After a one-year hiatus, the BKCR could restart its Erasmus+ Internships abroad in the fall of 2021.

 

Since December 15, 2020, Ms. Birgit Becker is the BKCR's new headteacher.

 

Germany's federal government announced a nationwide lockdown due to the second wave of COVID-19. Fortunately, the BKCR is prepared and uses distance learning.

 

Due to adhering to a strict hygiene concept, the BKCR shows average infection rates - despite having full classes.

 

Due to the CoVid-19 pandemic, German punctuality had to wait.

 

With the end of February, the BKCR's headmaster Fred Nierhauve retired.

 

At  its "Stadtfest" (city party), Castrop-Rauxel also set signs for democracy - hundreds came.

 

Students of the BKCR fully anonymous in the middle of the pedestrian zone. This eerie event was a flashmob aimed at raising awareness for the European election.

 

Not long before the European elections, the BKCR invited representatives of all major parties to face our students' questions on European matters..

 

Thomas Aussieker was actually just cleaning up paperwork in a drawer, but then he stumbled upon a historic document: a report about his mother's class going to the Netherlands. The insightful report shows that already ten years after World War II, the BKCR took an active role in getting young people into contact across borders and letting the wounds of the war heal.

 

Doing a work placement not in Germany, but in Great Britain, Poland or Sweden. Once a year, the EU's ERASMUS+ program helps BKCR students studying to become nursery nurses and educators to do that. Meet our 2018 exchangees!

 

The BKCR's faculty of over 170 teachers is growing again, this time by seven new teachers. Five of them were temporary substitute teachers or teacher trainees here and decided to make the BKCR their permanent professional home. 

 

Slam on the brakes hard, test out the ESP, drive while distracted - fifteen brand new cars could be tried out by BKCR students, on an automobile club testing ground, guided by certified driving instructors - all in the name of young driver safety.

 

Making our school a place that has a lasting positive effect on our students' health - one of our goals. Now this endeavour has been rewarded by the award "Gute gesunde Schule" (Good healthy school).

Out of 173 contestants, also the BKCR has been chosen for exemplary health promotion.

 

The Traffic Safety Day provided the opportunity to test and expand you knowledge on traffic safety aspects - and sometimes also experience it in action! From running over bicyclists, cutting open a crashed car to helmet security, the BKCR had more than 40 activities, set up by students, automobile clubs, the fire brigade and the police.

 

Celebrity chef Stefan Marquard came to the BKCR to cook 150 lunch menus together with our students. A memorable and delicious highlight of the schoolyear. His visit was part of the Knappschaft insurance prevention project "Sterneküche macht Schule" (Gourmet cuisine catches on).

 

The BKCR has been awarded the "Talentscout-Siegel" award for counselling talented students to pursue a perhaps much more ambitious career. Especially students with an adverse background might not dare to follow ambitious goals - even if they are highly talented. This is where the talent scouts spring to action.

 

Due to the demographic change, the sector of health professions experiences a constant increase. In order to inform prospective students effectively, the BKCR organized an information day on health professions, helping students decide which career would suit them best. Aside from the courses the BKCR offers, dozens of other organizations presented career possibilities.

 

Eight vocational colleges of the Recklinghausen district joined forces to give students the best possible guidance to the trainings that suit them best. An effective transfer management is the core of this co-operation.

 

Four BKCR students had the opportunity of a two-week visit of Glasgow. Organized within the Erasmus+ program, this visit is the first of a newly instated exchange. The students gained valuable insights for their dual course in office management.

 

The Castrop-Rauxel chapter of the Lions Club awarded the BKCR 2,500 euros for its theatre project "Internationale Begegnungen" (International Encounters). The project brought together German students and students from the BKCR's refugee classes.

 

In September 2017, general elections were held in Germany. Shortly before, the BKCR hosted Castrop-Rauxel's only panel discussion with local politicians. Almost all of the major parties sent politicians to discuss current affairs and answer questions from our students.

 

In rocky times for the European Union, the BKCR staged its 2nd "Europe Day" promoting the spirit of Europe. Presentations, games and food were presented by our school's students. Also the BKCR's refugee classes contributed.

 

The BKCR was host to a group of Swedish guests from partner institutions in Borlänge, Sweden. These Swedish schools and also a nursing home have started their co-operation with us in 2015. The visit also provided interesting insights into working with refugees.

 

Sports in a wheelchair - that was the challenge every participating student had to face during a project day intiated by BKCR teachers Melanie Vieth and Maria Kokotin. The two students who always have to rely on a wheelchair could act as coaches and everybody agreed at the end of the day: "Nothing can stop us!"
 

 

Eleven days before North Rhine-Westphalia's 2017 state elections, six local candidates of the main political parties came to the BKCR to face questions of our students in a panel discussion. Topics covered in the BKCR's auditorium were the state of schools, inclusion of students with special needs, what politics can do for job training, the high unemployment rate and whether secondary school should end in 12th or 13th grade.

 

Franciscan monk Horst Langer was invited by religion class teacher Michael Trockel to introduce and discuss his way of living to BKCR students.

His visit proved insightful.

 

In the school year 2017/2018, the BKCR will launch a new course leading to Germany's university entrance qualification (Abitur), focused on the field of health studies. Even though it is a rather unique type of course in North Rhine-Westphalia, the enrollment numbers prove that it is in demand.

 

The BKCR is planning to kick off a project with Zonguldak University in Castrop-Rauxel's Turkish twin city.

This project would entail a student exchange, giving students of both institutions the opportunity to gain work experience in the respective other country.

 

On February 4, 2017, the BKCR opened its new self-learning centre with computer workstations, a library and rooms for group work.

This gives students the opportunity to work autonomously, e.g. also if a class had to be cancelled because the teacher became ill.

 

The German-Kurdish rapper KC Rebell topped the German charts with his album "Rebellution" in 2014 and has been a nationally established rapper ever since. Invited by a BKCR teacher, he stopped by and talked about his childhood as a refugee, extremism and ways to live together in peace. He also did a Q&A session with about 140 BKCR students, giving some good advice to a student who asked the classic question "What would you tell a newcomer rapper to do?" - "Stay in school and learn a trade."

 

Every four weeks, the BKCR hosts the "Intercultural Cooking" event, an informal opportunity to cook ethnic food together.

No matter if you're from Germany, Turkey, Palestine or Syria - the international language of cooking can be learned easily.

Along with more bits and pieces of German.

 

For the first time, four Swedish nursing trainees had the opportunity to do an internship at the "Evangelisches Krankenhaus" hospital in Castrop-Rauxel. In order to return the favor, BKCR students will have the opportunity to do an internship in Sweden.

 

At the sixth meeting of North Rhine-Westphalia's "Europaschule" schools, i.e. schools that excel in an international vision, in the State Parliament in Düsseldorf, the BKCR has been officially and ceremoniously joined the ranks of these "Europaschule" institutions.

 

In the wake of the high numbers of refugees coming to Germany, the BKCR establishes a class for young refugees in order to prepare them for job life in Germany.

 

Two projects at the BKCR won the school the title "Schule der Zukunft". The campaign - created by the Natur- und Umweltschutz-Akademie NRW (Nature and Environmental Protection Academy NRW) together with North Rhine-Westphalia's ministry of environment and ministry of school - awards this title to schools that educate for sustainability. Both a project at the school farm and a fair trade shop were acknowledged as exemplary.

 

The BKCR has started a co-operation between a Swedish school for adult education in Borlänge and the Evangelisches Krankenhaus hospital in Castrop-Rauxel.

Main point of this co-operation will be work placements abroad.

 

On June 6, 2014, numerous guests from politics and the school community celebrated the re-opening of building 6 after more than a year of remodeling.

 

A fter two years of radical renovation, the BKCR's building number 6 will be re-opened for business on April 28, 2014 boasting a state-of-the-art room concept facilitating self-organized and co-operative learning.

Following many months of planning and negotiations with the district, building number 6 - originally built in the 1970s and badly damaged by the windstorm "Kyrill" - started undergoing a massive remodeling in 2012. The BKCR took the opportunity to incorporate a state-of-the-art room concept for state-of-the-art learning concepts.

An official celebration with guests from politics and the school community is to be held on June 6, 2014.

 

The BKCR is going to introduce the new course "Certified service specialist"