Einschulung

Pupils of Flex-A Class

These pictures were taken on Enzian and Ludwig's first day of formal school, grade 1, last August.

A traditional but special welcome performance was put up for them by all the children from the Grundschule (ground school). An invited speaker from the german embassy would then give a short speech on how his first-day/year of school in grade one went. After the headmaster concluded his welcoming speech, the children's names were called and each assigned a buddy, they left with their teachers to their classroom for a one-hour 'lesson', while their parents had coffee and snacks at the waiting area.

Enzian and Ludwig with their Schultüten.

Enzian carried a volcano-dinosaur-themed Schultüte (school cone) while Ludwig had a black-hole-planetary one, all designed by their mother ;), according to their wishes.

Inside their Schultüten were stationeries, chocolates, candies and toys. To me, the Schultüte tradition is a bitter-sweet thing; as Christophe says these sweet goodies marks the end of kindergarten and vorschule (pre-school) where having fun and playing dominate the curriculum, and formal schooling begins: the first-step into life. Because of this, parents would stuff as many goodies as the Schultüten could take for the start of their children's journey into the real world.