European School

A European School () is a type of international school emphasising a multilingual and multicultural pedagogical approach to the teaching of nursery, primary and secondary students, leading to the European Baccalaureate as their secondary leaving qualification. Each European School is set up, financed, and operated by the international organisation, the "European Schools", controlled jointly by the member states of the European Union and the European Commission. The schools prioritise, for enrolment purposes, the children of EU staff.
The first European School, founded in Luxembourg, in 1953, had the objective of providing an education to the children of employees of the institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community — a forerunner of today's European Union. Originally, a private initiative of employees of the ECSC, the concept attracted the attention of EU founding father, Jean Monnet as capturing the spirit of the post-war effort to reconcile and integrate Europe.
As of September 2017, there are thirteen European Schools located in six EU member states in close proximity to European institutions.
Since 2005, upon a recommendation of the European Parliament, the title of an "Accredited European School" has been available for schools under national jurisdiction and financing, which have been approved, by the Board of Governors of the European Schools, to offer the European Schools' curriculum and the European Baccalaureate.
Legal status.
The schools, despite their close connection to the EU, are neither EU bodies, nor under the full jurisdiction of the individual member states of the European Union. They are instead administered and financed through the international organisation "The European Schools", established by means of an intergovernmental treaty, the 1957 Statute of the European School, since repealed and replaced by the 1994 Convention Defining the Statute of the European Schools. All EU member states, as well as the EU itself, and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) are party to this agreement. As part of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, it will remain party to the Convention until the end of the academic year ongoing at the end of the transition period. The Schools are legally recognised in all participating jurisdictions as public bodies.
Locations.
There are thirteen European Schools, (sometimes designated as "Type 1" European Schools in official documents) found in eight municipalities, across six EU countries, in close proximity to EU institutions, or in the case of the European School, Munich, the European Patent Organisation. There are currently five European Schools in Belgium (four in Brussels and one in Mol) and discussions are currently being held about building a fifth school in Brussels at an undetermined future date.
European School, Culham - United Kingdom - was opened in 1978 and closed on 31 August 2017.
Curriculum.
The curriculum is common to all thirteen schools and is centrally controlled by the Board of Inspectors and the Board of Governors.
Secondary level.
Compulsory subjects for Years 1–7 of the secondary school:
Compulsory for Years 1–3 of the secondary school:
Compulsory subjects for Years 1–5 of the secondary school:
Compulsory subjects for Years 6–7 of the secondary school:
Optional subjects:
Foreign language education.
All modern foreign languages offered are taught using the direct method where the lessons are taught in the language being learned, and the use of the student's native tongue is discouraged. These foreign languages lessons are shared with pupils from other language streams. The idea is to encourage the pupils to use the language they are learning as a means of crossing the communication barrier between themselves and pupils from other language streams. From Year 3 onwards of the secondary school, History and Geography as well as other secondary subjects such as Music are taught in each student's second language. Many of the pupils find themselves in a foreign country, so are surrounded by a foreign language. Some pick it up through language immersion, hence some lessons are taught in the national language of the host country.
European Baccalaureate.
The European Baccalaureate is the leaving certification of the European Schools, and should be distinguished from the International Baccalaureate (IB) and the baccalaureates of various national systems. It is a two-year course assessing the performance of students in the subjects taught in Years 6–7, and culminating in a final series exams taken at the end of Year 7. As per the multilingual ethos of the Schools, certain subjects are instructed and assessed in each student's respective second language. Details of the examinations are set out in the Annex of the Statute of the European School and in the regulations for the European Baccalaureate.
Those students undertaking the European Baccalaureate are required to study at least 8 and up to a maximum of 11 academic subjects, in addition to physical education and moral/religion, with different weightings according to the course choices made when commencing the Baccaluareate. The final mark is calculated as a percentage, where 60% is the minimum for a pass.
The European Baccalaureate is administered and directly supervised by an external examining board appointed annually by the Board of Governors. The examining board consists of up to three representatives of each member state, who must satisfy the conditions governing the appointment of equivalent examining boards in their respective countries. It is presided over by a senior university educator appointed by each member state in turn, assisted by a member of the Board of Inspectors of the Schools.
Article 5 (2) of the Statute provides that holders of the Baccalaureate shall:
The first awards of the European Baccalaureate were made in 1959.
Common extracurricular activities and events.
Sports teams of the European Schools compete in the biennial Eurosport event, with the schools alternating as hosts. In addition, students of the schools have the opportunity to take part in the annual European Schools Science Composium, the winners of which represent the European Schools in the European Union Contest for Young Scientists.
The European Schools also cooperate to take advantage of their unique relationship to EU institutions to provide students on an annual basis with the opportunity to take part in political simulations of EU meetings, held on the premises of the institutions themselves. Students get the opportunity to role-play as delegates of EU member state governments in a Model European Council, MEPs in a Model European Parliament, or international journalists covering the meetings.
The federation of student representatives of the schools, CoSup, organises a "Europarty", held in a different European city each academic year, and open to any student of the European Schools over 16 years of age to attend.