Father Damian Secondary School Eupen

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Father Damian Secondary School Eupen
logo
type of school Secondary school
founding 1995
place Eupen
region Wallonia
Country Belgium
Coordinates 50 ° 37 '54 "  N , 6 ° 2' 24"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 37 '54 "  N , 6 ° 2' 24"  E
carrier Episcopal schools in the German-speaking community
student about 700
Teachers about 120
management Director Elmar Schlabertz, Associate Director
Monika Mertens
Website www.pds-bsdg.be

The Pater-Damian- Secondary School (PDS) Eupen , is a Christian - humanistic and grammar school oriented secondary school in the north of the German-speaking community of Belgium . Since it was founded in 1995, the school bears the name of the canonized religious priest Damian de Veuster (Father Damian).

Current

The PDS is a member of the Association of Pater-Damian Schools in Eupen, to which the Pater-Damian-Förderschule (PDF) and the Pater-Damian- Grundschule (PDG) also belong. Each school belonging to this association has the Catholic sponsor with the name Episcopal Schools of the German-speaking Community (BSDG). At the beginning of March 2013 the school had 1150 students and 127 staff members (teachers, educators, administration). In 2000 Karl-Heinz Pluymen became the headmaster of the PDS. Since the beginning of the school year 2012/2013, this has been supported by the teacher Monika Mertens as assistant director. On October 1, 2016, Elmar Schlabertz succeeded Director Pluymen. The Pater Damian secondary school offers grades one to six (in Germany this corresponds to the seventh to twelfth grade) and is an all-day school with teaching units of 50 minutes each.

history

The building of the Pater Damian boys school was used as a hospital during the Second World War .

The Pater Damian secondary school emerged from the merger of two Catholic schools in Eupen in 1995: the Heidberg Institute and the Collège Patronné, the beginnings of which date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, respectively.

At that time, the idea of ​​merging the two schools was almost ten years old. The initiative came from the parents' council of the Collège Patronné back in the 1980s, which advocated a more mixed gender in their own school.

Gate entrance to the Pater Damian secondary school, in the historical building of the State Archives

Up until then, only boys followed classes at the Patronné College and only girls at the Heidberg Institute. The merged school should be open to both boys and girls and encourage mutual learning. The merger of both schools was discussed extensively and controversially, as some voices were against the merger.

With the wish for a coeducational school, one finally turned to the school authority , who ultimately had the power to make decisions. This spoke out in favor of the merger of the two schools. However, he attached certain conditions to this: The merged secondary school had to be located in one location. Primary school, kindergarten, special needs school then moved to Heidberg and also the Catholic École Normale, at which primary school teachers were trained in a two-year or three-year course, found a new place to stay for a short time under the new name of Pädagogische Hochschule Pater Damian before moving to the September 2005 merged with the Pedagogical University of the German-speaking Community and the Nursing School to form the Autonomous University in the DG (AHS) and left the campus. In addition, in addition to the human sciences department, a department in the technical area was to be set up so that every student was given the opportunity to adjust their timetable according to their own strengths and weaknesses. The opportunity to choose a subject was now taken immediately, so the philosophical subjects and communication lessons were also created at this point .

The actual merger finally took place in different phases: in 1995 the administrative merger took place, and in 1996 the pedagogical merger took place. Initially, only the boys and girls of the first year should be brought together. In the following year that of the second year and this should also be maintained for the older year. Ultimately, however, this project was only carried out with the first year, the other years were then brought together directly.

The school building of the former Collège Patronné, behind the Rehrmann-Fey house , which is located on the Kaperberg on the edge of downtown Eupen , was chosen as the location of the school . In addition, it was decided that Roger Wintgens (former director of the Heidberg Institute) should hold the office of director. The former director of the Collège Patronné (1993–1995), Karl-Heinz Pluymen, was placed at his side as sub-director. After the merger, the Father Damian Secondary School had 740 students. By way of comparison: three years earlier, just 320 pupils had attended classes at the Collège Patronné. Karl-Heinz Pluymen took over the position of director from 2000 to 2016, followed by Elmar Schlabertz in the same year.

Surname

The new name of the merged school came from a survey. This was initiated by the school management, as the school authority had asked for name suggestions for the merged school. Although there were several adequate suggestions, Father Damian finally prevailed. This was probably due to the fact that the name of the religious priest, who came from Tremelo in Flanders, was on everyone's lips at the time, as he was about to be beatified , but above all it fitted in with the school's intended program.

Educational work, equipment and offers

Inner life of Moses with host Johann Pitz

School restaurant, break stands and school pub Zum Moses

In the school restaurant called Damianstube , pupils and teachers have the opportunity to buy small dishes from Monday to Friday during the 10am break. In the one-hour 12 o'clock break, a lunch menu is also offered, where the student can choose between several warm dishes. The school also has several break stalls operated by groups of students. Here the student gets all kinds of snacks as well as hot and cold drinks.

The school pub called Zum Moses was run by Johann Pitz (a former Latin and Greek teacher who had worked at the school since 1956) and his team until 2012. During the 20-minute 10 o'clock break, the students had the opportunity to buy snacks or to warm up with a fresh soup during the 12 o'clock break. All income from the school pub went directly to the school (excursions, ...). The school bar Zum Moses is now run by some of the students as a mini-business.

Language offer

Since the city of Eupen is located in a mixed German / French language area, the Pater Damian secondary school is also bilingual and especially geared towards these two languages, which are taught as compulsory subjects and cannot be canceled.

In the first year of secondary school, the Latin language is also an integral part of the timetable as a so-called experimental offer, with two hours per week.

In the second year (in Germany equivalent to the eighth grade), the subject Latin can then be taken optionally. From the second year of secondary school, English is added as a compulsory foreign language. Up to the Abitur year, the English language remains part of the general education and can be increased from two hours per week to four from the third year onwards.

From the third year (equivalent to the ninth grade of the German school system) there is also the option of taking the foreign language Dutch , which can be attended either as a four-hour advanced course or as a two-hour course.

Special subjects

For the pupils in the first year of secondary school, a white hour with the respective class leader is planned every week . An hour in which there are no regular classes and the students have time for themselves. The white hour is supposed to simplify the orientation in the school and contribute to the solution of smaller or larger problems. Furthermore, the pupils should grow into a class community and be prepared for the coming years at the Pater Damian Secondary School with a distinctive method training .

In the fourth year of secondary school, all students are required to follow communication lessons for two hours a week. In this class, the students practice their oral expression and how they can present themselves positively in front of other people or even groups.

Immediately afterwards, in the fifth and sixth year, every student has to add a philosophical subject to their timetable. Here he has the choice between philosophy, philosophy of science , ancient cultures, mathematical activities and art history .

In the last two years before receiving the Abitur , so-called media subjects are also offered, which the student is obliged to choose. You can choose from the press , mini-companies , multimedia , film and video , theater as well as science and media . These subjects are designed to encourage students to use modern media. Towards the end of the high school graduation year, the results of two years of work can be assessed: The press group publishes a yearbook that describes the school years of high school graduates. Up until 2012, this group was also responsible for the publication of the school newspaper Aspects, which dealt with current events from around the world and internal school issues. The theater classes each perform plays in German and French. The mini-companies calculate the profit made by their various initiatives, for example from the break. Those who have attended the multimedia subject are now able to critically examine the modern media. The scientists look at the results of the GLOBE project , and the film and video students make a short film in which they apply the theory they have seen over two years.

Working in the media library

Media library

In the school's own media library , around 5000 media are available to students and teachers. When looking for information about the school itself or about many other areas of knowledge, the school librarian is available to assist the searcher in an advisory capacity.

Days of reflection, study trips and excursions

In the first year the school offers a student exchange with the city of Welkenraedt and in the second year a student exchange with the city of Arlon . In addition to these two exchange projects, there is also a fixed school trip schedule. In the third year, depending on the student's choice, he sees either a ski class trip to Hüttau or a cultural trip to Salzburg .

During the All Saints holiday, a trip to England for fourth year classes is organized by the school's parents' council. During the school year, there are three days of reflection for the fifth year students. Here the young people should have spiritual experiences and rediscover the church and themselves.

The highlight for the students are the one-week Abitur trips in the sixth year, with which the Abitur graduates go to Vienna or Barcelona . In addition, further excursions take place every year as part of numerous teaching projects.

Project working days

The so-called project working days take place annually over three school days at the beginning of May. At the beginning of the school year, the entire student body receives the project information. These inform each student about the course of the project days and explain the date by which project proposals can be submitted. From this point on, students, teachers, educators and parents are allowed to submit a project outline that should give an overview of the planned project and clearly define the goal of the project. This is then checked by the support team for sense and purpose.

All projects that are found to be useful are presented to the school community on the school's internal project market by the respective project managers, who can be both teachers and pupils. Finally, using a ballot paper, each student is asked to write down five project requests.

After each student has been assigned a project, project meetings take place in the individual groups with the aim of preparing the students intensively for the project days and making them aware of each other.

public relation

Support group and alumni association

The Collège Patronné already had its own alumni association , but it was dissolved in 2012.

On October 11, 2012, Colin Kraft and Michael Dujardin set up the Friends of Pater Damian Secondary School. This association has set itself two major goals as part of its work: First, it tries to maintain contacts between alumni and active members of the school community and at the same time wants to support the school financially.

The work of the sponsorship group especially provides for events that serve to maintain contact with alumni and to promote the current student body. Every fourth Sunday in March, a post-school graduation meeting is organized in the form of a special beer evening. Every third Sunday in October there is a morning pint or brunch for the anniversaries. For 30 euros per year, or 10 euros for students and trainees, every alumni has the opportunity to join the association and become a member, regardless of whether he is a graduate, teacher or director of the Collège Patronné, the Heidberg Institute or the Pater- Damian Middle School was.

Every high school graduate is also offered a one-year free membership after receiving the Abitur, with which he is automatically considered an affiliated member.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Association page ( Memento of the original from June 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bsdg-bsdg.be
  2. ^ BRF : New PDS director: Elmar Schlabertz relies on continuity
  3. ^ 80th birthday of Johann Pitz: A life practically only for his school

Web links