The students of the Black History Class had impressive study days with Sima Luipert on German colonialism and were deeply moved. The History Leistungskurs with Hanna Urbahn also participated in the study days. This was the first meeting of descendants of the victims of the genocide against the Ovaherero and Nama with students in Germany. The students once again strongly emphasized their demand for decolonial perspectives in the curriculum, so that in the future all students will learn about this first genocide of the 20th century.

• The study days were accompanied by a taz journalist. The article can be read here.
• During her Berlin visit Sima Luipert also had an exclusive interview with SPIEGEL.

In the future, similar study days are to be introduced at schools in other German states. The idea is to learn from the experiences at the Nelson Mandela School to include decolonial perspectives and German colonial history in the school curriculum. Finally, an exchange of students is planned, which should enable an encounter between Ovaherero and Nama students and students in Germany. On June 28, we received the sad news that Simon Petrus Kooper, the elected chairman of the Nama Traditional Leaders' Association, had died suddenly and unexpectedly. He had a very formative role in the movement to recognize the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama and worked tirelessly for the inclusion of the affected Ovaherero and Nama communities in the reparations process. Unfortunately, this is still pending. We send our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and companions. May he rest in perfect power and peace.

Sharpies were flying at the NMS primary library on Friday, June 24th as students from 6D participated in a campaign championed by author Alex Gino to coincide with the renaming of their book "Melissa" – previously published as "George" – about a transgender fourth grader coming into her own. The children's book has been available from the primary library for classes 5 and 6 as a class set since 2017.  In solidarity with Alex Gino and their character, Melissa, students crossed out the former title with permanent markers and re-titled the books with stickers provided by the library staff. 

Larger picture here

Words matter – in fiction as in the real world.  With this action, the students, library staff, and the 6D Team encourage all of us to think about how we can validate and support each other by not only choosing our words carefully but also by going the extra step to correct ourselves should we make a mistake.  Here is a link to find out more about Melissa's Story and Sharpie Activism.

Am 1.6.2022 fand an der Secondary ein Projekttag aufgrund der Feier unseres Beitritts in das “Schule der Vielfalt” Programm statt. Wir haben den Tag mit einer Assembly gestartet, die von der Diversity Task Force organisiert wurde. Ab der 4. Stunde wurden für alle Klassen Workshops, Ausstellungen und Filmvorstellungen rund um das Thema “Vielfalt” angeboten. Die folgenden Organisationen haben mitgewirkt:

• Das Kulturagenten Programm Frieda Dunger, Kris Gruen, Christopher Weymann 
• Queer Format Jarred und Yan
• Ufuq e.V.
• All included - Queer Unterwegs 
• Unesco

Vielen Dank an alle Schüler*Innen, Lehrkräfte, Sozialpädagog*Innen, Hausmeister und allen Mitwirkenden!

 Debating Matters 2022 -  NMS WINNERS

The annual Debating Matters Competition, which took place on Thursday 16th, is  a project of the Battle Of Ideas Charity and  hosted by the University Of Europe , Applied Sciences, Berlin.  The competition is aimed at Upper School Students  and all the competitors came from  several Berlin Gymnasiums. However this did not daunt 5 of our 10th Graders and our seasoned debater, Emily Q2. 

The students who were in teams of two , won their  first  round debates which ensured a place in the final debate. This was won by the incredible Emily  and Luis duo . In addition four students : Lia, Lydia, Tobias and Suvi won commendations for their  participation and Emily won an award for best overall participation. The students prepared speeches and defended their  positions on topics  such as Universal Basic Income,  Technology and Climate Change,  Repatriation of Cultural Artefacts and  the Role of Tech Companies in Combating Misinformation.

wir sind wieder live zu erleben - mit Chor, Orchester, Band und Solist*innen! 

Wann/wo: Donnerstag, 23.6.um 17h in der Aula der P30.

Herzlich willkommen!

On Tuesday, 14. of June the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Musikschule and NMS put on the summer concert at the P23 campus.

The second and third grade choir performed, accompanied by a few piano students who presented their skills at the piano. 

Die 3b feiert Astrid Lindgren                                     

In den letzten sechs Wochen arbeitete die 3b an einem Projekt über Astrid Lindgren. Es gab Poster aller Art, Burge und, Spiele! Doch das schönste von allem war, dass wir zusammen gearbeitet haben. 

Nevena und Maria haben ein Mini-Theater gemacht! Süß muss ich sagen. Und Rosa und Madeleine! Sie haben eine Fernsehshow gemacht. Dank ihnen weiß ich jetzt fast alles über Astrid-Lindgren! Jaron und Paul erstellten ein Astrid-Lindgren-Preise-Plakat. Boah, hat Astrid aber viel gewonnen! 

On June 3rd 2022, the Primary School honoured the Nelson Mandela School’s Schule der Vielfalt accreditation with a school-wide Pride Celebration. This festive day was a huge success due to all of the preparations by staff and students and the gracious volunteering from students, staff and parents. Not to mention the talent that we have among our students and staff! Vanessa Kwai and her 3a, 5th and 6th grade music students presented a beautiful and emotional singing performance with “I Can Sing a Rainbow”, “True Colors”, “Dancing Queen”, “A Little Respect” and “This is Me”. And educator John Phillips got everyone dancing with his enthusiasm and excellent DJ skills. 

The Black History Class has become a federal model project of the Federal Agency for political Education (Bundeszentrale für politische BIldung) and will be continued until the end of the school year 2022/23. This is a joint project of the Friends of the Nelson Mandela School, the Diversity Task Force and Each One Teach One, the Federal Center for Black Empowerment in Germany. 
Upper secondary students have the opportunity here to learn about Black History in a global and German perspective through monthly workshops and biannual study days.

Here are pictures of the long awaited P23 Sports Day, taken for the school by well known photographers Florian Lonicer and David Nassim. Thank you Florian and David for these photos. There are many more but these are the ones that we got permissions to use. Florian and David have plenty more photos. 

It looks like everyone had a wonderful time!

Nach einer corona-bedingten Pause fand der Lesewettbewerb der Berliner UNESCO-Schulen am 20.5.2022 in der Gedenkstätte für die Berliner Mauer statt. Es beteiligten sich 24 Schüler*innen aus den Klassenstufen 6 bis 8.

Unsere beiden Teilnehmer*innen, Rasmus O. (6a) und Francesca M. (7b), die jeweils den schulinternen Jahrgangswettbewerb gewonnen hatten, lasen beide sehr souverän und ausdrucksstark. Schon nach der ersten Runde, in der alle ihren zum Thema „Krieg und Frieden“ selbst gewählten Beitrag vortrugen, war klar, dass Rasmus zum engeren Favoritenkreis gehören würde. In der entscheidenden zweiten Runde lasen dann alle Beteiligten – unvorbereitet – eine Passage aus dem Jugendroman „Als mein Vater ein Busch wurde“ von Joke van Leeuwen (2015) vor.

Reflection on the BMUN Conference 2022

On the 20th- 21st of May, nine NMS students attended the BMUN conference at the Katholische Schule Liebfrauen, where they met students from six different Berlin schools
and discussed a variety of political, social and economic topics.

The topics that were being debated included: strengthening social justice through bridging the medical divide, tackling the Myanmar Crisis, regulating the commercialisation of space and promoting cultural rights as human rights. Eight NMS students represented the delegation of their country, which extended from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the delegation of Vietnam and USA. 
One student also chaired debates. The debates were fruitful and all delegations engaged in constant lobbying and remained actively involved in discussion. It was a great experience and we are looking forward to more in-person conferences in the future.
Sofia, Lydia, Marlene 10b
MUN