The first week of school for the first-graders has started. At Stedelijk College in Eindhoven, some three hundred students began their first lesson. “I’m a little nervous, but not very. I’ve already seen my classmates once”.
Covering books in paper, packing bags and biking to school. It’s all part of it for them. Although it will take some time to get used to the new phone rule. It has to go in the bag provided before class starts.
The first books have already been picked up and, in some cases, covered in paper, because that is necessary before classes begin. “I had my mom do it, because I didn’t know how to do it”, one girl says. “I’m going to have my dad do it, because I have no idea where to start and I didn’t have time for it anyway”, another classmate reveals.
Still they have a week. The students will first get explanations and a tour of the school to know where everything is. And that will be difficult without a phone in their pocket, according to the teachers. “One phone per group is allowed. The other mobiles stay in the designated pockets. You don’t have any distractions either, because we require the phones to be on silent”, supervisor Myrthe Verheijen informs.
Phone-free week
No longer having the phone in hand in class is something many people have to get used to, but at Stedelijk College they want to take it one step further this school year. “In the fall, we want to have a phone-free week. The kids then have to put their phones in a locker or at least put them away when they’re at school, and we’re going to keep that up for a week”, programme director Erna Brummel explained.
“We just want to see how this goes. We obviously have the phone bags in the classes, but this is going to take it a step further. We’re going to see what comes out of this experiment”.
Teachers
Before that happens, the students must first get to know their teachers and mentors. And for them, too, it will take some getting used to. “The biggest challenge is remembering the kids’ names. I always give myself a week for that, but I find that I’m pretty far along after just one day”, mentor Peggy van den Dungen explains.
“Remembering the names is one thing, but then you also have to learn to pronounce the names. I find that the hardest part of everything we have to do in the first few weeks”, Verheijen adds.
Fortunately, they still have some time, because next week it will really start and the students will start receiving lessons according to the schedule.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
