We are a state school in Belfort near the German and Swiss borders. Our town is situated at the junction of Latin and Germanic cultures and we are proud of this double cultural heritage . Our area is a land of immigration , because as this place has a very rich history ( we were dominated by different kingdoms all over the centuries , Spain , Germany , Austria) and this past made us welcome a lot of invaders or refugees . We have 1102 students in global among which 125 post baccalaureate.
There are 100 teachers in different subjects such as history, geography, languages (English, German, Italian , Spanish and Russian ) , philosophy, maths, computing,...We are very aware of the importance of working internationally , and openness to interculturality is part of the official aims of our school . We actually have different sections that are completely turned towards international awareness. First an Abibac section which allows students to take both exams, the German Abitur and the French baccalaureat . Second an ESABAC section, providing the opportunity to take both exams the French and the Italian one. Then we are happy to have three European sections, one in English , one in Italian and one in German. All three provide History lessons taught in the language of the section. In all these sections, exchanges and trips are organised every year and we regularly welcome German and Italian teachers and students in our lessons. We used to have an exchange with Serbia , but as it was led by the city hall , it is over now. The school is also very open to culture, each year we programme a lot of visits of museums and exhibitions and we welcome artists in our walls for exhibitions and lectures. We are part of a programme called “students go to the cinema” so that our students can know how to appreciate movies that they would not go to see by themselves and we teach them how to decode (the different techniques used by film makers) a movie, too.
One of our priorities is to integrate pupils from very different backgrounds even in specific sections. The school pours a lot of money, so that the pupils can integrate sections with compulsory trips and helps for payment of trips for disadvantaged children. As we have a boarding school, the students have the opportunity to go to the theatre once a month with a teacher. A theatre section is also very active inside the school , and they present a performance at the end of the year. Clubs are organised by the students themselves ; we have a school newspaper run by students with the support of some teachers, a club about mangas and another one about fantasy literature.
