Copernicus Upper-Secondary School

in Tarnobrzeg

LocationBefore we start talking about the school itself, it would be good to know where our home town is located. Tarnobrzeg is in the south-east of Poland.

Origin of the nameThe full name of our school in Polish is ‘Liceum Ogólnokształcące imienia Mikołaja Kopernika w Tarnobrzegu’.

You probably don’t understand that – don’t worry – we’ll go through it:

Liceum Ogólnokształcące – High School

imienia Mikołaja Kopernika – Patroned by Nicolaus Copernicus

w Tarnobrzegu – located in Tarnobrzeg

:)

How it all startedOur school was founded in 1909, however it was called differently since the education system was different. The next big event was the beginning of World War I when a few professors had to join the army and fight. Then, in 1925 it was renamed to the State Middle School and took Jan Tarnowski ( a local hero) as the patron.

Ten years later a major change was made to the education system and the school got divided into a 4-year middle school and a 2-year high school. Then, in 1939, when World War II started, the school had to be closed for five years.

Long after that, in 1973, the school took Nicolaus Copernicus as its patron just as it is today.

How it is nowRight now, the educational system in Poland makes students attend a 6-year elementary school, a 3-year middle school, a 3-year high school and then a 5-year university. In our school there are three grades of 8 classes (around 24 people each which makes up around 750 people altogether).

The school buildingIn the picture below, you can see two parts of our school – on the left is the newer building built in the 1980’s, and on the right - the original building, recently renovated.

In our school students can choose among the following classes (they extend some subjects in the second and third year) :

- Maths-Physics-English oriented ones ( for those who want to study economics, architecture, IT, engineering),

- Biology-Chemistry (medicine, nurses, pharmacy),

- the Humanities oriented ones ( for future journalists, teachers, psychologists and lawyers),

- Maths-Geography (for those who want to study astronomy, geology, weather forecasting),

- foreign languages (for future translators, interpreters, tourist guides).

There are, of course, many other possible combinations. You can simply choose the subjects you like :)

Foreign languagesThe majority of students choose English as their first foreign language. They take A-levels on the basic or extended level. German, French, Spanish, Russian and Latin are also taught in our school. Quite many students learn German because Germany is our neighbour and our students think of working there in the future.

After school ...Every year our students win in numerous local and national competitions.

Annually in March, they take part in a talent show in the Culture Centre.

In this photo, you can see our current principal - Mr Tomasz Stróż.