What is Flex? Flex is short for Flexible Einschulungsphase (Flexible Entry Phase) or Schulanfangsphase. In Flex classes, the children of 1st and 2nd class are taught together.
The children in a Flex group range between the ages of 5 and 8. Central to the Flex concept is the recognition of the different learning needs of our pupils. The individualized learning in a Flex class means that not all children work on the same task at the same time. They learn to work with their materials independently and to learn from each other.
Flex classes are not explicitly divided into ‘first class’ and ‘second class’ children. Instead, the children follow an individual learning path. A ‘first class’ child could, for example, work on second class tasks in English while still adding and subtracting to 10 in Maths. Children who are mature and very strong academically can achieve the Flex goals in one year while children who learn more slowly can spend three years in Flex without having to ‘repeat’ a year.
There are six Flex groups (A-F) at the Nelson Mandela School with a maximum of 26 pupils each (ideally, 14 English mother-tongue and 12 German mother-tongue pupils). Each group is taught and looked after by a teaching team (German-/English-speaking) and an educator. The 12 teachers and six educators work closely with each other and meet regularly to develop and improve the Flex concept further.