For years, the number of parents of children with special educational needs who want their child to attend a mainstream school has been increasing in Bonn. In order to meet this demand, the Bonn City Council has now agreed to enable so-called joint learning for pupils with and without special educational needs at another school. From the 2024/2025 school year, the Emilie-Heyermann-Realschule in Poppelsdorf (Bonn district) will introduce joint learning with a focus on learning, emotional-social development, physical and motor development as well as hearing and communication.

The higher school supervisory authority of the Cologne district government had named the Emilie-Heyermann-Realschule, proposed the establishment of joint learning there and asked the city of Bonn for approval. The approval of the school authority was granted with the council resolution.

Emilie-Heyermann-Realschule is the only one of the city's six secondary schools that has not yet been run as a shared learning school. An important step in the inclusion process is the expansion of joint learning for children with and without disabilities. General schools in Bonn have been offering joint learning for many years. In the 2023/2024 school year, there will be 31 elementary school and 19 secondary schools.