The
school's advantages
We felt it was essential to describe some
good sides of attending to our school. It is impossible to show all
advantages because for different people very different things matter.
When we are thinking of the school we are thinking of people.
People who create the school life, I mean our friends, students and
teachers I know or not. All of them are the best people we could ever
imagine. All our school friends are very nice; we go on very well
with each other. We often pay each other visits, from time to time
we meet in pubs or in discos and have very nice time. We spend holidays
together too. We can feel now that these are friendships for life.
Teachers are great too. They provide us with incredible large knowledge
but are also our friends. We have great respect for all of them. We
all know that it is as it should be.
This school is regarded as prestigious in Czestochowa. The education
standard is high. It is important because we know that we are able
to meet the most demanding criteria and can manage in my future life.
The European education is very important here. We have special
lessons in order to know as much as possible about European Union.
International students' exchanges are what our school is famous for
in Czestochowa.
There are lots of traditions and customs in our school, which
are precisely respected. All of them, even the smallest create special
atmosphere inside and allow us to identify ourselves as members of
"Copernicus Society". They make us proud of the fact that
we are part of something great. And we are proud indeed.
Our school is not one of those old-fashioned schools, for sure.
There is modern attitude to pupils, who enjoy the great liberty of.
It is the most visible in clothing where good taste and manners are
the only limitations.
Every student of Copernicus Secondary School in Czestochowa loves
laughing. We do it all the time during breaks and sometimes during
lessons (in this case we have to be quiet which isn't always possible).
We tell jokes, pretend to be someone else, we trick on each other
etc.
The school tries to come up to our expectations. There are
lots of circles, where we can learn and have fun at the same time.
These are e.g. sports circle, shooting, photography, and theatre and
computer science circle. As we said it is impossible to write about
all advantages. If You want to know some details ask us directly by
e-mails.
Our
school, like other, has lots of advantages and disadvantages.
What I like in there mostly is the climate, which it has. It is thanks
to their students, but not only. Almost every student seems to have
his own style. It is showed mostly through their dressing style. The
amplitude of dressing style is extremely high. I like to make some decorations
on my clothes or some extra things by myself. I love beads, especially
wooden, I have lots of them. Things very sophisticated (but not exaggerated),
or rare are for me very attractive. So when I see someone, who looks
a bit different than the others and do not loose the taste at the same
time, I admire it. The styles are from 'skates' with large jeans a la
Eminem or Fred Durst, to the 'hippies' or 'metal listeners'. Nevertheless,
everyone is tolerant.
One of school's problems is the organisation, especially of space. There
are too many students in it. Of course I don't wish anybody bad luck,
finally you can get used to this lack of space. The perfect example
of this disorganisation was when somebody (?) called our school and
said there was a bomb. Then the real horror happened. We were pushed
into the shelter (!) where our locks are . The traffic was so big that
changing the floor took 5 minutes. It was false alert of course, there
was no bomb. One Week later we got information about our punishment…
(wanna know more? - write to me)
By this note I didn't mean to hurt anybody
Ania
Three years ago I graduated from Primary School. I was 15 years old
and I had many plans for the future. For last two years I wanted to
be an actress, but was also, very ambitious and I didn't want to give
up mental career. That's why I decided to continue learning at one of
the best secondary school in my town. Almost three years ago I took
up education at "Copernicus", the 7th Secondary School in
Czestochowa. Like in every school, there are good and bad sides of being
a student in my school.
Advantages
Like I said at the beginning, in the past I was really
interested in acting. In my school I could fulfil my dreams. Every year
there are two occasions to show musical and theatre abilities. * First
is "Copernicalies". This is an affair, which took its name
from the name of our patron. It is celebrated on March 21. Learners
are to decorate the classrooms and prepare some plays or performances
about school life, about some big event or something they simply like.
There is always a lot of fun. Imagine yourself a group of people disguised
as a mouse or fat chef. This is also a very good chance to meet new
friends. *Second big affair is the day of European Union. At this occasion
we also prepare some plays but they deal with the history of several
countries from EU.
If you want to travel over the world, come to my school!
Every year our teachers organize a trip to some foreign country. I was
on this kind of trip only once, but I must say it was unforgettable
experience. I was really surprised when I saw how teachers could be
kind and cheerful in situation like this.
There are many chances to see our own country. For example,
my teacher from French, who is also a tutor of my class, likes theatre
very much. This is the reason why we are in Krakow every year (there
is quite famous theatre).
Teaching & learning.. Some of the teachers are really
amazing. Every student has some problems. I had them too. That was at
the day when I was leading special concur for children from primary
and secondary schools. My class had lessons at this time. At the break
my friend (I won't tell his name) came to me and told me that I got
a very bad mark from the subject, which I am going to have on my entry
exams. Maybe it is stupid, but I was so nervous that I couldn't continue
my work. And then a very nice surprise came. The teacher, who doesn't
know me very well because she has only one lesson per week with my class,
started to talk with me. She was so kind and friendly that after two
minutes everything was good.
Lessons can be very boring. English lessons aren't. If
you go to the article about SMOKING you will see what I mean.
Clothes & tolerance. You can wear flowery blouses
and checked trousers or be the man in black, or be a skate man and you
will be tolerated in our school.
Disadvantages
Our school is very small and there is a large number of
students. For the next year there is predicted to be more. What is very
sad, we don't even have a place where we can seat during breaks or eat
lunch. It' s really annoying when you have so-called "window"
between two lessons. This it too short time for going home for lunch
and too long for seating on a bench at the school hall.
There is also a problem with toilets. The number of cabins
is too small to such a large group of girls studying at school. You
must also be very patient if you are non-smoking (look at the article
about SMOKING).
Students are under very big pressure of learning. Sometimes
you don't even have time for yourself or for your friends. If you want
to be good, to have good marks, you must get used to waking up at 5.30
a.m. and going to bed at 12.00 p.m. (like in my case-I'm a very hardworking
student). Very often at the and of one term you look like a lunatic
because you must learn for three or four tests at the same time.
We don't have a swimming pool. At the first class we used
to go to another school for swimming, but it was only for one year.
Now we have lessons in the gym class, which is on the second floor.
Because of this fact, you can hear someone playing basketball during
the lessons. In fact he is doing it above your head. We also don't have
discos at school. The roof can fall down under such a big heaviness.
The last thing is the system of passing the information
on. For example the dates of meeting for parents are often conveyed
too late, although there are still students who try to hide it from
their parents. Consequences of this fact are simple. Many parents don't
know the recent changes in the system of teaching and they have many
questions, which they can't be answered.
Anna-Maria Szalas
This text contents my private feelings and
opinions.
I don't know what has happened to my school in the last three
years. Maybe nothing has happened to it but it is me who has changed
and now I can see things from another point of view. The point is that
my present-day opinion is completely different from that I had three
years ago. Of course it doesn't mean that it is worse - in some cases
I am quite nice surprised.
Let's start from the very beginning.
When I was going to be a student of VII Copernicus Secondary School
in Czestochowa the school had very good reputation (I suppose it still
has it). It was one of the happiest days in my life when I heard that
I had passed the entry exams and had been accepted to be a member of
the "Copernicus society". The first year was great. I was
amazed by the respect, which teachers were showing to students. I was
also surprised by the perfection in keeping the traditions of the school.
The idealized image of the school's life was heightened by the international
student's exchanges, which pupils of our school took part in that time.
Unfortunately, after a year things began to change. At the moment I
started second year of my education in this school I noticed changes
for worse. It is hard to describe but I think that people lost their
enthusiasm. The simplest example is the situation in the spring of 2001.
My class, as well as others, was to go to three-days trip at the end
of second term. The ambitious plan came to nothing. Since then I have
always wondered what went wrong. Those days I could still find an excuse,
considering that others trips took place. This was just single example
but there were others. Just petty details. All of them meant nothing
alone but when we put them together, idealized image began to disappear.
The third year has been culmination.
When I'm thinking of this year, I'm thinking of two matters. First matter
is the private life of my classmates and mine. The traditional "half-way
point ball", which took place in November 2001, was a great success.
Then Friday evening's meets and home parties confirmed me in the conviction
that everything went good with my class. Class life has flourished.
I thought it would be the best year of my life (and it has been so indeed).
Privately, I have had nothing to complain about this year. Unfortunately
nothing's perfect. When it comes to second important this year's matter,
I mean school in general, it turned out to be much more complicated.
The "third year relaxation" occurred. Second and third year
are usually regarded as more relaxing so teachers try to keep discipline.
It is true that some students' behaviour worsens during this time but
I don't think I'm one of them. But what is the most important in my
words is that all students are treated equally so I am put on a par
with those students. I just can't accept such situation. Fortunately
there are exceptions to the rule. Assessment of school's life is a debatable
thing. For almost a year I haven't seen school paper "European
Graffiti", although it was released irregularly from time to time.
"Copernicus" was published on 13 April for the second time
this year. Some of traditional ceremonies didn't take place, which was
very unusual here. There were also lots of success in other activities
- see "Achievements page" and "Society Connections page".
The only thing I can say is that all these events became less visible.
To draw a conclusion I'd like to say that I'm not disappointed with
the school. It is just like others and it still provides high level
of education. It doesn't even matter whether it comes up to my expectations
(my expectations can be excessive). There are lots of outstanding students
in our school. In my opinion it should be the school's goal to make
the most of them and it is indeed. The hitch is that sometimes I can't
see enthusiasm both in students and in teachers' actions.
Jarek Wójcik
Secondary school should teach life and help almost adult youths
to discover their place in this great value of living. And if only it
would give an excellent education, it would be an ideal school.
VII Copernicus Secondary School in Czestochowa is one of the
kinds. Everyone has got here chances to improve his abilities and to
make the dreams come true, especially dreams connected with international
student's exchanges. Proudly saying, it's one of the best schools in
our region. I'll not lie also, telling You, that it's now on the first
place in education level from the schools in Czestochowa. This is proved
by the most objective ranking, which includes the results from General
Certificate Of Secondary Education. Copernicus is particularly well
known because of his very high level of teaching foreign languages and
other humanistic subjects.
Like You see, this partially affected in creating this English
language web site and reflects our abilities. I doubt, that we are some
geniuses, but good school should learn well and practically, and we're
now using our skills, achieved or improved here in Copernicus. You may
in a way, judge us and our school, basing on everything what we described
here.
But reality is a little bit different than just plain words.
Everything what we achieve here is our huge effort. School can only
help us on the road to the future, which we chose, but won't do the
work for pupils. Almost everyone succeeded or at least has tried to
achieve something important for himself by taking part in the many different
competitions and by having good results in learning. Please remember
that good education doesn't mean that life here is nice and easy. Sometimes
it's very hard to plan reasonable the time for the learning and the
entertainment. As for the teachers, there are some "born teachers",
great mentors and few who are not cut out for teaching. But this is
a school of life, and real life could be tough, so maybe the adults
are preparing us beforehand for this or have already hit the hard rocks
to often and now are out of vital energy.
The Copernicus School has some great traditions, which were initiated
a long time ago and now the actual headmistress and the teachers continue
them. It's very important for our young mentality to have such a feeling
of membership and a respect for the past. The most beautiful thing is
that school really tries to make us the representants of high-level
Polish culture. Unfortunately for everybody some constant events are
being delayed and even not present in nowadays situations. It's because
of too many reasons, and the Heads of the school aren't coping with
those problems and won't do it alone, without proprietary support.
You may here feel quite funny. It's sometimes like swinging or
riding the rollercoaster. There're the good days with pupils smiling,
having a good time, some average days, when we are bored a lot and the
bad days with stressed minds and sometimes even cries in our eyes and
hearts. There are simply ups and downs. Of course there are some problems,
but having the courage to live and learn is to have the abilities to
firmly cope with troubles.
The Copernicus is full of ideas, how the school should evolve
and change its image for an even better one. The only real problem is
the difficulty to unite two forces of clever minds: pupils and teachers.
People in this school have such huge power to create, but it is used
in a minimal. If only we could proprietary communicate and combine together,
we could make this school the best for everyone, where there are extremely
less frontiers between people.
I wanted good education, friends, second
home and I think I've got it, right here.
Rafal Paradowski