We, Mr Wingerath's drama class, would like to invite you to our play, which will be performed on March the 14th at 6 pm in the auditorium of the Nelson Mandela School and on March the 15th at 11.30 am in „Die weiße Rose“. Our play is named after the gift of the same name "Wah-Du-Raa", which was presented to the NMS as part of a co-operation project between Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Kalpitiya. The "Wah Du Ran" dance project is being carried out in cooperation between the Nelson Mandela School and St Anne School, Thalawila, (Kalpitiya) Sri Lanka and the Education for Sustainable Development department of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district. "Wah Du Raa" is a dance theatre piece that seamlessly interweaves the principles of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The performance is inspired by the creative aesthetics of improvisational theatre, the dynamic and expressive dance style of so-called "German Dance" and the rich cultural heritage of traditional Kandyan dances from Sri Lanka.

From 28 January to 1 February 2024, 14 students from Years 11 and 13 of the Nelson Mandela School Berlin met 20 Polish students from Strzegom in Morawa, Poland.

On the first day, after we had settled into our beautiful and historic rooms, we got to know the students and teachers from Strzegom over coffee and cake. This was followed by lively games with the Polish group to get to know each other and break the ice. The visit to the Groß Rosen concentration camp the next day was one of the most moving moments of our trip. The students were guided through the exhibition and the grounds by Polish museum staff and, after a minute's silence, were given the opportunity to lay flowers for the countless victims of Nazi terror.

In the afternoon, the students were able to explore the town of Świdnica together for a few hours and then we travelled to Kreisau. There we were given a guided tour on the topic of "Resistance in the Nazi era" near the "Berghaus", the conspiratorial meeting place of the resistance fighters of the Kreisau Circle, including Helmut James Graf v. Moltke.

These are the last days for our students in Seville. On Monday they will be back at NMS! We are very much looking forward  hearing their stories!
Since the first exchange round with Seville was a success, the Spanish department is beginning to plan the second round!
Would you like to dive into the Spanish language and culture even more than just in your Spanish lessons?  
Are you ready to welcome an exchange student into your home for a period of 6 weeks?
Are you in year 9 or 10 next school year?
If yes, please contact your Spanish teacher or Ms. Velazquez directly!

This year's UNESCO project day took place on 01.02.2024. As part of 14 different workshops on the topics of anti-racism, anti-Semitism, colonialism, but also musical and dance-based discussions on the topic (Rhythm is life/ Voguing), the pupils were able to choose different workshops in advance according to their interests and attend them on the project day.
The day started with a joint assembly in the auditorium, which was accompanied by speeches from the school spokesperson Jasper and the organizer Ms. Wandtke. Principal Dr. Bauer gave opening remarks and former State Secretary Ms. Saraya Gomis sensitized the school community to racism in everyday life and how it can be countered. An explanatory video by Ufuq on the topic of discrimination enlightened the school community and set the mood for the day.
After a short break, the various workshops began and the respective groups dealt with the different topics in a very differentiated and critical way. They have led to a diverse discussion of current topics and hopefully broadened the students' horizons.
Franziska Wandtke/ 03.02.2024

This action was long overdue, but the initial spark was simply missing - on a Wednesday afternoon before the winter vacations 2024, the 12th grade Leistungskurs Art painted the girls' toilets on the first floor of the new building within two hours, covering up the graffiti on the walls and doors. The project was carried out on the students' own initiative as part of a self-learning phase, in which those students who had already made progress with their project work, spontaneously took up the paintbrush and paint roller. This toilet in shades of blue is a prototype - others are to follow. A pop art design is also to be applied to the blue background. After the Easter vacations, there will be a large painting campaign in which volunteers - led by the students in the Leistungskurs Art - can help to beautify other school toilets. The response from the pupils at least was very positive and they were amazed that after years of talking about it, such an impressive success for the community could be achieved in such a short space of time with a lot of fun and enthusiasm.

On 22 January 2024, Year 7 celebrated the annual ballad festival in the aula. Representatives of all German courses in Year 7 wowed the audience with entertaining and exciting productions of famous ballads such as "Der Knabe im Moor", "Die Golgräber" and "Seeräuber Jenny". This year, for the first time, particularly successful performances were awarded the Balladi, lovingly designed by the art department.

From 11.1. to 22.1.2024, nine students and a teacher from the Monterosa School in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia, visited Berlin and the Nelson Mandela School to deepen the partnership as part of the archiSCHOOL project. archiSCHOOL enables high school students from both schools to practice an intensive intercultural exchange through cooperative architectural projects, because it is about the joint conception of architectural planning, taking into account geographical, climatic, cultural and sustainable aspects. The Mongolian student group that visited our school in the week from January 15 to 19 has already worked online with different NMS student groups over the past two years. 

During their stay in Berlin, the Mongolian students took part in courses at the Jugendkunstschule (community art school), visited Berlin's sights, the New National Gallery, the Humboldt Forum and the Palais Populaire, they visited the Museum of Technology and the Spektrum, the Green Week, went shopping several times and attended the preIB lessons of the 11th grade and the Leistungskurs (12th grade). In a total of eight hours, they worked in small mixed groups to create innovative architectural plans for multi-generational houses in a location of their choice, visualized them and documented them on a joint website. The cooperation with the Mongolian students was beneficial in many respects, but in particular it broadened the horizon for many with regard to a country that is unknown to most and its very special social and cultural conditions. 

On December 1, 2023, I went with five students from the 7th, 9th and 11th grades to the annual state meeting of School without Racism - School with Courage.

After celebrating our 15th anniversary at the Festival of Nations a little late and introducing our "Pate" Lars Barragán de Luyz , we had the opportunity to attend several taster workshops. The program consisted of offers from various cooperation partners. The workshops dealt with cyberbullying, how we encounter discrimination, everyday racism in Germany and the historical background to the Middle East conflict. Art education methods were also included: how can I express my emotions with theater or on film? The activities were mainly aimed at pupils from Year 7 upwards and teachers. Active pupils at primary level who were interested and did not feel overwhelmed by more complex topics were also welcome.

The students of the advanced art course (Q1) have been working on staged photography in class and have created photo series based on an individually chosen sustainability goal that deal with the problems of humanity. Although the photos do not exceed the size of DIN A4, their expressiveness is impressive. In the catalog (only in German) accompanying the exhibition (only in German), the students explain their artistic concept and justify their choice of subject.

The photographs can be found in the new P30 building, on the first and second floors and in the stairwell in between.

Last Friday, November 24th 2023, more than 30 students from years 10 to 13 arrived at school at 20:00 PM and engaged in an exciting night solving math problems until 8:00 AM on Saturday. Here is a short graphic insight on our participation for the first time in the “Lange Nacht der Mathematik”! (link to https://www.mathenacht.de)

Welcome to an hour of best soothing entertainment in the dark season.

From November 8 to 12, 2023, 6 middle school students from years 8/9 and 9 upper school students from the IB13 Visual Arts course traveled to Morawa Castle in Lower Silesia, Poland, to work intensively on theater and art projects. The students met Polish peers from nearby Swidnica, with whom they worked as a team on their productions. This year, the theme of all the workshops was "A Different World". Under the direction of Bernard Szulc, who also organized the entire project trip to Poland, the middle school students from the NMS and the Polish partner school created small theater scenes that were performed at the end.