In gleisenau: a dream castle for the little ones
The city of habfurt has to put up containers, ebelsbach has a castle. The heating is on, and the best lunchtime supervision you could wish for is ready. It wasn't quite that easy, but the main valley community is actually coping very well with the general increase in the number of children at the schools.
The school childcare center, which is run by the protestant church, was able to move from the old janitor's apartment, which had become too small, to what was once "the best elementary school in bavaria": the gleisenau castle. The head of the facility, julia schatzlein-sennert, very much hopes that it will be the "nicest school childcare facility in bavaria" remains.
For everything is not quite in dry cloths. Officially, the municipality does not want to sell the building, but a serious interested party, who also had a suitable use in mind, would not necessarily have the door slammed in his face. After all, the maintenance costs a lot of money. "At four million euros, you have to start thinking", said mayor walter ziegler to an interested party, whose existence almost put the brakes on the project, but who then changed his mind.
Helpers, especially julia schatzlein-sennert's husband, heinz schatzlein, spent weekends during the summer giving the rooms on the second floor a fresh coat of paint. The municipality paid for materials and equipment. The kitchen and furnishings from the old accommodation were moved with it, the building yard helped out.
Parents demand supervision
figures and a survey of parents had alarmed julia schatzlein-sennert, who took over the management of the facility in november 2016. The trained freight forwarder is familiar with logistical challenges. Ordering meals for 60 children individually, week after week, day after day, is still the easiest thing to do. When she realized that the janitor's apartment in ebelsbach was definitely not going to be enough, she set her sights on the castle early on and got the mayor's attention with her request.
She met with an open ear. For the head of the community, "sensible use" is the most important thing of the castle are a matter of the heart. He and the new principal, angelika schmitt, liked the new school childcare facility very much during their first visit.
The fact that dagmar zettelmeier has to drive up to the top of the school building to wait for the bus to gleisenau at the end of the day because of her supervisory duties is only a small drawback.
Wonderful are for this the three rough playrooms. Two, where things get louder – at air field hockey, for example. But the third one feels like a princess' room. Such a quiet playroom did not exist before. It was not a problem even with 15 children. Finally, however, the more than 30 children created a background of noise in which not every child felt comfortable. Today, the courtyard leads first to the dining room, then to the homework rooms. After that, children can play upstairs on the second floor. The part-time and 450-euro workers, all of whom are mothers themselves, take on educational tasks, make sure that the elementary school children have something to eat at lunchtime, that they do their homework, they help and try to maintain good contact with the parents.
Julia schatzlein-sennert is already looking at the figures for 2018/19 and sees it as important that school childcare remains in the castle, where it is also so wonderfully uncomplicated to let the children go outside. "You can see from the increasing number of registrations that it is an important offer for the parents." she is herself a mother of three and is concerned about the note of the parents in ebelsbach (children also come from parts of the community): "it is different today than it was in the past." some people have no parents: "who has 14 weeks vacation?? There are many people who have to divide up their vacation time in such a way that they cannot take a family vacation together."
