Head's Newsletter 8 February 2019

the late 1960s in East Germany, the viewing deck is 200m above Berlin and provides great views and despite being 50 years old, it is still one of the tallest structures in Europe. The Brandenburg gate and the Holocaust memorial were both full of historic meaning and providing us with plenty discussion material. A key part of the A-Level curriculum is the Oscar winning film “Das Leben der Anderen” ( “The Lives of Others”) and visiting the Stasimuseum on Friday gave us a lot additional

This year we extended the German Sixth Form trip to Berlin from 3 to 4 days, and for the first time both, Year 12 and Year 13 students, went together and this new format worked really well. Our schedule was packed and on the first day we went straight to the DDR-museum. where we engaged in an interactive exhibition showing us the reality of everyday life in former communist East Germany. As with so many other communist countries, East Germany referred to itself as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), in stark contrast to life explained at the museum. On day 2 we saw the Berlin Wall and the famous museums on the Museumsinsel. The highlight of the day was our late night tour of the Reichstag, the German parliament building. Our guide led us on an enthralling tour of the building, and we all agreed that the graffiti, left by Soviet soldiers after they stormed the building in May 1945, was the most memorable part of the tour.

information and a deeper insight into the secret police and their control over life in the GDR. The trip was a great success and all 13 students agreed that it has enriched their cultural knowledge.

Next morning, we took the bus to the Alexanderplatz and the TV-Tower. Built in