State Award to Jules Verne Elementary and Grammar School for Innovative and Creative Approaches to Addressing the Corona Crisis

We got exciting post today from the Ministry of Education—fantastic news that we’re proud to share with you:

The JVC Elementary School and Grammar School received an award for Submission of a Successful Project Showcasing Innovative and Creative Approaches to Addressing Corona Restrictions in Schools by Prof. Dr. Michael Piazolo, the Bavarian State Minister for Education (please see the attached)! Both schools were not only recognized for their excellence, but they were also awarded 1000 EUR per school in prize money. We will decide soon how we’ll put the additional budget to good use in the learning house and as a thank you for our team.

Our submission entitled "Virtual Learning House and Freshbox" consisted of a summary of all the actions taken by the JVC during the Corona crisis, which you can also read about in various blogs on our website. THANK YOU to all the team members whose dedication and passionate commitment made these projects possible! A huge thank you also goes to you as parents; without your patience, constructive criticism and support in the continuous improvement of our approach, all our success would not have been possible!

As part of our "Virtual Learning House" project, we were able to switch classes to online teaching via Microsoft Teams within a few weeks. Those who did not have a laptop/Ipad available for this purpose were able to borrow one through the learning house. The online lessons were supplemented with exercises, virtual whiteboards, art and music lessons, physical education, and online coaching (see https://www.jules-verne-campus.de/en/quick-links/blog_overview/virtuelles-lernhaus-in-zeiten-von-corona-version-2.0.html and https://www.jules-verne-campus.de/en/quick-links/blog_overview/best-practice-during-the-corona-crisis.html as well as https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/industry-blog/de-de/education/2021/04/14/best-practice-in-corona-zeiten-jules-verne-campus-munchen/). In order not to lose touch with our school family and prevent partial layoffs for our bus and Oasis teams during the school closures, we delivered food packages, our beloved JVC FreshBox, to all school families' homes during the lockdown periods – complete with recipes and friendly greetings from JVC (https://www.jules-verne-campus.de/en/quick-links/blog_overview/freshbox.html). We received greetings as well, in the form of letters, pictures of cooked meals, or painted Wishing Stones lined up in a long row in place of our JVC children running around Campus (https://www.jules-verne-campus.de/en/quick-links/blog_overview/wishing-stones-at-jvc-during-the-corona-crisis.html). Finally, the survey of JVC’s handling of the crisis resulted in excellent ratings from our parents and learning partners: https://www.jules-verne-campus.de/en/quick-links/blog_overview/exceptional-results-of-the-general-jvc-parents-surveys-and-learning-partners-survey-on-distance-learning-2021.html.

Sebastian from the Elementary School remembers his Corona time at the JVC like this: "Suddenly, when we could no longer go to the learning house during the homeschooling time, JVC had a super quick plan lined up. On Mondays, MS Teams meetings started with a fun joke and storytelling session, followed by well-structured learning inputs with assignments with our individual weekly plans. I thought it was great that the learning guides were regularly available via MS Teams."

Maike attended Grammar School during this time: "We didn't miss a single subject or any material. We saw our learning guides and classmates online every day... Also, you could borrow an iPad from the school. JVC even delivered a Freshbox home two days a week with varied recipes and fresh ingredients."

All together, these innovative projects were a true recipe for success, providing the best possible offers for our learning partners during a very difficult time. The solidarity, strength, and confidence we gained during the Corona crisis is something that we will take with us on your journey into the future-as we face yet another challenge, brighter days, or the exciting unknown.