2_0_ScanMag_70_Nov_2014_Text:Scan Magazine 1
5/11/14
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Page 63
Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Education in Denmark
and school staff are encouraged to meet each other at eye level. Christianity plays a great role in the everyday life at the school. Devotions and hymns are part of the schedule, Sundays and other ecclesiastical holidays are celebrated, and the staff are active believers who want to present Jesus to the students and show the relevancy of Christianity to the life of modern day teenagers. The school adopts a zero-tolerance bullying policy, and alcohol and smoking is off limits on the school premises. Sex between pupils is not accepted, and the boy and girl dormitories are situated in separate wings. A fit mind in a fit body The philosophy of Sædding Efterskole is that a healthy body is the basis for a sound mind. A compulsory morning jog is included in the school schedule three times a week, and for school excursions the bicycle is always the chosen means of transportation. The school kitchen provides for a healthy (and delicious) diet, and the list of optional subjects is a veritable profusion in physical education and sports. The school volleyball and football teams enter competition level tournaments against other schools each year.
With these basics in place, the scene is set for the school’s main service: the providing of professional education, and Sædding Efterskole also documents that it can deliver in terms of this objective. Naturally, the schedule covers the complete spectrum of compulsory subjects for Danish 9th and 10th grade school years. In addition, as part of the school’s specific tradition, it offers highly profiled courses in the fields of sports, music, international studies, advanced English and Bible classes, and it boasts exam grades well above the national average. International outlook Principal Houler takes special pride in the international outlook of the school and its teachers. An obligatory part of the school year at Sædding is the biannual opportunities to travel abroad. The winter months feature a ski trip, while the spring semester promises a week in one of the capitals or major cities of Europe. That is unless one opts for the school’s “World Wide” programme, which guarantees a trip to another continent. Most classes are conducted in Danish, but students for whom Danish is a second language receive extra Danish courses. Among the students are immigrants and students from Greenland and the Faeroe
Islands. One of the strengths of the continuation school is its special catering to pupils with only a limited knowledge of the Danish language, as Russo-Nigerian Kristian Ikponmvosa can testify. “The teachers always take the time to explain things and are very helpful with grammar,” says the young man who had only recently moved to Denmark when attending Sædding. “It’s a relief to study and live in a student community that is not shy to talk about faith,” says Kristian, adamant that the daily devotions and Sunday services with the school have meant immensely much to him as a person. Naturally, the students’ different backgrounds stimulate a great diversity in the student group, and the realms of music, theatricals and the Bible itself are as universal as it gets. The formula behind the profound impressions that a year at a continuation school almost always leaves on a young person, cannot be grasped or explained in a few words. It has to be lived. Nothing does a better job of summing it up than the official motto of Sædding Efterskole: “Excitement for Life”. For more information, please visit: www.saedding.dk
The intimate and closely-knit community on the school premises promotes close friendships and an exceptional spirit of togetherness.
Issue 70 | November 2014 | 63