"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it"  Robert Swann

One of the latest most dramatic climate action taken was when climate activists glued themselves to an airport tarmac in Berlin and Munich this December.

At the Nelson Mandela School, we tried to do it differently. As a matter of fact, the "Saving the Planet" is a unit that Q3  work on every year. The idea of the unit is to involve our students in understanding the problems facing our planet and involving them in researching and looking for solutions themselves through a video.

“It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my people became a hunger for the freedom of all people.” – Nelson Mandela

At the Nelson Mandela School parents of 9abcd were invited to an evening with WWI poetry. The topic of WWI is an important one in year 9 and also covered not only by the English Department but also by the Social Sciences Department.
The world has not been without war for a long time. At the moment we hear of multiple conflicts breaking out all over the planet, and there is even one that is raging close to our borders as we speak.
We hope in the English Department that by tackling the theme of war that we can bring comprehension and understanding to our students that war is never the solution, but freedom, peace and respect for the common human values that we share are the way forward in every conflict.

Nihal Adler

On December 7th & 8th, our students had the chance to play wheelchair basketball. Alba Berlin provided us with 15 wheelchairs and two basketball coaches visited the school.

Wheelchair basketball has become more and more popular in the recent years. In Germany, there is a growing number of cooperations between schools and clubs. The main aim is to educate students about fellow citizens with disabilities and to make them experience wheelchair sports in a playful way. Our students really enjoyed the lesson, and we are looking forward to offer similar events in the future.

The students were allowed to take a stand on the topic of "staged" portraits as part of an exam assignment. After an intensive investigation, their photographs can now be seen until 19.12.2022 on the 2nd floor of the new building, Pfalzburgerstraße 30. The diverse approaches revolve around an ideal of beauty as well as a personal perspective on adolescence. On 24.11.2022, the students had the opportunity to present their work to guests from Norway and to engage in an exchange. The photo exhibition and the visual journal with the presentation of the task and the work process provided an impressive basis for discussion.  

On November 14th and 15th, Class 11d participated as a Jury Class for the categories 12+ and 14+ programmes at the KUKI Short Film Festival in Berlin. It was wonderful to view so many great films with an incredible team guiding us through the process. After watching all the 16 films in both categories, we had to choose the Winner and an Honourable Mention which was a very thoughtful process for all of us students. Taking into consideration all of the key aspects that make a film outstanding, we came to the conclusion that the winner prize would go to the film “It’s Nice in Here” directed by Robert Jonathan Koeyers from the Netherlands. This film tackled racism, police brutality and many deep and powerful subjects regarding the death of a young black man. The editing, soundtrack and writing were exceptional! 

For the Honourable Mention, we chose the French film “Au revoir Jérôme” directed by Adam SIllard, Gabrielle Selnet and Chloe Farr. Every frame of the film looked like a painting and the colours brought so much substance to the film. It was about a man who arrived in paradise and set out to find his wife who passed away a year ago. After a long search he finally found her only to realise that she was very happy to be on her own and did not want to return to their past relationship.  It surely was a great experience! Thank you, Kuki festival, for having us!

Here is our award speech for the Best Film:

Award Speech for the Best Film:

From 8.11. to 12.11.2022 the theater and art trip to Morawa, Poland, for students of the 8th grade took place - this time under the motto "together and alone". As in previous years, Bernard Szulc, a social pedagogue at P30, was responsible for the comprehensive organization and coordination of the trip. The trip served as an encounter trip of students from a German and a Polish school as a project financed by the German-Polish Youth Association. During the five days, we worked together with students of the same age from the Emil Krebs School in Swidnica, Silesia, whose school program focuses on teaching foreign languages.  During the project week, which took place in the neoclassicist Morawa Castle, formerly known as Muhrau, the 26 participants and four teachers dealt with the topic of group processes and loneliness using various methods and techniques. Thus, all students took turns, each in mixed German-Polish groups, to attend workshops on sculptural work with plaster, collage with found objects, and performing scenes. In addition to fascinating work results, international friendships could be deepened or newly formed. A highlight of the stay at Morawa Castle each time is the fireside chat with Melitta Sallai, who spent her childhood there.

The NMS Primary band program has successfully started into the new school year.
We are thrilled to now have four band-classes in grades 5 and 6.
We were able to provide all students with a high-quality wind instrument (18 flutes, 16 clarinets, 10 saxophones, 15 trumpets, 8 trombones, 7 baritone horns). Of course, all the necessary percussion instruments are also available.
The first steps are already behind us and the real orchestra work has begun.
We are looking forward to our winter concert.

Four NMS student groups from grades 9 to 11 participated on the initiative of the Natural Sciences Department in the Berlin-wide STEAM competition Make@thon, which was organized by the University of Osnabrück and the Siemens Foundation from Sept. 22 to Oct. 1, 2022. During the competition period, the participants practiced hybrid learning while partly participating in in-house classes in school and partly participating online from Siemensstadt while working on the project.

The participant groups were to choose one of the following categories for the preparation of a competition entry: Education, Research, or Development. Within the framework of the competition title "Mobility of Tomorrow", solutions for promoting sustainability and optimizing infrastructure, technology and comfort were thus developed in a very short time.

On the 22nd and 23rd of September, the NMS hosted our annual NELMUN conference at our secondary campus. Both the Katholische Schule Liebfrauen and the Schiller Gymnasium attended this year, resulting in a total of 41 active and engaged delegates tackling 2022’s banner theme: 'The Global Food Crisis - Fighting Food Insecurity in Uncertain Times.'

In two different committees, the Environmental Committee & the UNHCR, the delegates debated, explored solutions and eventually formed resolutions on the issue, while also ensuring they maintain their diplomatic profiles. Our Secretary Generals were Lena and Kim, who hosted our opening and closing ceremony and guided the committees as well as their first-time co-chairs. Since this is their final time attending an MUN conference, we are very grateful to have had not only them, but also our admin team: Estella, Marlene, Manu, Siiri and Arthur. Without their organization the conference couldn't have taken place!

ALSO FOR YEARS 5 AND 6 IN THE PRIMARY

The competition is aimed at all students in grades 5 to 13.

The problems can be picked up from the math teachers or downloaded here (5. Klasse 6. Klasse 7. Klasse, 8. Klasse, 9-11. Klasse, 12-13. Klasse).

Solutions can be handed in to Ms Figueiras (alternatively in her pigeonhole in the staff-room) until 18.10.2022.

Participants will receive the result on 07.11.2022 at the school.

Successful participants qualify for the 2nd round of the Mathematics Olympiad, which will take place on 09.11.2022 as a district round in Berlin.

The discussion of the problems in internet forums is not permitted. For further questions please contact Ms Figueiras by email.

On 20 September 2022, five Berlin schools were awarded the "Excellent Digital School" seal of quality by Aziz Bozkurt, State Secretary for Youth, Family and School Digitization. The award with the quality seal "Excellent Digital School" is an appreciation of general education schools of the State of Berlin for their sustainable and quality-oriented commitment in three subject areas:

Accompaniment and promotion of young people with regard to digitally supported education
Classification of digitally supported education in teaching and learning processes
Cooperation and networks

The awarded schools are:

Grundschule im Beerwinkel
Bötzow-Grundschule
Gebrüder-Montgolfier-Gymnasium
Georg-Klingenberg-Schule
Nelson-Mandela-Schule
The Georg-Klingenberg-Schule and the Nelson-Mandela-Schule successfully submitted to the recertification process this year and once again convinced the audit and jury.

It was wonderful to see so many happy and smily people at the FoN, enjoying themselves, chatting to each other, running around, checking out the stands, and trying out loads of food and sweets. The atmosphere was warm, buzzing, and lovely.

The stage shows were great. The choir and the Scottish band did a great job entertaining the masses, and the MC was excellent in animating even the youngest kids to perform a little dance. The gift baskets looked amazing and the lucky winners disappeared with them happily.

There was a thrift store selling good clothes, the Friends of NMS shop selling NMS shirts, sweaters and mugs, and a bookstall selling a lovely variety books for all ages.

Well done to everyone who worked so hard before, during and after the event. The Festival of Nations Team put on a great day. Thank you! We don‘t know how the FoN raised for the community, yet. But we can tell you this: It was very successful!

You can take a look at our FoN photo gallery HERE.