At Stella International School, we place particular emphasis on encouraging good habits and character in our children, working with parents and in accordance with an educational scheme. We focus on each good habit for a two-week period, with children, parents and the school joining their endeavours to put it into practice.

A wise person once said: “Education is what is left over when we have forgotten what we have learned”.

Much of what we learn at school is forgotten over time. The attitudes and habits we acquire in childhood are what carries us through life. A child’s primary schooling has a central part to play in this process, serving, in the ideal case, as a space for children to learn such vital tools for life as a good work ethic, self-organisation skills, the ability to think for themselves, and interpersonal competencies.

At Stella International School, we focus on nine attitudes during the year: tidiness, generosity, gratitude, a good work ethic, strength, respect, honesty, a sense of responsibility, and joy. We formulate good habits around these nine attitudes, for example:

Generosity: ‘I include everyone in my play and exclude no one’

Gratitude: ‘I am grateful for the beauty in my life’

Tidiness: ‘I help to make sure the classroom is tidy and a pleasant space to be in’

We use motivational pictures to address the good habits in class, and send these pictures home along with exercises and tips to help you work on the habits with your child.

Another key aspect of social, emotional and character education at Stella is cultural education, engaging children with beautiful literature, visual arts and music. We introduce the riches of our culture to pupils in an appealing and age-appropriate manner. Reading, particularly classic stories, and work with classical music and art are important aspects of our curriculum.

We value our partnership with parents.

At Stella International School, we work closely with parents to help them develop their children’s potential and character. Parents are their children’s most important educators and their role is vital and irreplaceable. We seek to establish sustained communication between home and school, discussing and coordinating our shared work on curricular content and the children’s development.

We support and encourage parents in their important task, continuously reflecting with them on what we can proactively do to help children’s progress in all areas of their development.

Meetings with parents can also help us work together to gain perspective on potential problems and crises and see them as opportunities. We run parent education seminars, talks on aspects of parenting, and themed parent information evenings with a specific educational focus.

Overview of parents’ meetings and parent education at Stella International School:

• Meetings 2 – 4 times a year, with both parents encouraged to attend
• Support for parents with educational issues
• Sustained home-school communication in the interest of the child’s wellbeing: How can we move this child forward together?’
• A shared response to difficulties and crises:
• Opportunities for parents to learn more about aspects of parenting.

The Parents’ Association of Stella International School is the link between school management and parents. Community building, the promotion of a good school culture, plays an important role for us. During the school year, the Parents’ Association always organises events where students, parents and teachers come together. The highlight is the Spring Festival: a fun day with a colourful programme, performances, competitions and food and drink.

The Parents’ Association is also very concerned about the expansion of the school library; this important service is promoted through targeted projects.

During the school year, the Parents’ Association is always involved: providing the carnival snack, at the Open Day and on the first day of school with a welcome stand.

We would like to thank all families who support our activities and thus actively contribute to an enjoyable and successful primary school time for our children!

Parents’ Association Team:

Chairwoman: Juliana Kosseifi, Bakk.
Deputy chairman: Bernd Bogensberger, BA
Secretary: Dr. Oktavian Eiselsberg
Deputy Secretary: Maria Theresia Jauernik
Treasurer: Sonja Magdic
Deputy Treasurer: Marielle Macdonald-Levesque

The work of Stella International School is guided by Christian, specifically Catholic, values.

We run social outreach projects that help our pupils experience and practise active solidarity and generosity towards others who may be in need of help.

We believe that a well-rounded person is aware of and takes account of the spiritual dimension of life. In line with the Christian tradition of our country, we celebrate the liturgical feasts of the Church year with the pupils and their families, and we hold school services and other Christian celebrations. We have entrusted the pastoral care of the school to a priest of Opus Dei.

Religious education classes gently introduce pupils to the day-to-day practice of a living Christian faith.

Overview of Christian values at Stella International School

• A central place for Christian solidarity and generosity
• Cultivation of our country’s Christian tradition
• Introduction to faith in day-to-day life

Stella International School seeks to prepare its pupils for life in the globalised 21^st-century world. Commencing at primary school level, we teach parts of some curricular subjects in English, following the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) concept. In addition, there is one English lesson per week from Year 1 onward.

Children who are not yet proficient in English when they enter school quickly improve their language skills, broaden their horizons and acquire intercultural competencies and awareness of other cultures.

Pupils who complete Years 1 – 4 at Stella International School earn a Cambridge Certificate at the end of Year 4 on the basis of the Starters, Movers and Flyers qualifications, which meet international standards and correspond to levels Pre A1, A1 and A2 of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

We are working on forging partnerships with other schools in Austria and abroad and on running joint projects with them.