Welcome to

Eichendorffschule Hannover

Since more than 30 years the "Eichendorffschule" is a catholic day care centre and primary school with pre-school and preparatory classes under the administration of the city of Hannover. Today the school has more than 420 inscribed students.
The Eichendorffschule has been developed out of a catholic public school which was founded in 1908/1909, closed in the time of the Nazi-dictatorship in 1938, re-established in 1958.
During the first German reform movement in educational systems the school has been changed in its structure. Since 1969 it received a social education fundament, was declared a model school , and became a regular day care center and primary school ("Ganztags-Grundschule" ) in 1977.
Experiences in a steady effort to further develop the school model, together with parents, led to a so-called partially open model : On the one side there is a definite program to establish the afternoon schedule from year to year more fully, up to the maximum system of 4 afternoons. On the other side there are voluntary programs for a further approach to day care with home work included over the whole week starting from the 1st year of schooling. Both aspects make up the schedule for the pupils.
A great number of pupils come from socially depressed areas in Hannover, mostly from Linden / Limmer (about 45 - 50 %) and from Mühlenberg. Some 35 % of the pupils come from one-parent families. The portion of catholic immigrant children, some of German origin is rather high (in the average more than 30 % of the whole group of students). Last time we were able to count 20 nationalities.
The school is striving to use its multicultural potential. Through an integration of the main mother languages (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Greek), different initiatives to early language learning (English, French, Spanish) and multicultural projects - and through a specific way of dealing with each other - we hope to be able to contribute to a multicultural image of the school.
The "Eichendorffschule" is a catholic reform school of own profile which tries to meet the societal challenges of today by practical educational answers. It wants to frame a wholistic centre for learning and living - together with the children, their parents, educators of all kind, the city and region community; it will work on the integration of children with different social, national, and cultural backgrounds as well as various chances for learning and living.
The "Eichendorffschule" wants to have an impact on its surroundings as a "school without walls".

Stand: 2002