A warm and sunny welcome

Together with our volunteers Naomie and Moe, we have painted the classroom of the 'welcome class' at Berlin's Buchgraben primary school in a welcoming sunny yellow.

It is widely known how important a positive learning environment is for the success of young students. This is even more vital, if the students come from far-away countries and have to adapt to a new living situation after having had to flee their home country. For this reason, we have made the decision to paint the classroom at the Buchgraben primary school in Steglitz-Zehlendorf in happy colours that will hopefully make the students feel welcome.

In the so-called 'welcome class', students with no prior knowledge of German (mostly refugees) will be prepared for a regular school education in Germany. Ms Gräfe, the teacher of the welcome class, wanted to welcome her new students into an especially friendly and happy atmosphere, which is why she has asked us to help her paint the classroom and contribute to a productive learning environment. With our volunteers, professional painter Moe and office manager Naomie, we were able to transform the classroom in the matter of only a few hours.

Now the room is glowing in a friendly yellow and we hope that the children will feel more at home when arriving in the classroom on Monday. Ms Gräfe is convinced: "The classroom is now really bright, friendly and so inviting that I am sure the kids will feel at ease here and be able to achieve great things in this positive learning environement."

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Willkommensbündnis Steglitz for putting us in touch with the school and painting company Ekrot & Pawlak for providing us with the colours and other materials! A special thank you also goes out to our great volunteers, Naomie and Moe!