“Staying Alive” Rescue Day at Berlin Cosmopolitan School
How Students Learn to Save Lives
How can schools empower young people to take responsibility and act when it really matters?
The “Staying Alive” Rescue Day at the Nature Campus of Berlin Cosmopolitan School (BCS) offers a clear answer: through hands-on learning, initiative, and social relevance.
Several hundred students from grades 7 to 10 took part in the project and practised life-saving measures such as chest compressions and CPR outdoors. Despite changeable weather and recurring rain showers, motivation remained high throughout — among the students as well as the participating partners from medicine and aid organisations.
Learning CPR at School: A Contribution to Social Responsibility
With this Rescue Day, Berlin Cosmopolitan School sends a strong message about the importance of CPR education in schools. The aim is to reduce hesitation and empower students from an early age to act confidently and responsibly in emergency situations.
Berlin’s Senator for Education, Youth and Family, Katharina Günther-Wünsch, who assumed patronage for the project, once again highlighted the relevance of this topic for Berlin’s educational landscape during her visit.
One of the day’s highlights was a joint CPR exercise with around 200 students to the music of “Staying Alive” — a striking image of active learning and collective responsibility.
Student Initiative: As a Starting Point for Meaningful Learning
The Rescue Day originated from the initiative of graduating student Henri Bauckhage, who developed the project over a period of two years. In close exchange with medical professionals, education experts, and political decision-makers, he created a sustainable concept that reaches far beyond a one-time school event.
For Berlin Cosmopolitan School, this is an example of how student projects can become real social impulses when they are intentionally supported and encouraged.
The BCS Educational Approach: Strengthening Initiative, Enabling Impact
The “Staying Alive” Rescue Day is exemplary of Berlin Cosmopolitan School’s educational philosophy. At its core is the conviction that education is more than the transfer of knowledge.
The school sees itself as a place where students are empowered to
- think independently
- take responsibility for their own learning and beyond
- develop projects with social impact
Through formats such as the Rescue Day, learning becomes concrete, tangible, and lasting. Students experience that their actions can make a difference — for themselves and for others.
Building Resilience: Life Skills for the Next Generation
The topic of CPR has attracted great interest not only within the school, but also in the wider public. The broad media response shows just how relevant first-aid skills and resuscitation training are.
At the same time, projects like this make an important contribution to the resilience of the next generation. Knowing how to respond in an emergency builds confidence, self-assurance, and the ability to act.
A Project That Will Last
With his graduation this summer, Henri Bauckhage will be leaving Berlin Cosmopolitan School — but his project will continue to have an impact.
“Staying Alive” is more than a single project day: it is an example of how schools can create spaces in which young people take responsibility and initiate social change.
In doing so, Berlin Cosmopolitan School shows what education in the 21st century can look like: practical, responsible, and effective.
About the Berlin Cosmopolitan School, Preschool and Kindergarten
The Berlin Cosmopolitan School is changing the traditional way schools and kindergartens work with different approaches to learning in the areas of nature and environmental protection, sports, new work, culture, dance, music and art and much more. The aim of the independent school, preschool and kindergarten is to bring all students along according to their abilities.
“When school motivates, everyone learns more” is the conviction of the Berlin Cosmopolitan School. Regular outdoor learning, sports activities and competitions, digital projects such as robotics, internships from grade 6, music-making from kindergarten age, dance clubs, bilingual education and much more help the children to discover and develop their own preferences and abilities.
Important concerns of the Berlin Cosmopolitan School, Kindergarten and Preschool are social justice, equal opportunities in education and a balanced community. The school regularly awards scholarships to students and accepts refugees. Through its established network and internationally trained staff, the educational institution has the opportunity to explore new educational paths for every age group.
The Berlin Cosmopolitan School was founded in 2003 as a non-profit organisation by Yvonne Wende. In 2004, the first bilingual (English-German) kindergarten and preschool opened for Berlin-Mitte with 18 children. Shortly after, the primary school started and most recently, in 2009, the accredited bilingual Gymnasium of Berlin Cosmopolitan School 01P22. Since then, the number of students has steadily increased. Approximately 1,000 students from all over the world are now being taught on the Rückerstraße and Invalidenstraße campuses. The kindergarten has grown to a number of more than 300 children between the ages of 1 and 6.
In 2013, Berlin Cosmopolitan School was accredited as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, first for primary school and also for the Gymnasium. The IB Learner Profile is about developing children and young people into lifelong learners. The school and kindergarten use primary experiences to design lessons.
