German school experience

Our Year 6 student, Sia, recently had a wonderful opportunity to attend school in Germany for a short-term study experience. 

"The main reason we flew to Germany and Slovakia was to see family, however we also visited Switzerland where we went skiing, and Ischia which is a little island in Italy where I had a great experience." Sia said. 

As German is Sia’s first language, she was able to settle into school life quickly. She noticed many similarities to PMPS while she was over there, including subjects such as Maths, English, Music, Art and Sport. There were also the same number of students in her class and the classroom set up was the same. 

There were also some big differences:

• German students don't wear uniforms
• primary school has Grades1-4  and high school has Grades 5-13 
• school starts at 7:50am and finishes at 1:00pm
• class times and breaks are shorter: 
  • each subject goes for 45 min
  • 1st break 20 min
  • 2 break 15 min and between every subject 5 min
• students have a different teacher for each subject
• they still using chalkboards!

Despite enjoying her overseas experience, Sia missed her friends, teachers and the fun games at PMPS. 

“At PMPS I feel more comfortable with my teachers. As we have two teachers in the classroom, it is much easier to get help,” she explained.

"The teachers [in Germany] were very patient; I initially thought they would be stricter, but they often had to remind the kids multiple times to be quiet."

We loved hearing about Sia’s international learning adventure and are delighted she had such a memorable experience!

Images: 1. Skiing in Switzerland, 2. Lake Constance and the Zeppelin (air ship), 3. Aragonese Castel in Italy. First built 474BC, 4. Fish at the Rhine Falls (biggest waterfall in Europe), 5. Lake Schliersee at the bottom of the German Alps, 6. Coming home. Thunderstorms over Singapore!