Villa Wewersbusch

Villa Wewersbusch
	The Villa Wewersbusch
type of school	State-recognized supplementary school
founding	2011
place	Velbert-Langenberg
country	North Rhine-Westphalia
Country	Germany
Coordinates	51 ° 20 '29 " N , 7 ° 7' 58" E Coordinates: 51 ° 20 '29 " N , 7 ° 7' 58" E
carrier	Private
student	220
Teachers	20th
management	Florian Kesseler
Website	https://www.villawewersbusch.de/

The Villa Wewersbusch is a boarding and day school in private ownership in the village Velbert-Langenberg . The school, founded in 2011, is one of the most modern schools in Germany. The school stands for value-oriented education, the imparting of general knowledge and enrichment through future-oriented key qualifications. Modern technical learning equipment helps, such as equipping the students with tablet computers, especially the iPad , modern didactic methods and an innovative design of the learning environment.

history

The Villa Wewersbusch is a listed factory owner's villa in Velbert-Langenberg . Since its completion, it has changed its core task several times. From the country house, to a military hospital, to an educational facility after structural extensions, to today's boarding school and all-day school under private sponsorship today.

Origin of name and meaning

The name "Wewersbusch" comes from a farm located a few meters uphill from Villa Wewersbusch. This farm still exists today. There are ambiguities in the interpretation of the name “Wewersbusch”. The word "Wewer" comes from Middle Low German and describes the profession of the weaver . It was not until the 12th century that weaving developed into an independent professional group. The word “bush” refers to a small forest or similar vegetation.

The first years

The country house "Haus Wewersbusch" was built for the Langenberg silk manufacturer Walter Hoddick (1863-1929) and his wife Margareta Hoddick née Feldhoff (1879-1943) according to plans by the Hamburg architect Hugo Groothoff in 1910/1911. The move took place on March 12, 1912. The exterior of the large country house, built on an irregular floor plan, picks up on elements of the Bergisches Heimat style with its lattice windows, green shutters, gables, mansard roofs and white painted eaves. Inside, the stairwell, paneling, painted ceilings and inlaid doors from the construction period have been preserved.

Library and bay window in Villa Wewersbusch

During the First World War, the Hoddick couple set up a reserve hospital in the house. At the Niederbergischer Musikfest in 1939 Margarete Hoddick hosted numerous musicians as guests. After the death of Margaretha Hoddick on July 19, 1943, the Deutsche Reichspost acquired the property and the building retrospectively to July 19, 1943 for approx. 380,000 Reichsmarks from the community of heirs.

Second World War

In February 1945 Langenberg received the status of a hospital town as part of the Geneva Convention . As a result, in addition to the German military hospital in the Provincial Hospital (Bürgerhaus), the vocational school (Brucherschule), the Frohnberg School, the Oberschule and the Hordthaus, the Villa Wewersbusch was also converted to treat and care for the sick and wounded. The Langenberger Bürgerhaus remained a hospital until the early 1950s.

Deutsche Post training center

Initially intended as a residential and administrative building for the Langenberg broadcaster, the Villa Wewersbusch was used from 1952 as a training facility for the Düsseldorf Oberpostdirektion, mainly for training and further education. Between 1956 and 1958 the training center was expanded due to the growing need for education. Not only did the kitchen in the main house be expanded, but a two-storey longitudinal building (B-wing) and two spacious seminar rooms (auditorium) were built. At the beginning of the 1970s, the B-wing was expanded and the C-wing added. For this purpose, the auditorium was supplemented by a classroom and a hall. For this, the stairwell had to be expanded and the roof completely rebuilt. The last major renovation work under the contractor of the Post was carried out in 1998. The building was adapted to the requirements of a modern conference hotel, which have changed in the meantime.

Hotel operations

End of 2005, which sold German Post AG , the German Post Wohnen GmbH to Aurelius AG , a private equity -Gesellschaft based in Munich . However, only the hotel business was sold, the real estate continues to belong to the Post. Shortly after the transaction was completed, Aurelius renovation specialists took over the helm at Deutsche Post Wohnen. Your first steps were to rename the company to "GHOTEL hotel & living" in order to initiate the necessary realignment.

In April 2008 the US investor Lone Star bought the house together with around 1,300 other Post properties for around one billion euros. Only one month later, problems with fire protection prevented the planned Friends Hotel from reopening. Fire protection requirements set up by the city of Velbert were not met in 2006.

Boarding school

On April 1, 2012, the private all-day school Bergisches Internat acquired the approx. 20,000 m², park-like property including the now listed villa and adapted the building to current fire protection and boarding school requirements. The boarding school Villa Wewersbusch now has 20 school and classrooms and 60 boarding rooms on approx. 4000 m².

The school

School-without-Racism-Ranga-Yogeshwar-zu-Gast-an-der-Villa-Wewersbusch.jpg

Villa Wewersbusch is a private school and in its form a state-recognized supplementary school. Since it opened in the 2012 school year, it has offered a G9 school system, preparing for the Abitur after 13 school years. In addition to the Abitur, preparation is also provided for the secondary school leaving certificate after the 10th school year. The class size is on average 16 to 18 students. The students at Villa Wewersbusch wear school clothes in the school colors. In addition to a blue or white top, this includes dark trousers and dark shoes. Villa Wewersbusch has been the first school in Germany to receive the Apple Distinguished School award since 2016 . Since 2018 the school has carried the award School without Racism - School with Courage . The school was able to win the science journalist, author and physicist Ranga Yogeshwar as a sponsor for the project . The boarding school Villa Wewersbusch is a member of the private school association NRW.

Furnishing

Schoolchildren at Villa Wewersbusch are each equipped with a tablet computer . Every classroom is equipped with at least one whiteboard with a video projector and Apple TV . In addition, seating areas in and outside the building are freely available. Other learning environments are modern subject rooms for science and music. In addition, all furniture can be used flexibly. Height-adjustable chairs and movable tables, as well as a sofa, are part of the basic equipment of the classrooms. The school has its own large kitchen for daily school meals, as well as its own fleet of school buses.

Learning methods and teaching

The didactic concept of the teaching staff at Villa Wewersbusch is based on the SAMR model by Ruben Puentedura . The school's students are encouraged to find creative solutions to problems they have faced. The students at Villa Wewersbusch are encouraged to give lectures, record their own videos and podcasts in order to process the lesson content. The lessons are provided in courses on the iTunes U learning platform . This leads to a teaching model based on the rules of the flipped classroom , in which teacher-controlled teaching phases are replaced by joint practice phases in the school. The didactics of the school is particularly characterized by the use of digital technology in connection with flexible learning environments and small class sizes. In addition, native speakers, mostly students from England or Spain, are used as "teaching assistants" in language classes to provide support and consolidation.

The Villa Wewersbusch allows its students to help shape the timetable themselves. For this purpose, several additional courses are available from all subject areas, which the learners choose as elective subjects every six months. This "club" system has existed since the 2017 school year.

degrees

The Villa Wewersbusch prepares students for the secondary school leaving certificate after the 10th school year and the Abitur after the 13th school year as a conclusion. Both exams are conducted externally in public schools. Furthermore, several additional IT qualifications in the field of text, table and video editing can be obtained. Villa Wewersbusch is also qualified as an Apple Authorized Training Center for Education .

Partner schools

Sotogrande International School , Spain.

The boarding school

As a boarding school, the school benefits from the building's history. The former conference accommodation of Deutsche Post is located directly in the school building. These were completely renovated and expanded in 2011. Since 2012 the boarding school has consistently accommodated students of all ages. Flat-sharing communities outside of the school premises are available for upper school students.

Furnishing

The boarding school Villa Wewersbusch offers 100 boarding places. The students are accommodated in single, double and triple rooms, separated by gender. All rooms are equipped with shower, toilet and WiFi. A team of educators and educators looks after the boarding school students in the afternoons and on weekends. Leisure activities include various sports, such as golf, climbing, bouldering, horse riding, mountain biking or canoeing, as well as visits to theaters, cinemas or museums.

The Langenberg Christmas Market

The Langenberg Christmas market has been taking place on the grounds of Villa Wewersbusch since December 7, 2012. The Christmas market invites the people of the region to the Parl surrounding Villa Wewersbusch on the second weekend of December from Friday to Sunday. After the end of the Christmas market in Velbert in 2018, the Langenberg Christmas market is the only one in the region. The Langenberg Christmas market is actively carried out by the Villa Wewersbusch boarding school and enriched with program items on the stage (school band, plays).