At this very moment (July 1970) I have, of course, a certain idea o£ what P.G.S. is like, but this idea began to form only very gradually during the year. At the beginning P.G.S. to me looked very much like any other Grammar School in England - with all the manifold differences such schools already show with their German equivalents. The fact that, for example, boys do not repeat the year, after having failed to pass their exam, or the fact that the staff is continuously changing as teachers earn promotion to different schools. Or, certainly more important to me, the fact that English Grammar Schools do Hot only serve the purpose of teaching the academic subjects, but additionally try to teach the basic principles of social conmunication - the way people have to live and get on together. (This is where the various School activities come in, the different societies, games, the system of prefects, the school trips and the house in Dent.) And it was only after having come to terms with such basic differences that I began to see what actually made P.G.S. different, even from all the other Grammar Schools which I have seen in this country.

Basically, I feel, it is not the equipment (such as the Language Laboratory, in which I very much liked to work) that makes one school different from another; nor is it the school building, although I must admit that, to me, this was one of the most striking contrasts: the high extent to which this school adapts itself to the modern world, and the buildings in which all this process of adaptation takes place. Neither of these really makes P.G.S. what it is. Rather it is the people who work there, and the atmosphere which is created by these people in the school. In all possible respects 1 found it to be a very open and friendly atmosphere, dictated by a sensible conception of tolerance and understanding. This applies to the Staff Room itself (where from the first day onwards, I too was made to feel welcome and accepted) as well as to the particular kind of relationship that exists between teachers and pupils.

By no means does this imply that there are no conflicts. There was, for example, the question of a Sixth Form Centre. But I do feel that such conflicts are bound to arise. What did impress me so favourably here was the way such conflicts were being resolved. And this really seems to me the best possible way to introduce into the school the kind of life that goes on outside, and thus to make the school a living and integrated part of the society in which it exists.

And so, in the past year, P.G.S. has given me a tremendous amount of experience, insight and understanding. And I do honestly hope that some people, somewhere in the School, derived a certain amount of profit from my work here. That would be the best expression of my gratitude.

Herr M. Popp