page_title: Gymnasium (Germany)
section_title: Mentoring
hierarchical_section_title: Gymnasium (Germany) / Mentoring
caption_attribution_description: English: Castle in Torgelow, directly on the lake Deutsch: Das Schloss in Torgelow, direkt am See
context_page_description: Gymnasium, in the German education system, is the most advanced of the three types of German secondary schools, the others being Realschule and Hauptschule. Gymnasium strongly emphasizes academic learning, comparable to the British grammar school system or with prep schools in the United States. A student attending Gymnasium is called a Gymnasiast. In 2009/10 there were 3,094 gymnasia in Germany, with c. 2,475,000 students, resulting in an average student number of 800 students per school.
  Gymnasia are generally public, state-funded schools, but a number of parochial and private gymnasia also exist. In 2009/10, 11.1 percent of gymnasium students attended a private gymnasium. These often charge tuition fees, though many also offer scholarships. Tuition fees are lower than in comparable European countries. Some gymnasia are boarding schools, while others run as day schools; they are now predominantly co-educational, and few single-sex schools remain.
  Students are generally admitted at 10 years of age and are required to have completed four years of grundschule.
context_section_description: As the new crop of students arrive at gymnasium, there is often a period of adjustment. Some gymnasia have mentors that help the new, younger students get settled in. They show them around the school and introduce them to older students. In the case of boarding schools, they also show them the city. The mentoring does not mean a student is seen as being "at risk". On the contrary, if there is a mentoring programme, all new students are likely to have a mentor.
  Some schools have mentors (mostly alumni or parents) who help graduates choose a college and who arrange practical training for them.
  In 2008, a mentoring programme called "Arbeiterkind" ("working-class child") was founded to assist students from working-class families make the transition. A year later, this organization had 1000 mentors and 70 local chapters.
caption: Internat Schloss Torgelow, a renowned private Gymnasium boarding school in Mecklenburg, that leads to prestigious Abitur exams.
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