First Grade – First Class!

Visiting the State Library during the 11th grade Science week, reading in the language of architecture as well as in historical maps; collecting quotes from Homer, Aristotle, Thucydides, Hippocrates, Steve Jobs and many others; acquiring a pass for the State Library; walking up the stairs and down to the peaks and valleys of science. The expedition’s destination according to Augustine: “The world is the greatest book”, Epistulae 43: “major liber noster orbis terrarum est”.

Renaissance – or Baroque? Which is my favourite work? Why? What amazes me? The 8th grade students discover the Alte Pinakothek Munich.

Congratulations!

“Window Views” inspired by Matisse and Degas – artworks created by our graduating students

If gods are immortal, do they still live today? This question was posed by a pupil during a visit to the Museum of Casts of Classical Sculptures in Munich, where one can immerse oneself in the world of ancient gods. One might further ask: If Christianity disappears, could the old gods possibly return?

This statement was communicated to staff and senior students; read the statement here.

The pupils of the first class have started their school career on the campus of Villa Eggenberg full of joy.

In the meantime, they are already completely at home here. They love the school clothes, the freshly prepared lunch, the playtime, also with their older schoolmates, and the lessons. As a team, teachers and educators accompany the children, who absorb all the new things that come their way every day with curiosity and a willingness to learn.

“St. Anna Colleg (Gymnasium Eggenberg) is known for its love of music.” This is how a recent article on BR.de begins about the 11th grade P-Seminar. The topic of the seminar: “The Unterfahrt and the history and significance of a Munich jazz club with an international reputation”. The pupils are preparing a programme on this for BR Klassik.

In this context, the music journalist and jazz editor of BR Klassik, Mr Roland Spiegel, came to the school. He conducted an interview training with the pupils in the park of Villa Eggenberg.

The complete article on “45 years of Jazzclub Unterfahrt” can be found here.

Update 15/09/2023  |  Radio broadcast JAZZTIME

On Thursday, 21 September 2023, the students of the P-Seminar Musik will be on air. BR Klassik will broadcast their contribution from 11:05 pm until midnight. The programme will then be available for listening on BR Klassik until 28 September. It can be accessed via the web article, which was also created as part of the project: First Encounter with Jazz in Munich – Whoever Says Jazz Means the Unterfahrt

In a festive hour, headmaster Dr Rudolf Kutschera personally presented the Abitur certificates to the graduates at Gymnasium Eggenberg. He recalled dry spells and highlights of the past years and emphasised: “What is particularly enjoyable is that this year, too, all those who have walked the path with us have successfully passed the Abitur.”

Dr Kutschera then quoted from St Anna Colleg’s self-image: “every human being is endowed with a unique and singular dignity and is by nature a social being, designed for togetherness.” He continued, “If you look at the people around you in this way, in this appreciation, then you have taken the essence from here – amidst the much that was to be learned.”

So our students are equipped with the Bavarian Abitur and with the “St. Anna Abitur”. That is why Dr Kutschera is confident: “With what you have learnt at St Anna Colleg about human dignity and peaceful coexistence – including its endangerment and the possibility of always recreating it – a promising future opens up for you.”

With greetings from Israel, Dr Ludwig Spaenle and the Mayor of Icking, Verena Reithmann

On 12 May Eggenberg secondary and primary school jointly commemorated the founding of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. At the ceremony, pupils read out a greeting from an Israeli teacher with whom the school had already worked: “Standing together is a gain for all of us, it can move mountains. When you raise the Israeli flag today, we say ‘Lechaim’ as a PROSIT – that means: To life! Shalom and all our love, Tamar Bruck, Israel.”

Some Year 11 pupils presented facts about the state of Israel, such as the fact that it was the first and only state to be founded by the United Nations. The former Bavarian Minister of Education, Dr Ludwig Spaenle, recalled the subsequent threat in his greeting to St. Anna Colleg: “The first bomb hit Tel Aviv on 15 May 1948.”
Dr Spaenle continued: “I myself acknowledge my deep friendship with Israel and am committed to the state of Israel and to Jewish life there as well as everywhere else and, of course, especially in Bavaria. Standing up for the existence and security of Israel is important. … With this in mind, I would like to thank St. Anna College and its students and teachers for commemorating the anniversary of the founding of the state and wish them every success!”

The students received another dedicated greeting from the mayor of Icking, Verena Reithmann. She recalled the local connection to Jewish life and “the German responsibility for back then and the responsibility for the Jews in Israel and in Germany today”.

Afterwards, the students were served a pomegranate drink and something sweet from Israel in the cafeteria.

The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising – spring is coming!

The birds in the park of Villa Eggenberg are already really busy: they are singing again, marking out their territories, attracting mates and scouting out nesting possibilities.

In their free time, the pupils of the lower grade, together with their youth and community worker, have built nesting boxes for them so that they feel as comfortable here as everyone else. These birdhouses now hang invitingly from the trees.

In between, we could observe how even a woodpecker wanted to move into a box. Since the hole was too small for him, he worked it violently. He also wanted to be here at all costs.

Louise Wieland, 23, grew up in Icking and attended Gymnasium Eggenberg. In February 2023, the young Athletics won the German championship over 200 metres. In addition to her competitive sport, she is studying psychology in Hamburg.

In an interview with the SZ she says: “In athletics, it is common to start with all-around competition. I started the sport at the age of seven and trained in Baierbrunn at the beginning. When I was at school, the Bundesjugendspiele were always a highlight that I looked forward to. I can still remember running with the boys more often, especially in sprinting, and winning there.”

Write something regularly for just ten minutes every afternoon? Voluntarily? And that’s supposed to be fun? The 5th grade pupils can confirm that it is. Their ally is their little lemon notebook.
The only rules: in the nicest possible writing, complete sentences and as correctly as I can. The rule for teachers, parents and all other adults is: the lemon notebook is the realm of every child. Others may read it, but corrections are taboo. The only thing allowed is to enjoy reading it.
One experiments with his most beautiful writing, the other collects the smartest jokes and riddles or designs plans. What everyone can write and likes to is allowed. Without thinking much.

By the way: The children invented the name “Lemon Notebook” themselves. According to the motto: Sour becomes funny. Because writing can actually be a lot of fun, even if some of them were initially sour-faced at the thought of a notebook that they could write in – when it was still empty!

The Abitur class at Gymnasium Eggenberg presented the commemoration day “60 Years of the Élysée Treaty – 60 Years of Franco-German Friendship”, to all students, including those from Eggenberg Elementary School, before lunch. “Why is the flag of France flying from the roof of the Villa today?” was the opening question.

They then explained that after two world wars, a reconciliation between Germany and France was quite unlikely and an amazing achievement. Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle concluded the Élysée Treaty prompted, among other things, by their Christian responsibility. Adenauer said at the time, “The future of Europe depends on a real and lasting understanding between Germany and France.”
After the presentation, all students were invited to a French-themed lunch with blue, white and red decorations.

Kapla building in our free time is all about reaching for the sky! With several thousand wooden pieces of Kapla, there are no limits to the creative possibilities: the children explore building in a variety of ways – high, wide, angular, round – or even around themselves. With a lot of imagination and perseverance, new constructions and works of art are created, which the children themselves marvel at.

From grade 5 onwards, experimentation is an essential part of science and technology lessons at the Gymnasium Eggenberg: we ask questions of nature and explore the answers through experimentation!

Experimentation involves: touching, trying out, using a microscope, dissecting, collecting, measuring and observing: in the Deutsches Museum, at the zoo, in the Isar wetlands, in the meadow, forest and school garden – also building a pinhole camera, a hand-held spectroscope or rockets, letting balloons rise, melting iron …

Conclusions are then drawn from the experiences and observations. Thus force and movement, electricity and magnetism, light and sound, air and water, matter and life start to become understandable.

The experiments become more differentiated and abstract with increasing age; if they fail, we learn from the mistakes made.

But the following always applies: Whoever sees and hears something remembers it – whoever does something understands it!

For the past year, the Grundschule Eggenberg has been located together with the Gymnasium on the Villa Eggenberg campus. The close proximity has proved its worth: The sense of togetherness, the beautiful physical environment and the many play and recreational opportunities in the shared park promote calm and concentrated learning for younger and older students alike. The younger children also enjoy playing with the older ones – and experience from them how to approach the Abitur successfully and without fear.

In their play, “What a wooden stick can do”, the 1st and 2nd grade classes of the Grundschule skilfully transformed a sturdy stick into a wooden spoon, a flagpole, a fishing rod, a shoe brush, a conductor’s baton, a cello bow and much else.”Ach wie gut, dass ich Dich hab’, lieber guter Wanderstab” (Oh, how glad I am to have you, dear, good walking stick) is how the 20 verses ended, musically interspersed with canons, an orchestral quodlibet and Spanish rhythms.

The 3rd  and 4th grade students accompanied “Tranquilla Trampeltreu”, the persistent turtle, on her way to the wedding of the great lion king. Whether faced with a confused snail by the roadside, sad ravens in a bare tree, conceited lizards in the desert or lively monkeys in the rainforest, nothing stops Tranquilla: “My mind is made up. I’m getting there, step, by step.” The pupils slipped convincingly into their roles and delighted the audience with their clever dialogue, skilful acting, singing, lizard rap and musical accompaniment on Orff instruments. In the end, at the big wedding feast, everyone agreed: thank goodness that Tranquilla was so persistent!

Lunchtime concert in May

For the second time this school year, the entire 7th grade became a band. Encouraged   by their success with “Traffic Lights” before Christmas, this time they performed “Open Up” by Matt Simons. They rehearsed together until the vocals, rhythm and sound were perfect.

All the students contributed to a polished performance with their disciplined rehearsals. A special feature this time: Mr. Schäfer, a student teacher and intern, joined in with his electric violin and supported the class band in their performance. The audience of teachers and students from grades 3 to 6 thanked the 7th grade with roaring applause for this refreshing lunchtime concert.

We are pleased to share a few images of our pre-Christmas decorations at Grundschule Eggenberg and Gymnasium Eggenberg and wish you a happy Advent Season.

Both our Grundschule and Gymnasium students have made a good start to the new school year. For our Grundschule, this is the first school year on the Villa Eggenberg campus in Icking after the move from Solln, and the students are already very much at home.

The connection between the two schools is expressed in our new, related names: “Grundschule Eggenberg”(our primary school) and “Gymnasium Eggenberg” (our secondary school). The names reflect the unified learning path from the 1st grade to the Abitur (the German university entrance exam). 

The two schools, as of 2021 geographically consolidated on one campus, and pursuing the single aim of excellence in education, will together be known as St Anna Colleg.