Goals and Content of our Work & Travel Program

We are of the opinion, that the development of children and young people’s identity is significantly supported by personal and shared experiences, challenging tasks and practical work both inside and outside of school. We have developed the “Work & Travel” program for our students in Years 5-10 which offers active career orientated experience, giving them a foundation for life after school. This program will help adolescents to cope progressively with their own personal challenges, will strengthen their courage and self-belief and pave the way for a fulfilling career path built around their own ideas and future plans.

In order to prepare the students for their future career and life plans in the modern working world and to support them when deciding on the correct route in education, the “Work & Travel” Program offers the following:

• • Excursions to introduce interesting professions in Berlin and the surrounding area in groups of max. 12 students in Year 5
  • Job Fair – companies, cooperation partners or parents present different, interesting job profiles in Year 6.
  • In Year 7: Komm-auf-Tour for career orientation and Job Shadowing – Students observe an employed person one day at work
  • In Year 8: Visit to a company for career orientation and Job Shadowing – Students observe an employed person one day at work
  • In Years 9 and 10: two-week internship in a company or institution to gain first experiences of professional and working life, to play an active role in an existing team and to act independently in a new environment. And a visit of the vocational and internship fair “vocatium” or similar events, and offer active career guidance in order to accompany our young people in the best possible way in choosing their further educational path.
  • In the upper secondary level, we continue the study and career guidance by offering counselling sessions at school and pointing out career and study fairs that can be visited individually.

From Year 7 onwards, the “Work” activities are prepared and followed up in WAT (business, work, technology) lessons.

Travel is educational and not only broadens the horizons but also encourages independence, autonomy and organisational skills. Our students undertake special class trips and work together in their preparation and organisation starting from Year 5:

• In Years 5 and 7, we undertake a 3-5 day adventure based, educational class trip in the countryside. This encourages team building, and allows the students to experience the advantages of teamwork, do sports together, learn about nature and learn more about themselves while simply having fun.
• The 6th grades go on a joint class trip in preparation for the class mix in secondary school.
• A one-week vocational trip with a focus on agriculture, environment, biodiversity, resources, climate change and sustainability awaits our secondary school students in Year 8. They need to get hands-on!
• To strengthen our third foreign language Spanish, there will be a week-long exchange program after successful application with our partner school “IES Pedro de Tolosa”, located in the town of San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Madrid in Spain. Our students will stay with guest families and the Spanish students will then stay with the families of our students during the return visit. With our support, the 9th graders will plan and organise the program for our Spanish guests here in Berlin. In doing so, they learn intercultural communication and travel planning as well as getting to know new people from Europe, their families and their lifestyles. In preparation for this classtrip and for communication between the students, they set up their own blog in English and Spanish lessons.
• The Year 10 students go on a trip focussing on Europe to celebrate their joint school-leaving certificate (MSA). It is important to us that the students organise this trip according to their own wishes. They take care of the financing of this trip themselves and practise fundraising.
• In Year 11, we are planning a 3 to 5-day class trip to the UK or within Germany focussing on the environment and culture. We are still developing our Work & Travel program for Years 12 and 13. It will continue to develop as our year groups grow up to the Abitur and will also be based on the ideas and wishes of our school community.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is a non-formal education programme that has been supporting young people around the world in their personal development for over 60 years. The programme motivates teenagers and young adults to volunteer in their free time, to be active in sports, to discover special skills and talents and to undertake challenging expeditions. Experiences of self-efficacy and recognition promote self-confidence, resilience, teamwork and other future skills. Participation in Duke equips young people for a participatory and fulfilling life. From this school year 2023/24, we will be participating with our students in Years 9 and 10. More information can be found here.

We provide our students with the attention and support they need during the phase of their life where they become adults and give them the skills needed to lead an independent and full life. We encourage their interests and develop their strengths and skills so that they can use them for themselves. The “Work & Travel” program, with its diverse experiences and educational and career oriented travel gives your child the necessary tools for a successful start in their own career as well as their first experiences in the working world.