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Informations about our school in English

Frontalansicht mit Verwaltungsgebäude

Von-Lerchenfeld-Schule is a special school for pupils with hearing impairment. We are state-approved and privately funded by Katholisches Bildungszentrum e.V.

As we are the only school in Upper Franconia that offers specialized education for those children with special needs in hearing our pupils (deaf, hard of hearing, auditory processing disorder) come from the whole region. We offer education from kindergarten throughout primary and secondary education.

Today about 150 children are being taught at our school and kindergarten and about 300 hearing impaired students, who are educated inclusively in their local schools, are being supported by our staff on a regular basis.

Our classes are small with a maximum of 15 pupils per class, who are taught by their class teacher in most subjects. Due to the class teacher principle the pupils have a reference person for a period of one or two school years, who knows the pupils well and can therefore offer individual support. All teachers have a degree in special educational needs.

Our classrooms are especially silenced by carpets, curtains and sound absorbing ceilings to reduce sound levels, minimize background low-frequency sound, ensure speech clarity and prevent the build-up of echoes. We also use audio equipment to ensure speaker and listener comfort. Our teaching principles are the use of sign supported speech in all lessons. German Sign language is taught in lessons and used for communication and teaching the deaf pupils to offer pupils barrier-free communication.

We follow the outline of the regular Curriculum for Bavarian Grund- und Mittelschule, modified to suit the needs of a hearing-impaired student body. Our pupils can achieve two different school leaving certificates: the Qualifizierenden Mittelschulabschluss (after 10 years of school) and the Mittleren Schulabschluss (after 11 years of school).

Katholisches Bildungszentrum e.V. also offers a boarding school and a special day care center on the school ground that closely works together with the staff of Von-Lerchenfeld-Schule.

Our school:

Schulhaus
Freiherr Lerchenfeld

1834 Freiherr Von Lerchenfeld founded our school as a school only for deaf pupils.

Our pupils today

  • Only 10% of our pupils are deaf and use sign language.
  • 20 – 30% of our pupils are hard of hearing. They have hearing aids, cochlear implants and sign language is useful for them to understand.
  • 70-80% of our pupils have an auditory processing disorder. Some have hearing aids at school, sign language is useful but not necessary.

To communicate well we need

  • eyecontact
  • enough light
  • clear speech
  • natural gestures
  • sometimes written messages


Our schooldays

In the morning:

  •  lessons from 8.00 – 13.00
  • two breaks at 9.30 and 11.15 (~15 min)


In the afternoon:

  • we go to day care
  • we go to boarding school (both belong to our school complex)
  • we go home
Unterricht

At our school

  • We have small classes (max. 15 pupils).
  • We sit in semicircles.
  • We have audio systems in some class rooms.
  • We have carpet and curtains to reduce the noises in the classrooms.
  • We have about 40 teachers.

 

If we don‘t sit in our classrooms

  • We sell food during the breaks at our pupils‘ café.
  • We work in our school garden.
  • We play lots of sports and have won several school championships.
  • We can work in our film club „Lerchenwiese Film“ that has also won lots of prices for their films.
  • Class 5 and 6 go on a sport trip for a week (hiking, mountain biking, swimming, ...).
  • We have monthly school assemblies for latest news concerning our school life, or we can show what we have done during the last month!