Siebengebirgsschule Bonn (NRW) wins the German School Award 2024, which is endowed with 100,000 euros. Five further prizes of 30,000 euros each go to Friedenauer Gemeinschaftsschule in Berlin (BE), Wilhelm-von-Humboldt-Gemeinschaftsschule in Berlin (BE), Joseph-DuMont-Berufskolleg in Cologne (NRW), St.-Pius-Gymnasium in Coesfeld (NRW) and Thomas-Morus-Gymnasium in Oelde (NRW). The other nine finalists will each receive a recognition prize of 5,000 euros. The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH and the Heidehof Stiftung GmbH award prizes to the best schools each year as part of the renowned competition. Cooperation partners are ARD and the ZEIT publishing group.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz honored the award winners today at the Tempodrom in Berlin: "Our school years shape us for life. Good schools impart knowledge and self-confidence, promote creativity and a sense of community. All the schools that have applied for the German School Award show every day with great ideas and a great deal of commitment how this can be achieved. At the same time, educational success in our country still too often depends on the starting conditions with which pupils begin their education. This year, the federal government and the federal states launched the Startchancen program, the largest and most long-term education program in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Our goal is for all pupils to be able to make full use of their talents."

Siebengebirgsschule Bonn has largely done away with traditional lessons. 265 children and young people at the special school learn independently in learning studios, creative workshops, in the study hall or on the market square. They receive individual support from the teachers. "The Siebengebirgsschule takes in children who are overwhelmed by mainstream schools and enables them to find their way back into learning, discover their talents and achieve outstanding results," says Prof. Dr. Thorsten Bohl, spokesperson for the German School Award jury and Director of the Tübingen School of Education. The basis for this is a well thought-out school culture with flexitime and core working hours, which gives students a high degree of personal responsibility and leads to a high level of active learning time.

Pupils log into the digital LearningNavi on their own with an iPad right at the start of school. Instead of fixed timetables, the lesson content is mapped via learning paths, missions and individually adapted work plans. "This school is an example of what is possible when we genuinely trust students, focus on their strengths and create incentive systems instead of punishments. Through tailored diagnostics and support, individual learning support and the clever use of digital tools, the Siebengebirgsschule also offers other schools excellent guidance," says educational scientist Bohl.

Detailed background information on the Siebengebirgsschule in Bonn, the five other award winners and all nominated schools can be  found here (opens in a new tab) in the German School Award 2024 publication. In the brochure, members of the jury explain what makes the teaching at the schools stand out.

"Innovative ideas are rarely prescribed from above. They emerge in practice - on the ground in schools," says Dr. Bernhard Straub, Chief Executive Officer of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. "With the German School Award, we want to identify these promising concepts and contribute to their dissemination. But the competition is by no means everything. In recent years, we have created numerous support programs for schools that want to work on their own school and teaching development. This year's main prize-winning school is an excellent example of this. It took part in the competition with its special digital concept during the coronavirus pandemic and thus entered the two-year development program of the German School Award."

All finalists have undergone an extensive application process in recent months. In March of this year, the jury initially selected 20 schools from over 80 applications. Between April and June, they were visited and assessed by jury teams. The jury then nominated 15 schools for the final round of the German School Award 2024.

The award ceremony with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other guests, including musician Lina Larissa Strahl, ARD Chairman Kai Gniffke and Nils von der Kall, Managing Director and Chief Commercial Officer of the ZEIT publishing group, is available as a stream at  www.deutscher-schulpreis.de (opens in a new tab).

The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH and the Heidehof Foundation have been awarding the German School Prize since 2006. It is the most prestigious, most demanding and most highly endowed award for good schools in Germany.

Since the program began, more than 2,500 schools have applied for the award. When selecting the winners, the jury evaluates  six areas of quality (opens in a new tab). The focus is on "teaching quality" and the question of how schools can best shape teaching and learning for their pupils. The five other quality areas are "performance", "dealing with diversity", "responsibility", "school climate, school life and extracurricular partners" and "learning school". These characteristics are now generally recognized as hallmarks of good school quality.

The concepts of the nominated schools are then processed and made available to all schools via training courses, publications and the online platform of the  German School Portal (opens in a new tab). A cycle in which good school practice is reinforced and disseminated.

The  Robert Bosch Stiftung (opens in a new tab) works in the areas of health, education and global issues. With its funding, it is committed to a just and sustainable future. The foundation is non-profit, independent and non-partisan. It goes back to the legacy of Robert Bosch. In it, the entrepreneur and founder formulated the dual mission of ensuring the continued existence of the company and continuing his social commitment.

The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH maintains its own facilities, develops innovative projects and provides support at both international and local level. The foundation contributes the findings from its support to the professional world and the public debate.

The Foundation holds around 94 percent of the shares in Robert Bosch GmbH and is financed by its dividends. The company and the foundation act independently of each other. Since it was established in 1964, the Robert Bosch Stiftung has spent around 2.3 billion euros on its charitable work.