Landesschule Pforta: The
Landesschule Pforta is located in East Germany. It is close to the city
of Leipzig and Naumburg. Every student has to choose one of three
centres of interest: foreign languages, music or natural sciences. That
means that he has to do more subjects and more lessons in addition to
the regular time table that is not reduced in favor of his centres of
interest. The aim of education is not the constriction to one-sided
specialization, but the broadening of general higher education in a
field where individual interest and capabilities motivate to additional
efforts and higher performances.
Science
(Natural Sciences), Languages (Latin, Greek, English, French, Russian,
Spanish), and Music (teaching and training comprise lessons in history
and theory of music, aural and vocal training, piano and optionally, a
second instrument. In addition every student of the Department of Music
has to join the choirs)
Boarding School All
students live in the boarding school, there are no external students.
The boarding houses do not offer merely accomodation for those students
who live too far away to go home every day. At Pforta about 400
students, today more girls than boys, from all parts of Germany live
and learn from the 9th to the 13th grade, i.e. from the age of 14 to
19. Conditions of admission are good performances at school, social
involvement and passing the entrance examination. The school-leaving
certificate (Abitur) allows the graduates to go to university.
Science (Natural Sciences), Languages (Latin, Greek, English, French,
Russian, Spanish), and Music (teaching and training comprise lessons in
history and theory of music, aural and vocal training, piano and
optionally, a second instrument. In addition every student of the
Department of Music has to join the choirs)
Department of Languages The
Department of Languages looks back on the longest tradition at Pforte.
When the school was founded in the 16th century, at all grammar schools
the central aim of education was the perfect command of Latin that
allowed the graduates to study at any university in Europe. In
following periods too classics, i.e. Latin and Greek, played an
important role in the German school called "Gymnasium" and they are
taught at Schulpforte even now. The present profile of languages,
however, is not aimed at classics exclusively. Besides Latin and Greek
the modern languages English, French, Russian and Spanish are offered
too. From these languages a student of the Department of Languages has
to choose four with Latin as a compulsary subject among them. (At the
regular " Gymnasium" only two or three foreign languages are standard.)
But some students want even more and learn for example Hebrew offered
by a minister nearby.
Department of Music The
Department of Music was founded in 1982, but there had been a long
tradition of successful choirs before. While in times of the German
Democratic Republic (i.e. until 1990) the graduates of special music
classes often had to become musicians or music teachers, today the
students of the Department of Music get the regular school-leaving
certificate (Abitur) allowing them to study any subject at university.
In addition to this the special aim of the Department of Music is to
further their musical talents by a wide training and and so to make
them competent
and active participants of musical life. For this purpose teaching and
training comprise lessons in history and theory of music, aural and
vocal training, piano and (optional) a second instrument. In
addition every student of the Department of Music has to join the
choirs. Girls start in the Girls Choir, and at the age of 16 they
joined the others in the mixed Youth Choir. The choirs can be
considered the musical "advertisement" for Landesschule Pforta: They do
not only provide a dignified setting for all school events but perform
concerts even outside school. They already produced some CDs and are
used to bringing home prizes from national or international choir
contests. Apart from the choirs there are some instrumental
ensembles that do not play for their own entertainment only but also
appear in public performances both at school and elsewhere.
Department of Natural Sciences The
Department of Natural Sciences is the youngest department at
Landesschule Pforta. It was founded in 1992 after the decline of the
German Democratic Republic by transforming the regular higher education
of the GDR, which had concentrated on natural sciences, into an
attractive and modern special department. Furthermore, this third
department was to complement the entire profile of the school that does
not aim at one-sided specialization but at a solid general education in
all subjects supplemented by additional activities in a field each
student chooses according to his special interests. Students of the
Department of Natural Sciences get additional instruction in computer
sciences and astronomy. Furthermore, they have more lessons in maths,
biology, chemistry and physics. In addition there are lots of
excursions, regional contests and informal work shops. Students of
the senior classes do some practicals for one year in an industrial
company or research institute of the region where specialists take care
of their instruction. For this purpose one afternoon of the week is
free from any lessons at school.
