Before May half-term, forty Year 5 children from St Edmund Campion Primary School in West Bridgford, ranging from nine to 10-years-old, took part in an adventurous five-day trip to Berlin. This was the school’s third visit to the German capital.
Apart from visiting sights such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag Building, GDR-museum, the Eastside Gallery and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, they also spent a day visiting their partner school, Grundschule am Königsgraben in Berlin-Lankwitz. The partnership was established in 2017, before St Edmund Campion School first organised a trip to Berlin. Participating children from both schools had been partnered up and had been exchanging letters before the trips. The anticipation was therefore high when they then met in person during the school’s visits.
St Edmund Campion School teaches German alongside French in upper Key Stage 2 and it was the love for Berlin of both the Headteacher Anita Blake and Languages Teacher Daniela Wilks, that initiated this truly memorable trip. Never had they dreamt, that what started as a tentative idea during a conversation in the school’s staff room, would lead to more than 50 children joining their first trip. For some children it was their first time abroad or travelling on a plane without their families, but the teachers were astonished as to how much the children’s confidence and resilience had grown as a result of this experience.
Angela Fenn, a parent at the school said: “Both my children have taken part in St Edmund Campion’s trips to Berlin – my daughter, Eleanor, in 2019 and now her younger brother, James, in 2023. It was a fantastic opportunity for the children to visit such an interesting and iconic city. Berlin has so much to offer and the teachers ensured that the children visited all the key sites as well as enjoying a really enriching day at a German school, meeting the children and experiencing the differences, as well as all the similarities, of a school in a different country. The whole trip was wonderful for their personal development, as well as developing their awareness of significant 20th century events, including World War 2, the Holocaust and the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall.”
One of the children, Ava W said: “I really enjoyed learning all about the history of Berlin and exploring all the beautiful sights. I especially loved going shopping and trying Currywurst”.
The Goethe Institute, a non-profit German cultural association, encouraging international cultural exchange, had provided an online workshop about Post WWII Germany and Berlin before the trip and an opportunity for a group of children to attend a German Day down in London.
St Edmund Campion School believes in making learning as authentic and enjoyable as possible and in providing the next generation with real experiences and the children will hopefully have memories which they will treasure as they grow up.
For more information about St Edmund Campion Primary School, please visit the website at: www.stedmundcampion.com.