2 December 2008 - SKAIT REPORT on the Achievers Launch

Achievers International launch event

Skinners' Company's School for Girls attended the launch of Achievers International in Berlin and London. Below is their report and pictures from their trip to Berlin.

Eight students from Year 9, 10 and 6th form have been selected to participate in the Achievers International project to form a company, and import and export goods with our partner school Sophie-Charlotte-Oberschule, which is located in Berlin.

The group have gained an insight into how businesses are formed and managed, and increased their awareness and understanding of other cultures and citizenship.

As part of the programme we were the only school in the UK to be invited to attend the Achievers International launch at the German Embassy in London and the British Embassy in Berlin. Our students were asked to present a 5 min presentation in front of over 100 government ministers and business people on their business ‘SKAIT' (Skinners' Achievers International Trading) and product ideas.

Four of the group members attended the launch in Berlin and visited our partner school Sophie Charlotte. The remaining four group members attending the launch in London and hosted our partner school while they were in London.

The students with Ms Kurtuldu and Ms Ward at the British Embassy, Berlin

The SKAIT students discussing their products

(Photos Mike Minehan)

The SKAIT students during their presentation

(Photo Mike Minehan)

The entrance to Sohpie-Charlotte Oberschule

The first meeting between SCOTYS and SKAIT

Our trip to Berlin was a wonderful experience. The trip enhanced our spoken and written German skills as well as developed our business skills. We explored and visited various cultural areas of Berlin and this also enhanced our history knowledge.

We were also given the opportunity to attend the Achievers International launch at the German Embassy and develop business as well as educational links.

It was an early start and our journey to Berlin began at 3.30am on the 16th November 2008 where we met Ms Kurtuldu and Ms Ward at the upper school. The taxis picked us up and we were now on our way to Standsted Airport to catch our flight to Berlin Schönefeld airport.

We arrived in Berlin at 09.00am, and caught a taxi to the hotel. We stayed at the Park Inn Berlin-Alexanderplatz, located in the heart of Berlin's Mitte district, right on the legendary Alexanderplatz.

We were all excited so we once we handed in our luggage to the hotel we decided to go and eat lunch and then explore the area.

On the second day we hoped onto a city over-ground train and visited our partner school Sophie Charlotte. The school building was amazing with huge bricks that reminded us of the Bank of England.

When we arrived we were greeted by two students from the Achievers International business team at Sophie Charlotte. Sophie Charlotte business name is SCOTYS and they have been running the programme at their school for 8 years.

Once we met all the group members we were given a tour of the school and then attended two lessons. We went into a history lesson which was taught in German and an English lesson which was taught in English. We were all impressed with the groups spoken English and they explained that the majority of their lessons are taught in English.

The SCOTYS group then surprised us with a home made lunch buffet which was very nice. Once lunch was over we got down to business and had a meeting on our product ideas and what we could trade with each other. SCOTYS were really keen on Walkers crisps, shortbread biscuits and Starburst sweets. We explained to them that we could only trade back with them healthy food as we have a strict healthy schools policy. Therefore, we agreed that SCOTYS would trade us healthy cereal bars.

After our meeting, two of the SCOTYS members took us on a walking tour along Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku'damm, which is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten (Electors) of the Holy Roman Empire. This long road reminded us of Regent Street and Bond Street. It has loads of designer shops there like Gucci, Bvlgari, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Tommy Hilfiger, Cartier, Swarovski, as well as several car manufacturers' show rooms.

On the third day we were up early and ready to do some sight seeing. We really wanted to visit the Reichstag, and were lucky enough to miss the long queue as one of our partner students parents worked at the Reichstag. We also visited the Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, Berliner Dom, Fernsehturm, and the Berlin Wall.

Whilst in the past the Westside of the Berlin Wall has been a popular meeting point of graffiti artists, nowadays the most famous artists have set their signs on the eastside of the longest preserved section of the Wall. The wall stretches from Ostbahnhof station to the Oberbaumbrücke. 118 artists from 21 countries have painted several pictures on a 1,316 meter long section of the Berlin Wall, which is now a listed landmark.

The city of Berlin designed memorials placed in front of apartment and office buildings to remember those who were sent to concentration camps. We were looking to spot these small, three-by-three inch mini- plaques and we were lucky to find one. They are placed directly into the sidewalks of Berlin's historical avenues.

The fourth day was going to be a very busy day. This was launch of Achievers International at the British Embassy. We first headed towards Sophie-Charlotte Oberschule to practice our presentation and to meet representatives from Achievers International.

We then went back to the hotel to get ready for the big evening. Once we arrived at the embassy we set up our stall with our product ideas, marketing and promotional material.

The event was an amazing experience for us all. The Embassy was packed with German Ministers, British Ministers, Educational Ministers, and business people from around the world.

We were all nervous about performing our presentation in front of 100 people. But once we went up there we were thrilled with the outcome. Loads of people came up to us and congratulated us on how good our presentation was. This helped boost our self esteem and motivated us a great deal.

We finished our evening with dinner and had loads of pictures taken. We bid our farewells to SCOTYS which was sad as well all became one big team. But we all knew that we will be working with them in the future and that this was not going to be the last time we saw each other.

We headed back to the hotel to pack and prepare our journey back home. We were all sad to leave Berlin as we all had an amazing time. The next day we all had to be up at 05.00am in order to catch our flight back home.

This was a great experience and opportunity for us. We would like to say thank you to UK-German Connections and Skinners' Company's School for Girls for sponsoring the programme. We would also like to thank Ms Wilkins, Ms Kurtuldu, Ms Ward, Mr Lewis, Miss Potter, Mr Bazel, Mrs Luchman and Miss Dooley for all their help and support.