School Church
School Church
Welcome to School Church! Here you can learn all about churches, heritage and religion. We are part of Groninger Kerken (Groningen Historic Churches Foundation), which owns and administers more than 100 churches in the Province of Groningen. The Foundation aims to preserve these listed buildings and promote interest in them. School Church is the focal point of its educational activities.
School Church offers programmes for primary and secondary schools within a safe, positive and professional framework. Such as fully organized programs in various churches (Locaties) and teaching materials (Lesmateriaal) that you can download and use in any church nearby.
Church of Garmerwolde
The church of Garmerwolde is one the locations of School Church. Learn all about this multifunctional space in this mini-documentary.
We are the proud winner of a European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award 2021 for this project!
Location Garmerwolde
The church of Garmerwolde was our first School Church location. This medieval church is one of the finest late Romanesque churches of our region. Its vault painitings display representations of the Christmas and Easter feasts. Read more about the history on the website of the Garmerwolde church.
In the tower a permanent exhibition was built: Feast! In West and East. An Escher-inspired staircase forms a vertical museum wing. Inside the tower, and accompanied by an audio tour, there are eight interactive and imagination-boosting presentations of Christian and Islamic feasts. They appeal to all your senses in a playful manner and are a source of reflection. From the top of the tower there is a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside.
We offer a teaching programme for schools, focusing on the interactive exhibition in the tower. Here pupils are introduced to traditions and forms of celebration around the world, particularly of Christianity and Islam, and are invited to discuss them.The programmes match the requirements of educational curricula. In this sense they can be part of lessons on history and philosophy of life, but also of cultural education, social studies or civics.
The medieval church and its grounds are always open and admission is free. On weekends you can buy a ticket for the exhibition Feast! In West and East in the tower, or visit the museum café OSO.
Garmerwolde is situated just east of the city of Groningen. It is a 20 minutes’ ride from Grote Markt, in the city centre, to Schoolkerk.
Location Akerk Groningen
The Akerk (A-Church) is the largest church that is part of our foundation. It is situated in the city center of Groningen. Lots of cultural activities take place here, such as arts exhibitions, organ concerts and festivals. School Church offers guided tours through exhibitons and on top of the medieval vaults - an exciting experience! More information about this location: www.akerk.nl
Visits
Would you like to visit one of the locations of School Church with a group speaking English or another language? Then please contact us via info@schoolkerk.nl and together we will see what we can do for you.
Teaching method
School Church offers challenging and totally interactive programmes. We feel it is important that your pupils can make their voices heard, to appeal to their empathy and imagination. When visiting the School Church the group process is facilitated by applying the ‘I ASK’ teaching method. On the basis of I ASK, we use the thoughts of the visitor, the pupil, for material to work with. This way we can establish a true dialogue.
The locations of School Church are places where history, culture and philosophy of life are central. Here history is visible in all its aspects – right across the centuries, from the Middle Ages to the present.
In such a rich learning environment, new questions will arise. What was it like in the old days, what is it like today? How do we look at life, and each other? How do we shape the future together?
The programmes of School Church match the requirements of educational curricula. In this sense they can be part of lessons on history and philosophy of life, but also of cultural education, social studies or civics.
Coloring pictures
Teachers can use our teaching materials (Lesmateriaal) in their classroom and in any church in their region. Every project contains a visit to a local church. They are in the Dutch language, but our coloring pictures are universal!
