A few reasons for choosing the Catholic secondary school in Pilsen ...

What you might not know about our school:

Do you know that ...

• the Catholic secondary school was established in 1992?
• the founder of the Catholic secondary school was the Bishopric in Pilsen?
• the Catholic secondary school is a one of a kind school in Western Bohemia and in the bishopric of Pilsen?
• the absolvents of the school are 90-95 per cent successful in entrance exams at universities and technical universities?
• currently there are 500 students attending the 8-year program and 60 students who have signed up for the 4-year distance studies?
• our school keeps a close relationship with its partner school in Germany, France and Great Britain?
• among the facilities of the school there is a gymnasium, a computer lab, and there are specialized classrooms designed for teaching languages, chemistry, physics, biology, geography, music and arts?
• the Catholic school provides its students with public catering in its own dining-hall?
• a school courtyard with a garden, a basketball cage and table tennis is available in the students´ free time
• at the Catholic school there is operated a ceramic workshop?
• our school arranges exchanges for its students to go to Germany, France and Graet Britain
• have informative conducted tours to Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy?
• our students take part in summer and winter skiing courses as a part of their physical education?
• a number of our students are studying in foreign countries such as our partner schools in Germany and Great Britain?
• students of the Catholic school successfully take part in various competitions, festivals and student scientific activities?
• the parents of our students can become involved in the management of the school through their representatives in the school council?
• we annually organize exhibitions of the students´ art?
• a chorus regularly practises its singing and is involved in many national, as well as international, performances?
• there is a pediatrist in the building?
• regular masses take place in the school chapel, which interior set-out was made by a notable sculptor Jaroslav Šindelář?
• the school organizes preparation courses for entrance exams to 8-year-grammar schools?
• since the year 2007/08, we have started to teach according to our owns chool educational program KOMPAS I.?
• our students can study 2 foreign languages since prima (English and then they can choose German or French)?

The 8-year program
The daily full-time program is designed for the absolvents of the 5th grade of a basic school who have passed the entrance exams. The entrance exams take place on the date determined by the Ministry of Education.
Applicants can become familiar with the school during the traditional Afternoon Full of Surprises in the course of which they and their parents have got the chance to observe the whole area, including specialized classes, to meet the teachers and students, to take part in some competitions, to try out a part of the entrance exams and to look at these pages in the computer lab.
The direction of the 8-year daily full-time program is general, while the last 2 years give students the opportunity to specialize themselves in their desired direction of the following university studies. The program finishes with school leaving exams.

The 4-year distance study
In the school term 1998/99 distance study, which is designed for the applicants with the complete basic degree, was introduced at the Catholic secondary school in Pilsen. The study is done through consultations that are carried out twice a month on Saturdays. At the end of the study, a student takes a school leaving exam, which is the equivalent to the exam in the 8-year daily full time program.

Facilities of the school
The Catholic school disposes of a range of specialized classrooms. Among them there are 3 classrooms for teaching English, 2 classrooms for French lessons,  a specialized classroom with a laboratory for teaching chemistry, a biology classroom whith a videomicroscope, a classroom for teaching physics, a classroom for geography, a computer lab with 18 computers, a classroom for lessons of art and 2 gymnasiums. The classrooms are equipped with a variety of teaching aids and appliances.
Furthermore, there is a library with a study-room available.

Department of foreign languages
The Catholic secondary school is distinctive in its intensive language preparation. We believe that nowadays good knowledge of languages is an important condition of students´ further involvement in practical everyday life or university studies. We focus on another aspect of language teaching, which is its role in the formation of multicultural awareness in the continuous globalization of the world.
We teach English, German, French, Italian and Latin. For those who are interested, there is an optional course of Russian. Every student should master at least 2 living foreign languages.
Learning a language is enlarged by exchanges with our partner schools abroad, informative tours and weekly intensive language courses . There are foreign lectors employed by the school for teaching English, German and French.
The evidence of the high quality of language preparation is given by the great success of students in competitions as well as the fact that every year a lot of our students manage to study abroad. This is a part of the longterm exchange program for our students. Our cooperation with the Benedictine secondary school of St. Michal in Metten in Germany and with the secondary school in Ampleforth in Great Britain has a long tradition.

The singing chorus of the Catholic school
The singing chorus has been functioning since the foundation of the school in 1992, several conductors have followed in the leading role - Petr Mecl, Jan Mentl,Eva Machalkova and Petra Nováková-Coufalová. Nowadays, conducting is taken over by Jakub Šedivý. The original chorus numbering 20 members has slowly grown up to 40 members. In its repertoire, spirituals and spirit works from various periods of time predominate.
Most public performances have been watched by some audiences in Germany. Concerts organized together with German choruses are frequent. The chorus accompanies czech-german masses and meetings. The Chorus, of course, performs during the events of the school, such as e.g. Afternoons Full of Surprises, the official ceremony of handing over certificates of the school leaving exam, or vernissages of art. During Advent, the chorus has several times taken part in the festival of singing choruses from catholic schools in Kromeriz. In the present time, students from the lower grades of the secondary school (12 - 14 year olds) have got the possibility to choose the subject of chorus singing as an optional subject within aesthetics. The older students of the higher grades attend the chorus as a voluntary subject.

Informative and instructive excursions
Informative and instructive excursions play an inseparable part in the curriculum of the Catholic school. Their aim is to broaden and widen students´ knowledge acquired in their lessons; to show how things function in reality, to point out the connections which otherwise escape, and to give students the opportunity to try out various practical activities. In short, they must be as demonstrative as possible.
Special sorts of excursions are intensive language and physical training courses.
Enriching students´ knowledge in biology is guaranteed by popular botanic and zoological courses. Students of natural science profit from the opportunity to visit the Zoo in Pilsen, the factory for purifying water, blood-transfusion ambulances and anatomical museum of Hrdlicka. The Instructive path in Stary Plzenec is a source of opportunities for combining experiences from a large range of subjects - from geology and biology to regional history.
The subjects of social science do not stay behind. Visits to the theatre and to cinema performances, to expositions of art in Pilsen and Prague, to concerts of classical as well as popular music are important aspects of teaching Czech language and literature, music and art. In the last few years excursions to the New Synagoge in Pilsen, to the House of Parliament and to the Jewish Museum in Prague have found their place in the curriculum. A large number of acknowledged experts of scientific, cultural and political life organize lectures and meetings at the school.
Regular meditation days play an important role in the complex formation of students´ personalities. Our teachers of religion are responsible for these occassions.
Exchanges and excursions abroad accomplish specific tasks. Students of German traditionally take part in weekly exchanges in bavarian Metten (Germany), where the Benedictine secondary school is situated. Students stay with host families and attend classes.
Students of French take part in similar exchanges with many French schools. Apart from this, the French department organizes informative excursions to Paris, Provence and other regions.
In 1999, students of English started the tradition of informative excursions to England.
Another significant contribution to teaching history, geography, history of art and religion is represented by the traditional tour to Italy, which the Catholic school has been organizing every year since its foundation. The tour towards the roots of the European civilization is mainly bound for Rome. The stay, lasting several days, is completed by introducing the pearls of Tuscany or Umbria to the students.
Local excursions have got a coherent informative character as well. Students of higher grades annually set off for Moravia, where they get to know significant places, such as Olomouc, Kromeriz, Hostyn, Mikulcice, Velehrad and Znojmo.