Name: | Ark |
BFPO: | 40 |
Camp: | JHQ |
Town: | Mönchengladbach |
Country: | Germany |
Type(s): | Primary |
Notes Use the zoom tool and satellite overlay on the map to view the exact location. |
Ark opened in September 2010. The 'new' school was formed by amalgamating St Andrew's with its neighbour, St Patrick's. Mike Chislett (an SCE Inspector Adviser) had been appointed on secondment a few months earlier, with a brief to create a single school to provide primary education on JHQ during the camp's final three years.
St George's School remained open in JHQ's south-western extension until July 2012, after which its remaining pupils and some staff transferred to Ark. From September 2011 Ark was the only primary school on JHQ, closing in July 2013. The whole JHQ site was handed back to the German federal authorities at the end of the year.
Ark took its name from the notion of combining its two founder schools - 'the children went in two by two, one in green and one in blue', reflecting the colours associated with St Andrews and St Patricks. There was no definitive article in the title, although one was sometimes added erroneously, as in the school photograph example, below.
A comprehensive set of maps showing JHQ over many years is now online.
Click the image above or this link to visit the JHQ website (opens in a new window)