Press releases

The concept has proven its worth: As a result of cooperation between the City of Aachen's youth and school departments ("Preventive Youth Welfare" department, coordination of the municipal prevention chain - state program "kinderstark -NRW schafft Chancen") and housing, social affairs and integration ("Bildung und Teilhabe" BuT team), information events on benefits under the education and participation package are held in the parents' cafés of the "Healthy Family Primary Schools".

The experts from the city administration for the education and participation packages have already been guests at three parents' cafés and have provided low-threshold and simple information on benefits, entitlements or applications to parents and citizens who often have a gap in their provision or information in this area. Now the City of Aachen employees from the "Education and Participation" team, together with the coordinators of the parents' cafés at the "Healthy Family Primary Schools", are offering further appointments:

• 04.09., 4 p.m.: Montessori elementary school Mataréstraße
• 24.09., 2.30 p.m., Gut Kullen elementary school
• 30.09., 10 a.m., Beeckstraße elementary school (joint event of Luisenstraße and Beeckstraße elementary school)

At the parent café appointments, parents not only receive lots of important information, but also have the opportunity to ask questions. Desired side effects: "Parents get to know the administration in a new, additional way, barriers and fears of contact are reduced," Petra Wolters, Head of the "Education and Participation" team, is convinced. "The specialists from the 'Healthy Family Primary Schools' can take up the information again later during consultations and in discussions with parents. Networking between the administration and primary family schools is also further strengthened," adds Ulf Barteck, coordinator of the municipal prevention chain in the Youth and Schools department.

"Healthy family elementary school"

There are currently nine "Healthy Family Primary Schools" in the city of Aachen. In cooperation with the city's Youth and Schools Department, three family education providers - the "Haus für Familien" of the Protestant Family Education Association, the DRK Family Education Association, the German Red Cross and the Helene Weber House - are implementing the "Healthy Family Primary School" concept at the schools. The schools are the community elementary school Driescher Hof, Schönforst, Gut Kullen, Am Haarbach, Düppelstraße, the Catholic elementary school Verlautenheide, Beeckstraße, Luisenstraße and the Montessori elementary school Mataréstraße. "The family elementary school implement the tried-and-tested concept of KiTa family centers at elementary school. Parents' cafés are held there regularly - usually once a week - and are a meeting point, a place for parents of pupils to meet and exchange ideas, as well as a social space," says Ulf Barteck, describing the idea behind the concept.