About us

For over 30 years, our school has developed into a centre for various activities where disabled children and young people feel accepted and receive support for their future lives. The parents' and teachers' consideration of a school name that reflects the type of school and the special characteristics of the student body was the deciding factor in choosing the appropriate name "Lebensweg" (Life Path).
The school name reflects the principles and objectives of the school's educational work in cooperation with parents and the public. The "Lebensweg" special school is a special school with a focus on intellectual development. Our school has its origins in the day and weekly care centre of the child neuropsychiatric clinic of the district hospital in Bernburg.
The transfer of the rehabilitation education facility from the health sector to the education sector and its reorganisation took place on 1 January 1991.

Learning from life for a self-determined life

Guiding principles

• The basic consensus at our school is to support and challenge pupils according to their abilities in a climate of security. It is therefore the educational mission of the school to orientate itself towards the individual pupil and to build on their abilities, skills, needs and learning prerequisites.
   
• We start from the respective strengths and preferences of the pupils. To do this, it is essential to find out where the pupil's strengths and interests lie.
   
• We want to enable pupils to develop their personalities by responding to their needs, ideas and suggestions, and by awakening, supporting and encouraging their curiosity and interest in a subject.
   
• Knowledge should be imparted through holistic experiences "with all senses" and through the pupils' own actions.
   
• For us, the cornerstones of educational work at school are tolerance, consideration and co-operation. This creates a climate of trust and confidence for everyone involved.

Teaching at our type of school is based on the CurriculumPLUS (2022) for special needs in intellectual development from the Bavarian State Institute for School Quality and Educational Research:

There, the learning and development areas are organised across all year groups and are skills-oriented. This is the basis for our work, as every pupil is unique and we can therefore build on individual abilities, skills, needs and learning requirements. In addition, teaching content is developed in an interdisciplinary, activity-orientated and practical way. The school years at our school generally comprise 12 school years. During their school career at our school, pupils go through the primary school level (grades 1 to 4), the secondary school level (grades 5 to 9) and the vocational school level (grades 10 to 12).

Primary school level (grades 1 to 4)

At primary school level, pupils are familiarised with everyday classroom and school life through fixed rituals, structures and recurring routines. They are given the opportunity to familiarise themselves with basic lesson content and experience their first learning successes. The topics at this level and their preparation are adapted to children's learning and characterised by holistic learning activities. As physical movement is a natural basic need of children and this is reflected in a pronounced urge to move, we attach great importance to swimming, sport and movement at primary school level. The school playground also has a number of exercise facilities, such as scooters and tricycles, a ball pit for playing football and various play equipment (climbing frame, swing and seesaw).

Secondary school level (grades 5 to 9)

In the middle school level, the work of the primary school level is continued. Pupils are increasingly involved in the planning and realisation of plans, projects and school trips. In addition, learning and working becomes more independent and pupils are increasingly introduced to different forms of teaching. Furthermore, pupils experience a major developmental step during the middle school level and are finally in the midst of puberty. Consequently, teaching topics and methods are often characterised by adolescent interests, problems and life situations (e.g. friendship and love, strengthening one's own self-identity, self-awareness and self-confidence as well as increasing independence).

Vocational school level (grades 10 to 12)

From the 10th school year, pupils begin the 3-year vocational school level. The task and aim of the vocational school level is to prepare pupils for their lives as adults. Among other things, they should acquire basic skills and abilities in social, practical and vocational areas. The aim is to achieve the greatest possible independence and a vocational follow-up option - either in a workshop for people with disabilities or on the primary labour market. The development of personality plays an important role here, as does the promotion of an appropriate work attitude (concentration, perseverance, diligence, accuracy, pace of work and punctuality). Pupils should be encouraged with a view to their future occupational field and prepared for an individual lifestyle and organisation.

Vocational preparation and career guidance

The school therefore plays a key role in preparing young people for their future careers. We offer various opportunities for career guidance that can be utilised by the pupils. Towards the end of the school years, the introduction to the world of work becomes increasingly important. Exploring different occupational fields and participating in work placements in suitable workplaces are an integral part of the subject "Work and Careers" and are therefore anchored in the curriculum. The pupils actively participate in the working and social life of the workplaces in small groups accompanied by their familiar teachers for a limited period of time. The educational work in the vocational school stage is therefore more strongly influenced by regional and local conditions than in the previous stages. To this end, we work together with various co-operation partners. The students visit the facilities either as a class or in small groups once a week and take part in everyday working life. In addition, there are various programmes and projects that can be used or are carried out at our school.

Co-operation partner:

• Workshop for disabled people at Lebenshilfe Bernburg (Saale)
• Neugattersleben eco-station
• ASB nursing home Bernburg

Projects and career guidance programmes:

PraxisCoPilot

This is a voluntary offer that pupils can take advantage of together with their parents/guardians. The project actively supports parents and pupils in finding a work placement and in the further organisation. The aim is to enable pupils to gain exciting impressions of the world of work. At our school, internships can be completed both during school holidays and during school time. The offer has already been successfully taken up by pupils at our school.

BRAFO project

The BRAFO project is a career choice programme. The project always starts in year nine and runs for three school years. The project comprises five steps, during which the pupils complete their career choice passport to track their progress and record their results and experiences. The aim is for pupils to explore their interests and strengths and familiarise themselves with different professional fields.

In addition, pupils from other schools have the opportunity to complete their internships in connection with the BRAFO project at the "Lebensweg" special school.

Cooperation agreement with the Dessau-Wittenberg integration service

The aim here is to integrate pupils into the primary labour market. The specialist service organises, arranges and supervises the internships.

Contact person: Mrs Kleemann

Basic developmental teaching

Always based on the pupils' individual level of development, they deal with topics in the areas of personality and social relationships, self-care, perception and motor skills, thinking and learning strategies, communication and language as well as play.

Mathematics

Mathematical skills and abilities are taught and linked to practical fields of application.

German

Reading means understanding body language, images, symbols, signals, words and texts. Writing means expressing your own thoughts and writing down content

Subject- and life-related lessons

Pupils acquire knowledge about their own bodies, the benefits of technology and society. They gain knowledge in the natural sciences and discover their immediate environment in a variety of ways.

Ethics

Pupils are at the centre of ethics lessons: they should experience ethical values in their living environment, reflect on their own values, act consciously according to their possibilities and shape their lives as independently and responsibly as possible.

Sport and exercise

In PE lessons, the joy of movement is encouraged through experience-orientated, varied and individually adapted activities and enables children to get to know various sports relevant to their leisure time.

Digital education

Pupils acquire basic media skills through play and try out the functions of digital media according to their individual abilities.

Music

Building on previous experience, they try out sound, rhythm, language and movement and develop their own forms of expression.

Art

The lesson content and choice of topics broadens creative interests, strengthens personal initiative and promotes sensual, imaginative experiences as well as the joy of creative design.

Crafts and design

Through practice-orientated work and design with different materials, techniques and tools, students acquire skills in work processes, safety rules and in planning and presenting their own work.

Nutrition and social issues

Pupils deal with topics relating to nutrition, health promotion and consumer education and acquire kitchen and domestic skills for later living arrangements.

Profession and work

Learners acquire knowledge of structures and processes in the world of work. Pupils take part in company visits and work placements and complete practical tasks in various projects.

Leisure time

Pupils learn to organise their free time themselves and to use the skills they have acquired, such as reading, using media, dealing with money and the clock as well as mobility, to organise their leisure time. They also learn about various leisure activities.

Life in society

The aim is for young people to master everyday life and social participation independently. To this end, they acquire practical skills for public participation and dealing with authorities, practise exercising rights and duties and acquire basic knowledge in general, political and media education.

Mobility

The focus is on independently mastering various routes, such as the journey to school or the journey to the internship. Participation in road traffic and the use of public transport are also a focus here.

Personality and social relationships

The pupils deal with their own identity, their sexuality and the topic of health. Social relationships also play an important role. Attention is paid to the topicality and interests of the pupils.

Living

Pupils will look at future housing options. In the process, skills for largely independent living are tested and practised.