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Mission & Values
We are convinced that successful education can only be achieved by students, staff and parents building relationships of trust, valuing each other and co-operating with each other. We work in small learning groups and allow our teachers the freedom to teach effectively within these groups. Through these measures and additional support outside the classroom our students are able to achieve sustainable learning success.
Personality
Marienau is a UNESCO project school and is committed to the tradition of holistic personal development. Living and learning in the Marienau community is based on active co-determination and co-creation by all. It is in line with our tradition that the students gain autonomy, take responsibility and practise tolerance.
Courage
We trust and expect our students to do the best they possibly can. We provoke their interest and encourage them to expand their knowledge and form new perceptions of the world around them. We accompany them on their learning journey, both as guide and support, and enable individual learning pathways for all students. We create a learning space in which both people and objects are treated respectfully.
Culture
We believe cultural diversity is a synonym for enrichment. That’s why we love it that people of so many international backgrounds live and work at Marienau. Through our world-wide contacts, we promote other cultures and the awareness of one’s own identity. We live our values of human rights, environmental education and global development every day and that’s why we are proud to say we are a UNESCO school.
Positivity
We’ve always been able to offer a good quality of life and work here at Marienau and it’s one of our strengths that such a lot of students and staff stay here for so long and maintain a relationship with us over many years. The spacious forest and parkland surrounding the school along with the variety of building designs make Marienau unique. We base a large part of our approach to education on this wonderful, natural environment.
UNESCO Project schools
They can be found throughout Germany: around 300 UNESCO project schools. Marienau School is one of these schools in the network and is celebrating its 20th anniversary as a member this year. The UNESCO Associated Schools in Germany work closely together and benefit from the worldwide exchange with over 11,500 UNESCO Associated Schools in 182 countries.
UNESCO Associated Schools embed the goals and values of UNESCO in their school profiles and mission statements as well as in their everyday school life and pedagogical work. They are thus committed to peace, openness to the world and sustainable development. Marienau School regularly takes part in activities such as the network's regional conferences and organises the project week every second year under the motto of the UNESCO project schools. Our UNESCO representative is Ines Mercado.
School without racism - school with courage
Children and young people are active in the School without Racism - School with Courage network because it bothers them when people are insulted, bullied or even physically threatened because of the colour of their skin, their origin or their religion.
School without Racism - School with Courage is a project for all school members. It offers pupils and teachers the opportunity to play an active and positive role in shaping the climate at their school.
We see the label as a mandate, not an award. Over 4,000 schools belong to the network. They are attended by more than two million pupils. We are honoured that Yasmina Alaloui has taken on the sponsorship of Marienau School in this network.
Marienau has been a member of this network since 2023 and dedicated the 2023 project week to it under the motto: ‘Schule mit Courage -Wir packen's an!’ Since then, we had several events such as political talks, authors' readings and more to develop a comprehensive awareness of the issues of racism and discrimination.
We are able to offer a good learning environment for all individual students at Marienau through keeping the school community small and providing them with a clear daily structure. Progressive education provides the theoretical basis for our teaching.
We are always striving to improve the education and teaching we provide, at the same time as promoting the personal responsibility of the children and students. The adults at Marienau provide a role model for the children and we build solid relationships with the students to provide a foundation for all the education which takes place here. The community at Marienau is another pillar of support and helps provide a safe space for students to discuss fears and concerns. We are adamant that we educate and teach people, not students.
The Schule Marienau is a member of the Internate Vereinigung DIV (e.V), a coalition of well-known boarding schools from Germany and Switzerland. All members collaborate and confer regularly through different platforms, including live conferences. Co-operating with other boarding schools ensures the quality of, and provides a stimulus to, continuous improvement and development of our education and teaching.