Denmark and the Danes - Fredericia Gymnasium Past and Present - The Danish Upper Secondary School System - Fredericia Town History - Surroundings

Fredericia is a provincial town with 45,000 inhabitants situated by the Sound of "Lillebælt". Wherever you are in Denmark, you have a maximum hour's drive to the sea. Fredericia is on the Jutland peninsula, right next to the bridge to the Funen island. Jutland, Funen and Zealand are all connected by bridges and tunnels facilitating transport. With just an hour's drive from Fredericia you can visit Odense, the birth place of Hans Christian Andersen (fairytales), with its timbered houses and thatched roofs, or you can go to Billund with LEGOLAND (children's toys' paradise) or to Århus, the second biggest city in the country with university, cathedral, museums, galleries - or you might want to go to the North Sea with wonderful beeches and dunes.

Various reminders of the Vikings can be found all over the country, but th Danes have developed since that time. Grundvig's "Folkehøjskoler" with their enlightenment to the people in the last century has had a great influence on the Danish national character. We are proud of our Danish interior design, furniture, the windmills, ecological farming, our social welfare system and well-functioning democracy. Our Monarch is Queen Margrethe. Our Queen is a recognized artist and has, for example, created illustrations for the Danish version of Tolkiens "Lord of the Rings."

We moved to the present site in 1974. From a long history and with a long tradition, we are now a modern centre for the education of 15-18-year old young people in the local area.

The school buildings are well kept and contain good facilities with modern up-to-date equipment. Chemistry and Physics Laboratories, Music, Art, Design, Computer rooms, and a well equipped Gymnasium.

The school library is open to all and can be used for homework, written assignments and project work. Pupils can relax and meet friends from other classes in the canteen. In their staff rooms, the teachers have a library and computers at their disposal.

The school year starts in the middle of August and finishes at the end of June. Tuition takes place from 08.05 a.m. until about 3 p.m. A single lesson lasts 90 During lunchbreak (11.25-11.55), students can buy a hot dish or cold food and beverages in the canteen.

The pupils are given oral and written homework every day, and it may consist of a number of written work. An average pupil thus has 8-9 hours' school-work a day and some hours during the weekend. However, most pupils also have time for other activities working after school hours whilst many participate in different leisure activities outside school. School is seen, then, as an important, but not an all-dominating part of the individual pupil's everyday life. FG offers a wide range of extra-curricular activities after school hours, such as sport, art, school orchestras and choir.

The Pupils' Association "Sermo" arranges pupils' parties. Once a year, the school arranges a grand ball to which parents are also invited, and every second year we have a drama or a musical performed by the students. In the spring of 1997 we performed a modern version of "Hamlet". In 2003 we made a production based on one of the old Scandinavian sagas "Gunlaug Ormstunges Saga" with music composed by one of our music teachers.

The Pupils' Editorial staff publishes the school magazine whilst an information magazine is published by the school management.

All students go on a study trip abroad for a week at least once during the two or three years they are at FG. The classes prepare themselves before the trip and visit institutions or sights of historical, social and cultural interest and use their knowledge at their exams in different subjects.

The aims of the trips are more intensive studies of curricula, experiences of different cultures and social togetherness. Hopefully, the trips also further international understanding and tolerance for foreign cultures.

The trips abroad sometimes involve an exchange with another school. The teachers prefer accommodation in private homes since pupils learn a great deal staying with a foreign family. We have made exchange visits with colleges in Herford in Germany, Mostar in Bosnia, Rome and Toscany in Italy, with schools in Estonia and in Barcelona, Spain.

We would like our pupils to gain knowledge of family life, work, leisure activities, customs, traditions - in short - everyday life for other European citizens. We would like them to see other schools and to participate in a few lessons. If possible, we would like to make preparations for a common project within school subjects and suggest preliminary work on a common theme which can be part of the basis of a shared project.

We would also like to be in contact with teachers in order to exchange ideas, be it material, pedagogical methods, students' correspondance, etc. With this in mind, we would like to create contacts to other schools, especially in England as all our students have English as an obligatory subject. Other foreign languages taught are Latin, German, French and Spanish.

The Ministry of Education supervises the quantity and content of the teaching.

Most teachers teach two subjects. Teachers are university graduates with a Master's Degree following 5-7 years' studies. Tuition is free. The pupils attend school 6-8 hours per day from Monday to Friday.

The school year (199 days) starts in the beginning of August and ends in the middle of May. There is one week off in October (week 42), one in February (week 7), and we have Christmas and Easter holidays. From the end of May and until the middle of June, there are written and oral exams for the students. Summerholidays start in the end of June.

Students enter 6th Form College for three years of tuition after 9 or 10 years at Primary School. HF students need 10 years at Primary School, and some of them have left the school system for a few years before they decide to continue their studies. Entry for all pupils is based on an evaluation of aptitude. The age range of the pupils is 16-19 years. At HF, they are sometimes older.

The Danish gymnasium offers a generalized and academic education at Upper Secondary level leading to university and other types of higher education. As a national average, about 30% of the appropriate year-groups attend gymnasium. All Danish gymnasiums are mixed with a slight majority of girls. After three years, students in the 6th Form take a "studentereksamen". After two years at HF, the students take a higher preparatory examination called an "HF eksamen".

For further information, please see "The Danish Ministry of Education" about General Upper Secondary Education and " General Rules and Subjects".If you are interested in education and training in Denmark, please contact Cirius for further information.

Close to Fredericia, at Jelling, was the royal seat of the Viking period. From here the Danish king ruled over Norway and Denmark as written on the enormous runic stone which also shows the first signs of Christianity in Denmark.

Fredericia has always welcomed new citizens. Thanks to the sanctuary rights of the 17th and the 18th centuries, the town became a safe haven for religious minorities. The Jewish churchyard and the many family names originating from the French Huegenots remind us of that period. Today, Fredericia is a modern town, and our slogan "A Town for Everybody" reflects on the needs of the elderly, the children, the physically disadvantaged and all other citizens.

Fredericia Homepage: http://www.fredericiakommune.dk/ (Click Turist)

The sea surrounds the town on three sides. Steep cliffs, beach forests and deep inlets with first-class bathing beaches are easily found. There are two marinas, good spots for anglers, and further inland, you will find an untouched natural environment which makes the area a paradise for birds and ornithologists as well as fine opportunities for any outdoor leisure time activity.

Situated at the heart of Denmark in the centre of the largest motorway intersection in the country as well as a focal point for rail traffic with two bridges and a capacious port, in fact, Fredericia has a wealth of transport options. In addition, a large transport centre which supports both private and public sector transport companies, gives a good base for the distribution of all types of goods.

The port, which is the largest in the country, offers transmission, storage, and distribution of goods and has a special expertise in handling any kind of bulk timber and steel.

North Sea oil is piped in a 330-kilometre pipeline directly from the oil fields to the oil terminal in Fredericia. Some of the oil is shipped out of the port whilst the rest is refined at the Shell refinery.

In recent years a great number of small enterprises have opened covering a wide range of high-tec production with most sectors of Danish commercial life represented, such as factories, service branches, shipping industry, refinery, a brewery, trade, agriculture and fishing industries from small, mediumsized companies to multinational concerns.

Billund Airport, three-quarters of an hour's drive away, is growing fast, running many direct routes to European and other international destinations.

Education
There is a real need for a trained workforce. As a result, the town has felt the need for the importance of education for the future for children as well as for adults, and now provides a wide range of educational institutions, FREDERICIA GYMNASIUM (the Sixth-Form College) being only one of them.