Naturally, the lower, younger classes were a little fuller, as many parents are reluctant to leave younger children at home alone, Hilse acknowledges. Meanwhile: According to Hilse, hardly any class in grades five to seven was occupied by more than half of the pupils. Since Monday, only distance learning is allowed for the older students in grades eight to ten. Hilse's impression after the first day, on which his colleagues, in some classes, completely switched to digital teaching: "That actually worked quite well. The fact that his school has already been allowed to test the platform's video tool for ten days has certainly helped. "That was really lucky," says the director happily. By the way, his school will still be open next Monday and Tuesday: "There will be no more lessons then, but we have to maintain the care services for the younger pupils.“

This is also the case at the Rochusschule in Duisdorf, as headmistress Birgit Klippel assures us. At the Open All-Day School (OGS), childcare will continue to be offered - regardless of how many children attend. "We are on site. We know that some parents, especially mothers, depend on it. Four to 13 children had attended the lessons on this Monday. Thanks to the new iPads which the city of Bonn has distributed to all schools for needy children and the learning platform Teams (Microsoft), the lessons were partly analogue and partly digital. "It worked out very well," Klippel is pleased to say and praises the Bonn school board, which has been very supportive in terms of hybrid teaching so far.

There are also positive signals from many schools in the Rhein-Sieg district regarding video lessons at home. Take the example of Wirtschaftsgymnasium at the Berufskolleg Siegburg: the Microsoft programme Teams has now been introduced nationwide. In the normal timetable layout, the pupils have contact with their teachers via this. This takes place partly via visual teaching via video chat, partly with advance via the document function. The pupils are then told before the lesson to work through uploaded papers on the topic and to have questions ready. Open questions can be discussed in the subsequent video conversation. In the meantime, the whole thing runs more or less smoothly. The transmission capacities have been adapted to the requirements and the necessary hardware is available at all locations. Nevertheless, it cannot be overlooked that the schools have been surprised by the decision of the Conference of Prime Ministers. Currently, the examinations already scheduled are being continued.

The Community Primary School North in Siegburg also works via distance learning. The sixth class at the Alleestraße grammar school, on the other hand, works in hybrid teaching. Six pupils sit in class, the others are connected from home.

(Original text: Lisa Inhoffen, Jörg Manhold and Nadine Quadt;Translation: Mareike Graepel)