Be involved in your child’s education
- Attend class parent meetings.
Best way to stay informed about your child’s class and a great way to meet other parents.
- Attend parent-teacher conferences.
Generally held in November and March. Look for information on how to sign up from the NMS Buzz or a handout sent home with your child. If your child is having trouble in class, parents are encouraged to contact the teacher and/or educator involved and make an appointment. Instructions on how to do this is generally communicated at the first class parent meeting of the school year.
Be involved in your child’s class
- Contribute money to the class fund.
Generally, the teaching team asks for a a contribution of around EUR 100.
- Volunteer inside the classroom.
Bring food, chaperone, be a class helper if asked by the teaching team.
- Get to know the other parents.
Build community in your child’s class, year level, and the school by meeting other parents at the Parent Cafe, by helping at parent-led activities like the Festival of Nations or Boogie Nights fundraisers, coming to GEV meetings or committee meetings (see below) to address school issues and interests, or initiating your own project. Questions or concerns can be directed to:
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- Become a parent representative or alternate.
During the first class meeting, parents elect two parent representatives (one German and one English) plus up to two alternates to serve on the Parents Council (Gesamtelternvertretung, GEV for short). The parent representatives and alternates work with the teaching team on various projects and advocate on the behalf of the class parents in the wider community. Check out the Buzz and Calendar for the next GEV meeting dates.- More information on being a parent representative / alternate (pdf)
- Lots of information about the Parents council (GEV)
Be involved in the Nelson Mandela School Community
- Become a member of the Friends of Nelson Mandela School.
All members of the school community, parents and staff are encouraged to join the Friends of Nelson Mandela School. Your yearly financial support helps strengthen the school in direct materials and projects for the classroom, library support and more teacher training. Join today!
- Volunteer your time in hands-on shift work or one time only projects.
- Donate money to the school when needed.
- Volunteer your time for committee work.
Want to help? Check out the committee options below.
Internal Working Committees
Communications & Website
Committee members work together to strengthen the internal communications of the school. The particular focus of the committee is school-to-home communications which includes coordinating the activities of the NMS website and the weekly NMS Buzz email newsletter. The committee also handles other one-time only projects for the school and needs writers, editors, translators and digital photographer volunteers. Most of our work is done through email and small project meetings. We also hold an annual meeting in October each year.
Programme Committees
Diversity & Anti-Diskriminierungsgruppe (DAD)
This committee consists of any parents, secondary students, teachers, and educators interested in meeting regularly to address topics concerning bias, discrimination, and diversity at NMS. Formed in 2019, the group aims to work together with the school to deepen our understanding and knowledge on this nuanced subject, and to develop a set of guidelines, standard practices and mechanisms in dealing with such issues.
In order to do this the group would also like to examine discrimination and exclusion in curriculum material and within social interactions, for example through a schoolwide discrimination survey. DAD also sees itself as a place where parents, students and staff can exchange experiences and get support on addressing related issues. In the past, a similar committee produced the 2010 Homestory Deutschland project. For more information contact
NMS Yearbook
The Nelson Mandela School Yearbook is a special hardcover publication by and for the NMS community, issued at the end of each school year. A combination of images and text, it captures fond memories of the year for the school community – with student portraits, pictures of school life and school-related events.
The yearbook has been published annually by various volunteer teams since 2015. It relies on the participation of the entire NMS community – parents, students and staff – to submit and coordinate images and texts. The printing costs are pre-financed by the NMS Friends. The fee for the yearbook covers the printing costs. Any surplus will help to cover the many school projects supported by the NMS Friends.
The yearbook needs parents who are willing to:
- photograph and/or design their class page
- coordinate class consent forms
- send emails to coordinate submissions from the various classes, extra-curricular activities, and school projects + staff
- edit / proofread
- sell the yearbook near the end of the year.
Interested? For more information contact:
Community Building & Fundraising Committees
Boogie Nights Planning Committee
This fun loving committee plans all aspects of this yearly parent fundraising event that is generally held in the winter months. To join in the fun, contact:
Festival of Nations Planning Committee
The yearly Festival of Nations builds community through fun and action! The planning committee (parents, staff and students) generally begin their work in January with the event occurring in early September. What may appear effortless requires considerable preparation and coordination. Volunteer leaders are needed each year in planning for the auctions/gift basket raffle, communications/ publicity, logistics, performance stage and stand planning.