The pupils from Ms Müller and Ms Wandtke’s two Q2 Advanced Geography classes, along with some pupils from the Geography Elective course, went on an exploratory tour of the Welzow opencast lignite mine in early May. Although only about an hour’s drive from Berlin, it felt as though we had been transported to a lunar landscape. Before the last giant lignite excavator ceases operations in 2030, we wanted to take another look at the landscape changes caused by such open-cast mining. The programme also included a look at the renaturation and recultivation measures planned for after mining has finished. This allowed us to visit the first Lusatian vineyard, “Wolkenberg”, as well as new farmland and woodland areas on former mining sites. In class, we then discussed further what impact the phase-out of coal in Lusatia might have on Berlin’s water supply in the future, and whether Lusatia will undergo structural change. It remains an exciting topic.
Exploring countries through geography without a textbook or atlas – is that possible? On 2 June 2026, the pupils in Ms Müller’s Q2 introductory geography course had the opportunity to ask Estonian pupils from Tabasalu Gümnaasium & Gymnasium Viimsi near Tallinn about their country’s geography, developments since joining the EU, and the digitalisation process in Estonia. They presented their country and their schools in a video. After a joint tour of our school, they also asked personal questions, exchanged phone numbers and made plans to meet up in the evening. Getting to know one another and cooperating across Europe – it really can be that simple.
On May 19, 20, and 22, Ms. Brauns’ and Mr. Fischer’s Musik-Basiskurse participated in a workshop centred around the life and work of Ruth Schönthal. The German-Jewish composer Ruth Schönthal was born in Berlin and, thanks to her exceptional talent, was admitted as a student to the Stern Conservatory (now Universität der Künste) at the age of five.
On 19 May, the two Year 11 History elective courses attended a workshop discussion at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at TU Berlin. During the session with historian Julian Rieck, students gained valuable insights into the role and influence of sport in National Socialism. The workshop closely connected to the students’ current topic of study: the 1936 Olympic Games, which they are currently exploring in class in light of the anniversary.
On March 26, 2026, we were invited to the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Town Hall with a small group of students for the SDG Pros award ceremony. This competition recognizes student engagement that aligns with the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Since we have been exploring and actively implementing various aspects of the SDGs with the UNESCO Ambassadors throughout the school year, we entered the competition with this idea. In fact, our group took 3rd place among all Berlin schools.
Congratulations to the students of the UNESCO Ambassadors!
For the team: F. Wandtke and M. Castilla
This school year the NMS participated in the “Jugend debattiert” regional competition only the second time, which took place on February 10, 2026, at the Hildegard-Wegscheider-Gymnasium. The
debaters were Henriette (10a), Emilian (9a), and Rasmus (10c), who had won the school’s internal finals for the 9th and 10th grades, and Lynn (Q2), Luisa (11b), and Hana (11b) served as judges. Even participating is very challenging for the debaters, because they not only have to prepare thoroughly for three different topics, but also only find out shortly before each debate whether they
will have to argue the pro or con position. Henriette debated in her usual objective and concise style and, to her great credit, won first prize.
It’s not every day that a potential Nobel Prize winner comes to our school auditorium to read excerpts from one of her works. So Jenny Erpenbeck’s visit on March 16, 2026, was something truly special, as she rarely visits schools to read from her novel Heimsuchung - which was on this year’s high school graduation reading list - and to talk about the novel’s creation. Students from the thirteenth grade moderated the reading and facilitated discussions. In addition to students from the twelfth and thirteenth grades of the Nelson Mandela School, the audience also included graduating seniors from the Schiller Gymnasium.
Once again this year, we emerged proudly victorious from the UNESCO Reading Competition. Sophie Chadwick (6a) secured first place, and Rosa-Lia Lengen (7a) took third place. After a welcome address to all the schools participating from Berlin, the order of the readers was determined by a random draw. Excitement mounted, and all participants had about two minutes to read the prepared passage from a book of their choice.
Both NMS readers impressed the audience with their rehearsed texts on the theme “I won’t let it get me down!” and delivered an impressive performance. After a break, another book was introduced, and passages from it that had not been rehearsed were read aloud. Both readers also delivered their performances with confidence when reading the unfamiliar text.
The readers from the other schools also gave great readings. Many thanks also to the Ernst-Reuter-Schule for organizing this wonderful event.
This year’s BERMUN 2 conference hosted by the JfK school was especially engaging, since we discussed a very important issue under the banner theme of ‘Decolonize’, a term which is difficult to define but has deep ramifications. Even today, some countries engage in neocolonialism and whether colonialism is truly only an event that remains in the past is questionable.
In total, seven of us went to the conference and we all represented the United Kingdom; a challenging country to represent, given the theme. We were distributed across different committees: Arjun in the Middle School MUN, Lina in the GA4, Kerem & Cillain in the Security Council, Ivan in ECOSOC, Charlie in the GA3 and Vin in the Historical Security Council. Ivan also served as an ambassador and held an opening speech at the opening ceremony. He reported that he felt very excited and that it was an experience he will remember forever.
The guest speaker event was one of the most remarkable moments of the conference. The Honourable Jerobeam Shaanika, who is the ambassador of Namibia to Germany, spoke about the after effects of German colonialism.This event was very significant,because he explained how the colonial mindset of countries does not change, even after a country receives its sovereignty and gains independence and that Decolonization is a long process including psychological and cultural factors.
Overall, every single one of us had a lot of fun during this conference. The debate was very engaging and everyone was respectful to one another. I always look forward to participating in MUN conferences, since I learn a lot about politics and have the opportunity to meet new people.
From 21 to 25 January 2026, 18 students from class 9d of the Nelson Mandela School in Berlin met with 20 students from various Year 8 classes of Szkoła Podstawowa Nr 8 im. Kawalerów Orderu Uśmiechu in Świdnica at Morawa Castle in Poland to work together on the project “Memories for the Future,” which was initiated years ago by our former school social worker Bernard Szulc.
During the last week of school before the winter holidays, this year’s Berlin UNESCO Student Seminar took place at various UNESCO Project Schools in Berlin with students from Years 10 and 11. Over the course of the week, the group addressed topics such as hostility towards queer people and anti-feminism in social media, as well as other political challenges of our time. At the end of the week, the students designed stickers with messages for civil society in order to draw attention to social injustices. The Nelson Mandela School was also one of the venues hosting the seminar.