The Don Bosco Schools in Vöcklabruck Austria Welcome! Here you can find... A picture tour through our school A typical day at our school Interview with Sr. Maria Maxwald, Mother Superior Interview with Sr. Maria Maul, head teacher of the BAKIP Interview with Mr. Hinterleitner, head teacher of the HLW Interview with Petra, our students’ representative These texts and photos have been created by the 2. HLW A class during their English lessons in February Enjoy!

That’s our school, come in and enjoy it!!

When you come in, a nun always sits in a room next to the front door. Here you can see Sister Irma.

In the wardrobes, you can take off your jacket and your shoes.

This is the locker room. You can keep your books there.

This is our “Mrs. Baker”. When you are hungry, go there and buy for example DRAGEE KEKSI!! Yummy…

There are many projects in our school. This is one of them: A buffet for poor kids in Rumania.

This is the teachers’ office. There, teachers can correct students’ books.

This our teachers’ cafeteria! They have much fun there, as you can see

In the seminar room, we can have discussions.

This is our library where you can borrow many interesting books.

This is a normal classroom. You can see pictures all around and it’s always fun there.

Physics/chemistry: This is where you can do experiments and make something explode *g*

This is Chris, he is from England and is the English assistant in our school. Here he is in the music-room at the piano. There is also a stereo-system.

This is the room of our secretary, Mrs. Speckbauer; she’s always there for you!

In our kitchens, we cook wonderful meals…most of the time...

...and the service is also great!

In this big kitchen, we cook the meals for students and teachers. Mrs Sevala always lends a helping hand.

This is Mr. Patry, our English teacher, he’s showing us now how to get a meal in our school-restaurant.

Here is the "Festsaal", where we have important meetings, hearings and shows.

This is our elevator. We are very proud of it! Do you have an elevator in your school?

These two kids are in the meditation room.

This is our little church. There, we celebrate Christmas, Easter, the Don Bosco Celebration and the end and beginning of a school year. It’s always silent there, so if you long for a little calm, go there.

In the externat, we drink hot chocolate with our friends, you can do your homework there, or simply play cards.

This is our gym, we have great fun in our physical-education-lessons. This is our gym, we have great fun in our physical-education-lessons. This is our gym, we have great fun in our physical-education-lessons.

This is one of our art rooms, we create wonderful things there.

There are many computers and with them, we learn word processing. There are also computers especially for students.

And last but not least, our telephone cell. Here, you can ring up somebody to take you home.

We hope you enjoy the tour and know our school a little better. Katharina Kienberger Catharina Raschke Sandra Humer Sarah Kathrein

One normal school day! (1) At 7:25 my bus drives off to school and it arrives at 7:40. Before the school bell rings, the pupils can get their books and things for the first lesson. If the bus arrives too late and the lesson starts, some teachers don’t allow you to get your things. So you must go the lesson without your books. In the first lesson we have nutrition. In this lesson we learn about healthy eating, vitamins and minerals. Today we learn about the nutrients “Lipids”. After nutrition, we have 5 minutes break to leave class, take our books and go to the second lesson. One 10 minutes break is after the third lesson. After the fifth, sixth and seventh lesson we don’t have any break. On a long school day we have one lesson of free time for lunch. In the second lesson the class is split up in two parts. Every group is in another room (we are also divided in Cooking, Art, Music and Design). We have English and the other group have French.

One normal school day! (2) In English we deal with topics like “school”, “India” and lots more. Today we are working on the topic “Windows on the world”. This includes for example TV news over the world. Next we have German. We write texts, talk about stories and read short texts from a book. In the fourth and the fifth lesson we have Business Studies. We read and learn about the national and international rights, then we have one lesson Physical Education. There we play basketball, football or other games. Then we have one lesson free time. We do the homework, study for tests or hang around and are bored. At last we have two lessons Physics. Here we learn about mass, weight and speed. In the five years we have year a different Science lesson every year. Now at 15:45 the school day ends. And I go home.

Interview with Sr. Maria Maxwald, Mother Superior (in 2005) of Vöcklabruck (1) For how long have you been the representative of the nuns in this school? I’ve been doing this job for 3 years, that is since the autumn Do you like your job? Of course, at the beginning it was a little bit difficult but now I do it and like it. There are committees at state level where you hear many interesting things, and where you can find help. When did you decide to become a nun? I was really determined to become a nun when I was 20. Did you go to this school yourself? Yes, I visited the school providing vocational education for economic jobs, which takes 3 years. Of course this school wasn’t the same as today. What has changed since then? The biggest change was in the use of computers for data processing. What can you tell us about the boarding school? There was boarding school from 1975 to 2003 and now there are only 5 pupils in it, among them 2 former pupils. There are also pupils from other schools, who live there for a short time.

Interview with Sr. Maria Maxwald, Mother Superior (in 2005) of Vöcklabruck (1) What’s the situation now with boys? For the next year, that is from September 2005, the possibility exists also for boys to visit all our school types. How many sisters live in this house and how many are responsible for the school? In the building there are 30 sisters and 5 work directly at the school. Which things do the other sisters have to do? There are many things they have to do for example: Sr. Berta is responsible for big kitchen, Sr. Hermine is our caretaker, Sr. Barbara is responsible for the cleaning staff, Sr. Irma is at the gate for telephone calls and welcomes visitors, Sr. Caroline works at the lounge, Sr. Gabriele looks after the laundry the school needs, eight sisters work at the station for people with illnesses, two sisters look after the others. Other sisters work for example in the garden. What about the kindergarten? Sometimes pupils from the BAKIP help there. Thank you for the interview! You are welcome!

Interview with Sr. Maria Maul, head teacher of the BAKIP, Vöcklabruck When did this school open the doors? It all began in the year 1958 in Linz (near the Voest – the largest steel factory in Austria) with a housekeeping school which had only one class. The school in Voecklabruck opened in 1975 with 3 classes for the HLW (HLW= School for Economic Jobs) and also the BAKIP (BAKIP= School for Kindergarten Teachers) How many pupils attend the BAKIP? There are now 180 pupils in the BAKIP. Which emphases are there? And which jobs can the alumni practise? Exactly there is no emphasis. It should have been one but then the government cut down the number of lessons, and so there was no chance to get one. There are two further trainings. “Horterzieherin” (supervisor at a day-care-center) and also “Früherzieherin” (teacher for 1-3 year old toddlers at a day-nursery). After they have passed the diploma they can work as a kindergarten teacher, “Horterzieherin” or “Früherzieherin”. But they can also visit colleges, universities or academies.

Do you like this job as a head teacher? Yes I like it a lot. Because I adore working with young people and can give them lots of help and support. Since when are you the headmaster of the BAKIP? Now, I’m the head teacher of the BAKIP already for the 6th year. So I started in Which tasks do you have as head teacher? First of all I have to do lots of conversations with teachers and pupils. Then I’m always involved in planning the school-development. I work together with the headmaster of the HLW, too, and I still teach religion for 8 hours a week. Greetings from Sr. Maria Maul to the associate schools: I’m very glad that I had the chance to send nice greetings to the other schools with this interview: And we are looking forward to collaborating with them. As we are going to have our Don Bosco celebration in a couple of days (31 January), I want to wish everybody a beautiful celebration. I also wish that we can remain full of the spirit of Don Bosco and be there for young people.

Interview with Mr. Hinterleitner, head teacher of the HLW, Vöcklabruck How do you like the job as the head teacher of the HLW? I like my work at this school very much because the cooperation with teachers and pupils is very pleasant. Since when are you the headmaster of the HLW? Since last school year (2003/2004). Which school branches can pupils choose from? At the Don Bosco School, there are fundamentally only two branches. On the one hand there is the BAKIP and on the other hand there is the HLW, which is subdivided in an one year Economy School, in a 3 year-long Vocational School for Economy (specializing in Health) and in a 5 year- long HLW (HLW= Vocational School for Economic Jobs). How many pupils are at this school? Altogether there are 550 pupils at the Don Bosco school in Vöcklabruck. 370 attend in the HLW and 180 the BAKIP

How many teachers work at the school? 70 teachers. What is the average age of the pupils? It’s about 17. What are your personal negative impressions of the school? My dislike is the parking ground situation. Especially on occasions like “Day of the Open Door”, where everyone can come and get an impression of the school! What are your hobbies? There are two things. My family and my music! Do you have some nice greetings to the other schools? I am happy that you are a part of the project and I am looking forward to working with you.

Interview with Petra, our students’ representative, Vöcklabruck What was the reason for you to become our students’ representative? Because everyone thought I would do it, and I thought it is very interesting so I tried it and made it. Do you like it? Yes, I do. I like this job very much! What are your tasks as our students’ representative? I am the contact between the class speakers and the headmaster. I get the information and give it to the class speakers and of course I am here if anyone of the class speakers needs me. How much time does your work take? It is not any a lot of time. But sometimes I am not in the lessons because I have to do something. Do other pupils also come to you with problems? No, not many. Most of the time the class speakers come to me. Can you tell us anything else that is interesting? It is funny but the most things are on Friday. And I have also got the most important subjects on Friday. That's not very good.

Would you go to this school again? Yes, I would. I wouldn't even know to which other school I should go to. And I am happy to be here because in another school I maybe wouldn’t become a students’ representative. Would you like to be students’ representative for another year? Perhaps, but I am not planning to. Do you know, what you are going to do after this school? I am not sure, but I think to do something in the direction of medicine, maybe a midwife or perhaps I will study theology or a language. What do you think about this school in general? I think it is very good school. It is a very general school. You have got the theoretical part like Business Studies and on the other hand you have also got practical things like cooking and home economics. When you have finished this school you have also passed the Matura (A-level) and you can go to university. Thank you for the interview.

The End.