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Schooling of the new Domspatzen: »The start of this school year is memorable, almost historic«
Photo: Michael Vogl / Domspatzen
"Everyone is excited at the moment," says school psychologist Jasmin Klemm, "and happy." The reason for the good mood are 33 girls who were the first in the more than thousand-year history of the Regensburger Domspatzen to be admitted to the renowned private church school on Monday.
"The beginning of this school year is memorable, almost historic," said Domkapellmeister Christian Heiss, according to a statement at the start of school for the 310 students.
Last year, the school surprisingly announced that in future it would also accept girls in high school and found its own girls' choir.
Now the announcement has become reality, so the girls have already met for the first rehearsals.
The boys' choir remains, however, and the school does not give up its »brand core«.
The more than 1000-year-old tradition will be strengthened by this, said the cathedral conductor at the inauguration ceremony.
The school had decided to open it so that applicants wouldn't break away.
"Increasingly, good singers ultimately did not go to the Domspatzen Gymnasium because they preferred to go to a co-educational school," the school announced last year.
Musical siblings should also have been rejected because only boys were admitted, according to the school.
»The time of puberty will be a challenge like everywhere«
For the transition from an all-boys school with an attached boarding school to a mixed grammar school, the school has specially appointed »Welcome Coaches«.
However, the school psychologist Klemm does not anticipate any particular challenges.
"We are the people to talk to when there are uncertainties or difficulties," says the 34-year-old about herself and her colleagues in the training company and at the boarding school.
Klemm has moved to the school and now offers an open consultation hour during the breaks.
She believes that the condition will quickly become normal.
"Puberty is a challenge like everywhere else," says Klemm.
Ultimately, the situation at the Domspatzen is just like at any school - only that it is still new and exciting for the boys.
This applies in particular to the higher classes, in which the young men have previously been among themselves.
15 girls are in the 5th grade.
The other 18 students are spread over grades 6 to 11 as lateral entrants, the school said.
A total of 16 girls are also admitted to the boarding school, in their own living quarters.
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