FRANCE:
We are a high school with 760 students from 15 to 18. Our main fields of skills is scientific, economics, litteracy and management. We also have more than 100 students aged from 18 to 20 in three high-school degree (BTS).
We have 60 teachers at the high school, a nurse and 25 salaries (including the primary school).
As a church-supported school, we enjoy more freedom in our curriculum (1 hour).
Besides, in the European section, we are always eager at teaching with new methods, to open new vistas.
Our school has a vibrant social life with several student organizations collecting donations for school-related projects, publishing a school-magazine.
Our group for this application is composed with students from the high school, mainly the 15-17-years old (grades 11th & 12th). Probably 3 teachers are at the core but we want to involve the more we can.
Staff is involved also for handling the financial aspect.
Until now in Notre-Dame d'Espérance we have the agreement for functioning as a regional Cambridge English Language Examination Centre. We prepare students for the Cambridge English: PET for students aged 15 and TOEIC Exams for those older. Therefore all activities in the area of foreign languages have developed conform to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, showing that our concern is not only based on programme contents, but also on providing the students with proficiency levels for their academic and professional careers. Each year, some of them follow their studies abroad: England, Canada, Asia...We have news from former students who go abroad for university or training period as part of their curriculum.
Our school is situated at the mouth of the Loire river. Saint-Nazaire is a 70,000 inhabitants city with a lot of unemployement (nearly 20% higher than the national average). It is a city dominated by two main factories: shipyards and Airbus. The amount of work is always uncertain: there is a kind of periodicity in economics (up when there's a surge and then recession with a lack of contracts).
Our students don't all have the possibility in their family to go abroad and to travel. We are far from Paris (nearly 400 km) and all its museum and culture opportunities (theater, opera, large cultural events). The nearest large city is Nantes, 60 km away.
ITALY:
The Liceo Andrea Maffei Riva del Garda (Trento, Italy) is located in a strategic position at the meeting point of three different regions of Italy: Trentino-Alto Adige in the north, Lombardy in the south-west and Veneto in the south-east. For this reason, the Liceo serves a large school population, which has grown in recent years. This is also related to the diverse learning offer of the Liceo, which consists of four different branches (main areas: natural sciences, ancient languages, modern languages and humanities).
Overall, the current students of Maffei are more than 800 and the
teachers just under 100. The Liceo Maffei has a relevant international network consisting of schools from Germany, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, the U.S.A., Tasmania and Holland. The European dimension has become more central to the Liceo in recent years.
Our school is situated in a valley in the north part of Lake Garda, just where the Alps begin. The area has a relevant turistic offer, specialized nowadays in outdoor activities. Thanks to the mitigation effects of the lake, the valley enjoys mediterrean climate.
Our student's group for this application is aged 15-17. The staff involved is composed by 7-8 teachers.
ROMANIA:
The Mikes Kelemen High School was created in 1874. Back than, the school's name was Upper Girl's School. Through the years our school has been in a lot of buildings, that's where it got its nickname, "The hiking school". In 1990 our school moved to its actual location, and since then it became our schools iconic place. In 1990 the school got the "Mikes Kelemen" name.
We are a theoretical lyceum with 1045 students from 7 to 18 and 54 teachers. We have about 337 students who optionally have extra classes of the following subjects: physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics and informatics.
Our school has a vibrant social life with a student organization called “Mikes DT” which is doing school-related projects and publishing a school-magazine. This organization makes a lot of programs for the students so it can make the school life even happier and enjoyable. Our school also have a school doctor and a psychologist.
Our school is placed in a mostly Hungarian county and it also prefers Hungarian language.
HUNGARY:
Our school is one of the largest schools in Budapest, Hungary. It consists of a large primary section with about 900 pupils and a secondary section of 500 students from age 14 to 19. We also have a smaller section for adult secondary education. Our full staff is about 230, of which there are about 70 teachers in our secondary section.
Our secondary school focuses on humanities, languages and sports. Our English department, with an extra academic year for languages, holds high popularity among our students. However, we have a department of sciences as well, of about 130 students who optionally have extra classes of one of the following subjects: physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics and informatics. We are constantly improving our science education to meet the requirements of economy.
As a church-supported school, we enjoy more freedom in our curriculum and teaching methods than most schools of our country does. We mean to take advantage of this to be more innovative, to learn more up-to-date methods.
Our school has a vibrant social life with several student organizations collecting donations for school-related projects, publishing a high-quality school-magazine, organizing debates on social issues. Besides, our best performing students are encouraged to teach classes in our primary school, bringing the students of different ages closer to each other.
We admit that there are schools of better academic achievements but there is also a difference in our method of selecting our applicants. We try to reach out for a wider public, receiving and improving students of learning problems along with the talented ones.