Group photo at King's College Frankfurt
[16 May] I was looking forward to visiting today's school not only because I was assigned to officially write about this school for the post-trip publication for Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council (DSSSC), but also that my own secondary school bore the same name – King's College.
My Alma Mater is of course a reputable government school in Hong Kong, not affiliated with this King's College in Frankfurt. And in fact, even though they call themselves “The British School of Frankfurt”, they are not related to the UK government. This is simply a new branch of school under the King's Group, run by a group of British people.
Their Head Teacher Ms Sharp had a very passionate and charming speech introducing to us about the governing body and their achievements in the last 50 years in other countries. But unfortunately her words could not be supported by current evidence in this Frankfurt-based school because they only came into existence in August 2018. The school was designed to have a capacity of 600 students, yet now their current number of students is 40. Their staff said that it would take 5-8 years for them to fill up the remaining places, if it could possibly be done at all. So, we probably came a bit too early today.
My Alma Mater is of course a reputable government school in Hong Kong, not affiliated with this King's College in Frankfurt. And in fact, even though they call themselves “The British School of Frankfurt”, they are not related to the UK government. This is simply a new branch of school under the King's Group, run by a group of British people.
Their Head Teacher Ms Sharp had a very passionate and charming speech introducing to us about the governing body and their achievements in the last 50 years in other countries. But unfortunately her words could not be supported by current evidence in this Frankfurt-based school because they only came into existence in August 2018. The school was designed to have a capacity of 600 students, yet now their current number of students is 40. Their staff said that it would take 5-8 years for them to fill up the remaining places, if it could possibly be done at all. So, we probably came a bit too early today.
 | Despite of their seemingly unreadiness to become a model school for us to learn from, we had some funny interaction with their young children, whose parents were mainly people staying in Frankfurt for a short term for work. Here, Mrs Lam pranked a boy with dirt! Ha! Just kidding... She was half frightened by the dust on the boy's shirt and what he was holding! Can you believe it? The kids were playing with wheat flour! |
 | Mrs Lam represented the DSSSC to present a gift flag to Ms Sharp, the Head Teacher of King's College Frankfurt. Ms Sharp got emotional when she got hold of the flag. Was the flag that heavy or burning hot? No, she yelled with joy seeing the Chinese characters on the flag. She said they looked stunningly beautiful! |
 | The campus of King's College Frankfurt was not particularly large compared to the other schools we visited in this trip, and their rooms were yet to be fully furnished or decorated. We believed that as they grew, they would be able to enrich their teaching and learning environment for their children. And we sincerely hope that it would happen. |
 | Real learning can sometimes get dirty. I agree with that. Not to mention that most students in this school are below 7. These washing machines had great responsibility to keep students' uniform clean after they have played with mud, paint, and flour. |
 | No fancy buildings, no colourful walls, King's College Frankfurt was still in its developing stage and all plans were waiting to be implemented. The lonely blackboard at a bare corner of the school told us something about the simple layout of the school, as well as their striving for NOT becoming a Christmas-tree-school – over-decorated without much substance. However, the school looked to me “under-decorated” too. |
It seemed to be a happy accident for us that we were arranged to visit a school which was not fully prepared for visitors looking for professional exchanges on teaching and learning with solid local examples. Thinking positively, we still saw a new school and appreciated what we were offered, however limited their resources and experience at the present were. But it will be a long way till they have got enough pupils to make the school fully functioning. At this moment, we could only give them our best wishes for their future growth.
Just one question today for those who has an artistic and architectural mind:
1. The above are some common buildings in Frankfurt that we observed. Can you briefly describe this particular German architectural style?
Tomorrow will be our final working day in Germany before leaving for home. We will visit a university. I hope it will give us a satisfying morning. Write you again soon!
Dr H C Lee
1. The above are some common buildings in Frankfurt that we observed. Can you briefly describe this particular German architectural style?
Tomorrow will be our final working day in Germany before leaving for home. We will visit a university. I hope it will give us a satisfying morning. Write you again soon!
Dr H C Lee
