Organisation
Planned events were held in the gym halls every afternoon up to 16h00.

 Schedule

• Monday 20th Sept.: 15.00 – 16.00
  Talent show- Jim Ready

• Tuesday 21th Sept.: 15.00 – 16.00
  Awards for pupils Mr. Sealey/Class teachers/Mr. Sprenger- and opportunity for some groups to very briefly present their groups – 2min max (see Mr. Sprenger)

• Wednesday 22th Sept.: 14.30 – 16.00
  Theatre - Perlach Jugendtheater – De Camarone - some students from school active -7 actors 19-25 year olds

• Thursday 23th Sept.: 14.20 – 16.00
  Students –Film interviews (Mrs Gülluoglu)followed by Sven Kemmler (comedian and former student) - free show

• Friday 24th Sept.: 13.30 – 16.00
  Athletics Events/Games (Kristina Scheiber/Klaus Riesterer)

• Additional events
• Art Exhibition all week (Dagmar Koplin)
• Positive T-shirts all week
• Charity events all week (Erika Wolf-Muscate)
• Website link (Stefan Biehl)

Positive Week Summary

Monday 20th September 2010

Already in the morning, the Spanish and Greek language sections offered culinary delights for sale, the proceeds of which were donated to the charity organisations, which the ESM supports.

Mrs Machek, secondary school teacher and long-time member of the school community, held the welcome speech in the afternoon. Its core message emphasised the great potential of the school community in every aspect. The aim of the “Positive Week” was to provide both students and teachers with the opportunity to recognise the school as a living space and empowering them to give inputs as well as to actively improve the atmosphere in the school. As a visible sign, all members of the school community were asked to wear a white individually designed “Positive-Week-T-Shirt” during the entire week. Awards for the most creatively designed T-shirts were also distributed later on in the week.

After the speech, a selection of very talented students presented a varied programme under the direction of Mr Ready, Mrs Ettmayr, Mrs Plugge and Ms Scheiber.

The second day’s theme of the “Positive Week” was “commitment”. Students were recognised and rewarded for their service to the community, such as for helping others, supporting fundraising events or participating in specific groups or projects of the school. Some students were already wearing white T-shirts with positive messages written on them.

The following students were awarded: Matei Bjola, Michelle van Steyn, Zeynep Wongsaksri, Robby Witte, Jan Rabe, Katharina Schmidt, Lydia Teale, Giulio Nobile, Alexander Osbeldiston, Tyrone Falls, Isabel Hummel, Antonio Chrimpakis, Gabriele Semino, Luke Peschel, Emmanuel Tragoustis , Clara Hartmann, Hannah Ziegler, Alexis Perakis and Elena Tangocci.

Both Mr Ensing, the new Director, and Mr Studer, Deputy Director of the secondary school, referred in their speeches to the large number of enthusiastic and dedicated students who are actively involved in the production of the students’ newspaper, Model United Nations (MUN), Model European Council (MEC) or in charity events in favour of aid projects in Haiti, Guatemala and Rwanda. These projects were then also briefly presented. The main organiser of the "Positive Week," Mr. O'Leary, reminded everyone again to place the focus of the week entirely on the positive aspects of the ESM.

Seven young performers, six female and one male, presented a selection from Boccaccio’s “De Camerone”, a collection of 100 short stories written in the 14 th century. The drama school from which they came is housed at the local “FestSpielHaus” in Perlach. It puts on performances each Friday evening and runs taster courses for would- be-actors between 16 and 27 years. A number of ESM students are keen members. The group also offers in-classroom performances – short, dramatic and entertaining plays – which tackle issues ranging from love, grief, alcohol abuse and bullying, to poetry, multicultural school life and mathematics .

The one and half-hour performance of this theatre group at the ESM, was a logistical challenge, given that assembling such a mass audience of teachers and students is not a regular occurrence at the ESM . The actors surprised the ESM audience by entering from the rear of the hall and passing among the audience, describing horrific scenes from the Great Plague. They then went on stage and presented a number of the stories which caused such scandal when they were performed many hundreds of years ago.

The scenes presented still have their relevance and significance today, showing us how little the world has changed. Boccaccio’s core message was that those with power and privilege were flagrantly disregarding the high moral code they were imposing on the rest of society. A timely message in a world where respected bankers have fallen and churchmen are called to answer for terrible offenses.

One can ask the question if these themes are suitable for a secondary school as perhaps some scenes could have been toned down a little to take account of the range of ages present. There is a line between humour and vulgarity – cultural and personal sensitivities vary on this. However, this controversial play undoubtedly provides material for both further discussion and inspiring essays – and that perhaps is what theatre is all about – provoking a reaction.

The events on the 4th day were both interesting and funny. Many different voices had their say and raised many issues regarding the European school. In the afternoon, students handed over their individually designed liaison note books to their class teachers. A big thank you goes to all students, some of which have put great efforts in it.

The student coordinators then presented their film “Our Teachers at School” in which teachers were interviewed on their profession. In essence, it became apparent that all the interviewed teachers enjoy working in the school and appreciate the ESM very much.
After the film screening, the Comenius project was presented, which has set itself the goal to establish links between schools in other countries by working on a common theme, which this year is “Teenagers in Europe”.

The day was rounded off by a highlight of this week. Mr Sven Kemmler, a former student of our school who is no small fish in the world of entertainment , gave us the honour to participate in our programme. He read two chapters from his new book, "Und was wirst du wenn ich groß bin?" ( "What will you do when I grow up?”), which was inspired by the time he spent as a pupil in the ESM. The coordinators of the “Positive Week” greatly appreciated his kindness. He greatly impressed anybody who took the time to get to know him and his work. Not only did he give his presentation at his own expense, but he also stayed long after the presentation finished, to meet with interested students and teachers.

On 24 th September the “Positive Week” came to a close. The afternoon was fully dedicated to different sport activities, among which were the very popular tournaments between students and teachers.

But not only did students and teachers compete against each other, many new and more unique activities were also to be discovered. For example: Lacrosse, Parkour/Free Running, Bollywood dancing, wrestling, taekwondo, inline skating, tennis and ultimate frisbee. Not only were all our dedicated sports teachers on the sports ground, but also many teachers presented their favourite sports. Many thanks to the coordinators Kristina Scheiber and Karin Nykiel. The final day was a huge success and even the weather was pleasant as the skies cleared, giving way to an unexpected number of sun rays.

Many thanks also to all parents and students who have contributed cakes and finger food during the breaks throughout the week. The proceeds of their sale will be donated to our charity projects.