Partner schools

In matters of environmental awareness, the Donau-Auen National Park cooperates with several schools which are located in the surrounding area. Programmes are created by national park rangers in cooperation with the teaching staff. The object is to acquaint the pupils with “their” regional protected area.

DONAU Versicherung supports

In 2020, the Donau-Auen National Park has extended its cooperation with DONAU Versicherung, which now also supports the partner school programme. It started with the primary school in Hainburg. Other schools followed and a research booklet for primary schools has also been produced.

Orth an der Donau

The cooperation with the Volksschule Orth/Donau as part of the Interreg project Ecoregion SKAT began in 2020 with programs on the animals of the Danube floodplains. Since then, the focus has been on programs about ponds, snails and animals in the floodplain forest.

For several years now, there has been intensive cooperation with the "neighbours" of the schlossORTH National Park Centre - the Mittelschule Orth/Donau. The pupils have already been involved in several major events and carried out research activities.

A joint reintroduction project for jackdaws, species protection measures for the European pond turtle and the supervision of the amphibian fence on the Orther Uferstraße are also running successfully. Thematic focuses were also worked on bats, white-tailed eagles and the Danube crested newt.

Hainburg

In 2009, the Donau-Auen National Park started a cooperation with the Neue Mittelschule Hainburg. The programmes are interdisciplinary, partly at school and mostly in the wetland forest and on the Danube.

The pupils were able to participate in activities to optimise habitats or help individual animal species to reestablish themselves. In the first coordinated winter count of the white-tailed eagle along the entire Danube, the school participated in the accompanying event in Hainburg.

Since 2014, the project has been continued with the support of the Sparkasse Hainburg Privatstiftung. The supervision of an upper school class as part of the elective subject is part of the cooperation.

Schwechat

There is also good cooperation with the BG/BRG Schwechat. The Donau-Auen National Park has developed projects with the young people from Schwechat that focus on the exploration of the wetland forest, and excursions have been organised.

Furthermore, the programmes of the Donau-Auen National Park were integrated into the elective subject of the upper school.

Wolfsthal

The planting of an oak tree in the school garden marked the beginning with Wolfsthal primary school in November 2019: children in the third and fourth grades are now accompanied by the Donau-Auen National Park in their lessons.

Excursions lasting several hours and changing with the seasons await them. Topics include tracking and tracing, experience with all the senses, spring vegetation and species richness in the wetland landscape.

Other locations

Within the Ecoregion SKAT project, a further cooperation with the Neue Mittelschule Marchegg and the Neue Mittelschule Lassee was implemented. Here, pupils are familiarized with the natural areas and biodiversity on their doorstep, the WWF reserve Marchauen and adjacent nature reserves as well as the national park.

In addition, several events were organized at the school and excursions were made to neighbouring Slovakia, and the cooperation was extended to the Stopfenreuth Kindergarten.