It was almost like a second first day at school. After weeks of distance learning, the primary school of the European School Munich reopened its doors on 18 May. The first group of pupils from P1 and P5 returned to the school. Since yesterday, the second group has also been coming back to school. The two groups alternate weekly - one week of face-to-face teaching, one week of digital distance learning. Some students were excited to see their classmates and the teacher again, others were still a bit scared to return and needed some encouragement. All came equipped with masks. The ESM team was well prepared and had marked the paths with cones, ribbons and lines on the ground to make it easier to keep the distance. A welcoming committee gave the children additional orientation. Despite the excitement the children were very disciplined: Everyone followed the rules of hygiene and it was very quiet in the school building. Primary school director Alexia Giannakopoulou thanked the primary school team for their intensive commitment and praised the effectiveness and high standards of implementation.
Despite contact restrictions, the SMiLe team can be reached by children and teachers on call. The children can let the team call them via their teachers and talk at a specially set up table in the hallway. Parents can also contact the SMiLe team by phone or email to arrange a meeting for their child. On the first day of school the team visited all open classes in the school building.
Since Monday, May 25th, the preschool children have also been visiting the kindergarten again. The opening of the kindergarten was very successfully carried out by Lisa Melessaccio and the kindergarten team. The ESM team is also already working hard to ensure that classes P2, P3 and P4 will be able to visit the school again in small groups from June.