A new phase of life begins for Leon and Lian

2023-09-11 02:04:00

Around 200,000 students and 21,000 teachers are returning to school classes in Upper Austria today after a nine-week vacation.

It will be particularly exciting for all those children who will be entering a school class for the very first time. In the Innviertel, that means 2,383 children from a total of 9,798 elementary school children.

Among them are Lian Friedl and Leon Pixner, both six years old, from St. Martin im Innkreis. “I’m a little nervous, but I’m looking forward to school. It’s great that some of my kindergarten friends will also be in my class,” says Lian, who, when asked which subjects he’s particularly looking forward to, answers: “Up Gymnastics, of course, you do a lot of sport there. However, I’m also looking forward to arithmetic a bit.”

Long holidays are over

The homework may occasionally be a bit difficult, but the little St. Martiner is convinced that “my parents will help me.” It sounds similar with Leon: “The arithmetic will certainly be exciting, but I’m also happy that I can now learn English, my first foreign language.”

The holidays were long, and now he can finally meet his friends again on a regular basis, the Taferl class teacher continues.

Perhaps the biggest step for those starting school will be managing the journey to school alone. “Now I’m grown up and we’ve often practiced walking to school with mom. Plus, there’s always a police officer at the zebra crossing in the morning, so I feel safe,” says Lian, who walks the one-kilometer-long walk to school with other children from his settlement would like, full of pride.

But it’s not just the two first graders who are embarking on new territory, but also their director Sylvia Pröll.

Director for three elementary schools

The 58-year-old has been running the primary schools in Mühlheim and Kirchheim since 2017 and is now also taking on St. Martin im Innkreis. “That also means that I won’t be teaching anymore due to time constraints, which is a bit of a shame because I’ve always enjoyed doing it,” says Pröll, who lives in Suben.

But she is looking forward to her new job. “I spent a lot of time in St. Martin during the holidays in preparation and had lovely and insightful conversations with my colleagues,” says the director, who will welcome a total of 32 Taferlclasses to St. Martin today.

Much patience

She and her teacher colleagues will have a lot of patience for the first grade students: “Every child or person is individual. And there are children who need more time, which the students will get. I can promise that,” emphasizes Sylvia Proll. In the OÖN interview, the director compares the school years to a train: “Each student sits in a different carriage, and the teachers are supposed to take the train to its destination.”