Our “Hauptschule” is in Laggenbeck, a suburb of Ibbenbüren, which is a small town in Northrhine – Westphalia. We have a teaching staff of 28 and 235 students. Class sizes range between 21 and 28 students.

We have two breaks in the morning and an hour lunch break. The school kiosk offers snacks and hot meals from Mondays till Fridays. On Wednesdays, during the last term of the year, the kitchen is transformed into a restaurant where delicious meals, that includes soup and dessert, are served.

The school offers a wide range of activities and voluntary subjects. The teachers are enthusiastic and offer some fun activities during lunch or in the afternoons. We can choose from the following topics:

fitness clubdrawing and paintingsculpturemaking flying objects of paperschool bandcookingchoir.
After class 10 we all leave school. We can get two different leaving certificates (Grade A and B). For the Grade A students our school offers a very special and successful project called "learning in a firm" (LIB-Projekt). The students can enrol in the following topics: kitchen, home and garden, social services, furniture and management. The firm works for the school itself but also for private households. The project is of great benefit to our students who learn the first steps into the world of work.

After their final examination the Grade A students try to get an apprenticeship, which has become very difficult during the last two years in Germany. The Grade B students can also start vocational training but most of them go for further education. If they leave the school with a special qualification they can also get into Grammar schools and do A levels.

This text was written by class 10 B1 in May 2009. We have revised the former website text written during an e-mail project with a school in New Zealand. The present version has been edited by my friend John Plant.