The 15th school year at Open Gate: 294 grammar school students and 101 primary school pupils

At Open Gate, 294 students of the eight-year grammar school and 101 primary school pupils have begun the 15th school year together with 108 teachers and other staff members. The family foundation of Mrs Renáta Kellnerová and Mr Petr Kellner has awarded scholarships to 95 grammar school students. In this jubilee school year, the students and pupils can look forward to new classrooms, modernised dormitories, and an improved Counselling Centre. Another new feature is the OG Buddy Programme, under which a ‘mentor’ from the ranks of older students takes care of every newcomer. 

New classrooms
Major reconstruction has primarily helped us to expand the space for language teaching, robotics and IT, and music and art classes. “The new rooms have allowed us to extend the International Baccalaureate programme to include IB Drama and Music. Students now have four separate classrooms for music classes and two large studios with a terrace for art classes,” says school principal Kateřina Kožnarová, providing more details about the changes. 

The Counselling Centre, which now employs ten professionals providing consultations and counselling services to students and their legal guardians, has also received new rooms. The student dormitories also have enlarged premises for students to meet.

Mentors for newcomers
From the first school day, every new student of the Open Gate grammar school has their mentor (called buddy) from a higher year. The older student helps the newcomer to adjust to the new environment and quickly integrate into everyday life both at school and in the student dormitories. 

Need-based grants
This year, 95 grammar school students have been awarded need-based grants from The Kellner Family Foundation. These students are academically gifted young people mainly from single-parent families; 19 students live in foster care or children’s homes. Since the establishment of the grammar school, the family foundation of Mrs Renáta Kellnerová and Mr Petr Kellner has awarded need-based grants to 340 students, of whom 49 are from children’s homes or live in foster care. 

International Baccalaureate in 2019
Open Gate grammar school graduates again scored excellently in the International Baccalaureate (IB) examination. Thea Kratochvílová even scored the full number of 45 points, thereby joining the few hundreds, of the more than 100,000 graduates globally, who can boast of this exceptional performance. The average result of Open Gate’s IB 2018/2019 graduates is 38 points, and this is also a very good score. 
 
“IB gave me more freedom to select my own specialisation. However, the IB programme is also very comprehensive and thanks to this I have gained much more insight into all subjects of knowledge. I regard these two facts, together with the independence without which preparing well for passing the IB examination is not possible, as crucial for admission to university and then studying there,” Thea Kratochvílová says of the IB. She will continue her schooling at the University of Cambridge, where she has chosen to study Economics. As she did at Open Gate, she has won a scholarship from The Kellner Family Foundation for her university years. 

Open Gate students can also opt for the conventional Czech school leaving examination or various combinations of both examinations. The school prepares them for all options throughout their attendance, though they must make the decision at the beginning of the last year. 

Tandem teaching at the primary school
Teaching assistants have been part of the teaching teams at the first level of the primary school for several years. Starting in this academic year, the Open Gate primary school’s teaching staff also includes tandem teachers. “Tandem teaching enhances the diversity of instruction and supports its even more consistent individualisation,” adds Kateřina Kožnarová

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