Piarist School Vienna Maria Treu
My name is Brigitte Klausberger, I am 44 years old and have been working for the Piarists for 7 years. I have been principal of the Piarist elementary school Maria Treu for two and a half years. I love my job and live my vocation. Daily contact with the children is very important to me. I strive to create a good school atmosphere in which children, teachers and parents feel comfortable.
Our school was founded in 1701 in the 8th district of Vienna. We have a large number of pupils who live in the vicinity of the school and are therefore also at home in the parish. Our school offers many opportunities in addition to the regular lessons. We support children individually and work with different methods and materials. We have a schoolyard where the children can exercise every day, we have a school bakery and we focus on English. The holistic approach in education is particularly important to us.
For us, the focus is on the child’s overall development. School should be a place where children can develop and unfold their personality and discover and deepen their talents and strengths. In addition to this social-emotional component, pastoral support for our children and families is also a priority. Praying together and celebrating are an important part of our school life. Another important pillar of our school is the transfer of knowledge. We put a lot of effort into training the students to independent working and learning by discovery and thus try to awaken the children’s curiosity. It also seems important to us that the children not only acquire knowledge, but also learn to question critically and acquire the skills to acquire new knowledge themselves. These topics are particularly important to me personally and I believe that they are also core of the Piarist Order.
We work very closely with the school pastoral. Our priests are involved in everyday school life and are very present. They accompany the children through their primary school years. This relationship is particularly visible during Holy Masses. The feast of the Holy First Communion takes place in Year 2. Here, the priests are particularly active in the preparation, which lasts almost a whole school year, and support the teachers in preparing for this celebration.
Elementary school is the first stage in a child’s school career and therefore also forms the basis for further education. In a way, we give the children the roots of their educational career. It is very important to us to provide these roots not only in the imparting of knowledge, but also in social-emotional and spiritual terms. We are supported by our fathers, who are particularly concerned about the development of the children. In recent years, we have also tried to make this attitude visible.
We have set an example by building our bakery. In our fast-moving times, which are characterized by technological innovations, we are consciously going back to old traditions. Together, we bake bread and pastries according to traditional recipes, just as many households used to do in the past. This year, we have expanded this project, which can be described in a certain way with the words “We are moving into the future by returning to our roots”: we now have chickens in our schoolyard! Here, too, we want to give the children the opportunity to develop in harmony with nature and take responsibility for it.
School Address: Piaristengasse 43, 1080 Wien, Austria
Official Contact: b.klausberger@piaristen.at
Foundation date: 1701
Number of students: approx. 300
Number of teachers: approx. 20
Offers: Kindergarten, preschool, primary school
Other activities: After school activities in different interest (Sports, Music, Science, etc.), Cooperation with the Parish.
