Through the International Science Seminar exchange program a group of pupils were fortunate to benefit from an amazing, and increasingly rare, opportunity to stay with German host families in Würzburg, Bavaria. The week proved to be an excellent experience and we were truly spoilt by our German hosts from the Siebold Gymnasium (www.siebold-gymnasium.de). The stimulating educational and cultural program enabled the pupils to work in groups on their Science projects, practise their German within an authentic setting, learn about the history of some of Germany’s historic cities, sample the traditional food, immerse themselves in the German culture and make new friends. Accompanied by Mrs Burnett and Dr Jessop the pupils enjoyed a trip, which will live long in their memories.
Our pupils met their hosts for the first time on Tuesday evening and having quickly settled in they realised that they had many things in common. The following day the German, English and Czech pupils got together for the first time to learn about their exciting and challenging science project; Chain Reactions. Pupils were shown professional examples of these, for example the 2003 Honda advert (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcmd5AFIxZ0) and challenged to create their own chain reaction. Pupils were given a range of materials including balls, dominoes, wood, cars, race tracks, electronics, lights, candles, fuses and ‘mini fireworks’. Working in mixed groups of four that included German, English and Czech pupils, the project produced some truly staggering results.
School days in Germany finish considerably earlier than in England, which gave us numerous opportunities to learn about our surroundings. On Wednesday afternoon, we climbed the Tower of Grafeneckart, which allowed us to survey Würzburg from one of its highest points. Despite being a teacher of Maths and Physics, Herr Mantel provided a terrific introduction to the city’s geography and history. Following this, we visited the Residenz. This UNESCO world heritage site, built in the Baroque style for the former prince-bishops, was full of amazing architecture and artwork, including the unique 677m2 ceiling fresco by the Venetian artist G. B. Tiepolo. Our enthusiastic tour guide really brought the building to life. Following the week, Ethan commented that this was “one of the best parts of the trip, it was amazing”.
After our science project work on Thursday, we visited the Röntgen-Memorial in Würzburg. This building is dedicated to the work of the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845–1923) and his discovery of X-rays, for which he was granted the first ever Nobel Prize for physics. It contained an exhibition of historical instruments, machines and documents. Once again, we were very lucky to have a lecture from an expert on the history of Professor Röntgen and his laboratories – we sat in the actual lecture theatre, where Röntgen delivered his only public lecture on his famous discovery. Among the many, this was a highlight of Dr Jessop’s visit. We were then given a detailed guided tour of Würzburg by Herr Mais, a history teacher at Siebold Gymnasium. This fascinating look at the geography and religious history of Würzburg was especially interesting to Eleanor, who commented “this is the exact piece I have based my A-level artwork on”, when we were studying the architecture of a church doorway. In fact, Eleanor was delighted to see such a variety of amazing artwork throughout the week.
Friday’s weather prevented us from climbing but that did not dampen our spirits, as we went bowling instead. This activity gave pupils the ideal opportunity to mix and continue to practise speaking their second language. It was fantastic to see all pupils mixing, celebrating their successes, dancing and teaching each other about their culture.
Saturday’s trip to Nürnberg was a particular highlight. We were given a guided tour of the Nazi party rally grounds that covered about 11 square kilometres in the southeast of the city. The tour guide was excellent, using photographs and pictures of plans to bring the area to life. We stood on the spot where Hitler addressed four hundred thousand supporters, walked the great road (a 2km parade road) and sat in the grandstand on the Zeppelin fields where Hitler addressed the Hitler Youth. One of the most memorable parts of the tour was when we visited Hitler’s Congress Hall. The sheer scale of this building was unbelievable and the guide explained how each aspect of the architecture was designed specifically as part of his propaganda machine. We were also told how the German people had since struggled to deal with this past and the various ways they had tried ‘deal’ with some of Hitler’s constructions. In the afternoon the pupils were given the opportunity to do some shopping and browsing within the city. We met after lunch to visit some of the older features of Nürnberg such as the 1105 castle which, together with the city walls, is considered to be one of Europe's most formidable medieval fortifications.
On Sunday, pupils spent time with their families in the morning before meeting at the Kletterwald in Einsiedel. This gave pupils further opportunity to cement their new found friendships whilst climbing through the forests, overcoming challenging obstacles up to 14m in the tree tops. This equivalent to ‘Go Ape’ was very popular with German, English and Czech pupils alike.
Monday was our last day. Pupils exhibited their chain reactions and spoke about their experiments and what they had enjoyed about the week. What was most telling was that, although all pupils enjoyed the fantastic and busy program that we had followed, the aspects of the week that were most enjoyable was the time they spent with their host families. The host families were extremely hospitable, teaching our pupils about German culture and taking them to numerous place including restaurants, laser-tag, kegeln (German skittles) and to each other’s houses to enjoy group time. Many new friendships have been formed and life long memories made.
A measure of the success of the trip was that within three days of being there, both Nathan and Daniel asked if they could be invited to the ISS 2016 (International Science Seminar) in Hradec Králové with our partner school; GYMNÁZIUM BOŽENY NĚMCOVÉ, Czech Republic. We are looking forward to this future exchange and to the continued development of this special three-way relationship between our school and our German and Czech partners.