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Subjects in Lower Secondary
Social Learning
A special feature at GSO is the subject “Social Learning” (Sole), which is firmly embedded in the timetable and is overseen by the School Social Work department. In years 5–8, the subject content is taught by the social pedagogy specialist who works as part of the class team—initially for three lessons per week, later for two. The classes have their own rooms for this, whose equipment invites play and group activities. In Social Learning, the focus is on personal development and engaging with the class as a group. The specific challenges and needs of each class are given particular attention.
Topics in Social Learning include, among other things, building a class community, exploring one’s own neighbourhood, career guidance, conflict resolution, and anti-(cyber-)bullying projects. We also work on addiction prevention, explore out-of-school learning venues, learn to take responsibility, and show civic courage.
Free play to slow down the school day and personal conversations are also important elements of Social Learning.
German
German lessons in lower secondary aim to develop the language skills and literary competences needed to understand and produce different forms of literature. The focus is on spelling and grammar, reading comprehension, text production—including digital products such as podcasts—and communication. The multilingualism of our students is also used as a resource. Using differentiated methods, students also develop action, judgement and social skills through working with non-fiction texts, literary works such as fairy tales, novels and poems, as well as digital media.
For years, we have established our “Lesen mit Biss” programme and writing development in Years 5 and 6 as fixed creative learning methods. A highlight in Year 6 is the annual reading-aloud competition, where children from all classes in the year group can compete in a wonderful event. For older students from Year 8 onwards, we offer the “Jugend debattiert” format. Here, rhetoric is trained within a fixed format: arguing, debating, persuading.
Mathematics
Maths can be fun! In maths lessons, we revise the basics learned in primary school in a playful, problem- and application-oriented way and gradually expand them. The “Mathe sicher können” project supports us from Year 5 onwards. We work on topics such as mental arithmetic, numbers and rules, fractions, geometry, percentages, the rule of three, interest calculations, and much more. At GSO, maths is brought to life!
Students particularly enjoy the mental arithmetic competition in Year 5 and the “Kangaroo” competition, in which many millions of children worldwide take part.
Foreign Languages
Hello and welcome! – English as a global language
Foreign language skills are an important foundation for international exchange and dialogue in our globalised world. English plays an outstanding role in this. From Year 5 onwards, our students are taught at three differentiated levels, and from Year 7 onwards at two. This enables us to support all children and young people individually, develop key competences, and prepare them for the final examination in Year 10.
We enable them to communicate confidently in the foreign language in everyday situations, both orally and in writing, to gain intercultural experience and develop an understanding of other culture-specific ways of life, and to establish international contacts.
Our English lessons develop the competences of listening comprehension, speaking, reading comprehension, mediation and text production (writing). We teach competences and strategies that students need to understand texts and media. They learn to present themselves and the results of their own work, to review and reflect on their own learning progress, and to continue expanding their language skills.
In lower secondary, students can take part in various competitions, complete comparative competence assessments in Years 6 and 8, and demonstrate their oral language skills in Year 9 in the so-called Language Village.
Salut! – French
In Year 6, children can choose between French or Spanish as their second foreign language.
To strengthen Franco-German friendship and as an important official language of the EU, French still plays an important role today. At GSO, students can learn the language in a playful, action-oriented way in real-life situations. Vocabulary and phrases, role plays and dialogues about everyday situations—such as visiting a restaurant or meeting French teenagers—are linked with cultural studies topics about France and themes such as music and social media. We work with reading texts and set books and enable our students to prove themselves orally in everyday situations in Year 8 in our so-called Language Village and to take the official DELF language exam at level A2 or B1 in Year 9.
Bienvenidos! – Spanish
Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. This foreign language gives us access to Spain as an important EU country and to a large part of the American continent.
The aim of our Spanish lessons is to enable students, through action-oriented and playful learning, to master real-life situations communicatively. Useful vocabulary for everyday situations, cultural studies topics on Spain and Latin America, music, social media and youth language play a central role in lessons. Intercultural learning is deliberately promoted.
As in French, students take a playful oral exam in our Language Village in Year 9. In Year 10, they also have the opportunity to obtain an official proof of their language skills at level A2 or B1 by taking the DELE exam.
Arts
Performing Arts
Theatre, theatre—the curtain rises!
Drama (theatre) has a long tradition at GSO. In our large theatre hall, courses from Year 5 through to upper secondary develop their own productions, which are performed within the school and also outside GSO.
Body and voice are trained; roles are invented and performed. The aim is to express oneself through facial expressions, gestures and voice, to try things out playfully, to improvise, and in doing so to discover oneself and one’s own abilities. Drama is an important means of expression, especially for students in preparatory classes who do not yet have a strong command of German at first.
Art
In lower secondary art lessons, the joy of creative work is at the centre. The basis for this is understanding, shaping and consciously applying the “language of images”. Students learn to develop their own ideas and implement them creatively. Great importance is placed on working with a wide range of materials and techniques—from drawing, painting, printmaking and photography to three-dimensional design. They also get to know well-known works of art, as well as comics and everyday design.
Students are encouraged to try new things, experiment, and take their own unusual paths. Art is understood as a process in which it is not only the finished result that matters, but also the journey to get there. In this way, perception, expressive ability and self-confidence are promoted equally.
A special highlight is our exhibitions: here, students present their own artworks. We also work with external partners and are well connected in the local area.
This brings art to life and makes it tangible for everyone.
Music
In close cooperation with the Bremen Music School, the Zukunftslabor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the support association arco Bremen Osterholz e.V., our students receive a comprehensive musical education in music.
We enable our students to take part in many concerts and projects, especially in our music profile classes, but also as part of two lessons per week in Years 5–10.
With support from parents, our classes perform at school concerts and at concerts in public spaces in and around Bremen. Even small concert trips are undertaken. We also provide musical accompaniment for the school enrolment and graduation ceremonies, exhibition openings of the Art department, the Christmas and summer concerts, the arco concerts, the open day, and especially the projects with the Zukunftslabor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
Musicians from the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie visit some classes as mentors during lessons and support the subject teachers. Classes regularly attend orchestra rehearsals and gain a unique insight into the professional world of musicians.
A particular focus is on linking music with other artistic areas such as theatre and visual arts. For theatre projects, for example, classes create soundscapes, compose their own pieces, or accompany scenes with suitable musical motifs.
Sciences
In science lessons, natural, everyday and socially relevant phenomena are examined closely in Years 5 to 8. They are consciously perceived, described and explained from an investigative perspective. In Years 6 and 7, cross-curricular projects on the topics of water and climate change, as well as related excursions, take place. In Years 9 and 10, the scientific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics are taught in a differentiated way and, where appropriate, in blocks. Biology, in particular, is taught with performance differentiation.
Society/Politics
Society and Politics is a subject that enables students to understand their own lives, classify social developments and reflect critically on political contexts.
Lessons combine historical, geographical and socio-political perspectives, providing access to key questions of our time.
Learners engage with topics such as living together, democracy, human rights, sustainability, Europe, globalisation and international politics. This is not only about knowledge, but also about orientation, judgement and the ability to take responsibility. The aim is to strengthen young people so that they can actively, knowledgeably and democratically help shape their lives, their school and their society.
To achieve these goals, in Year 5 we begin, among other things, with the geographical topic of “Bremen”. In Years 7 and 8, for example, the Middle Ages are covered. In Years 9 and 10, the focus is primarily on imperialism, the world wars, National Socialism, Germany after 1945, globalisation, Europe, social issues and international politics.
Work – Technology – Business
The subject Work – Technology – Business offers our students a real-life, practice-oriented approach to important areas of our modern world. The focus is on practical work: through their own—often playful—planning, designing and trying things out, students experience the impact of their actions directly.
The professional and committed support provided by teachers, as well as a respectful approach, create a learning atmosphere in which individual strengths are encouraged and self-confidence is built. Mistakes are understood as learning opportunities.
Through practical work, students develop manual skills, perseverance and problem-solving competence. At the same time, they acquire everyday skills that they can also apply at home and gain insights into technical and economic contexts.
In this way, the subject makes a particular contribution to strengthening students with a view to the future and enabling them to shape their further life and career path with confidence.
Sports
As a movement-based subject, PE makes an important contribution to the holistic personal development of our students through movement, play and sport. In addition to the sports profile class, GSO’s sports concept provides for regular PE lessons of three hours per week from Year 5 onwards. Various sports are practised here. In each year group, there is also a tournament for all students in the year group—from dodgeball in Year 5, to “Völkerball”, floorball, basketball and football, through to volleyball in Year 10.
Sporting events, such as the GSO Run and the sports day, are fixed annual highlights at our school. There is also a ski and snowboard week in the Alps as an extracurricular offer for Years 8 to 10.
Particularly high-performing students have the opportunity each year to take part in the nationwide sports competition “Jugend trainiert für Olympia”. We focus on gymnastics, badminton, judo, athletics and football.