Portal:Schools

The Schools portal

Introduction

A school is both the educational institution and building designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools that can be built and operated by both government and private organization. The names for these schools vary by country (discussed in the Regional terms section below) but generally include primary school for young children and secondary school for teenagers who have completed primary education. An institution where higher education is taught is commonly called a university college or university.

In addition to these core schools, students in a given country may also attend schools before and after primary (elementary in the U.S.) and secondary (middle school in the U.S.) education. Kindergarten or preschool provide some schooling to very young children (typically ages 3–5). University, vocational school, college or seminary may be available after secondary school. A school may be dedicated to one particular field, such as a school of economics or dance. Alternative schools may provide nontraditional curriculum and methods. (Full article...)

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

The Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship is a scholarship for post-graduate philosophy students at The Queen's College, Oxford, with preference given to students of Iranian citizenship or heritage. It was established in 2009 following the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian philosophy student, in the street protests that followed the disputed Iranian presidential election in 2009. The college received offers from two anonymous donors to establish a scholarship, followed by many individual donations from former students of Queen's and others to reach its £70,000 target to establish the scholarship on a permanent basis. The first recipient of the scholarship was Arianne Shahvisi, a philosophy student of Iranian descent, who described the award as "a great honour".

The establishment of the scholarship led to criticism from the Iranian government: the Iranian embassy in London told the college that the university was involved in a "politically motivated campaign ... in sharp contrast with its academic objectives". In response, The Times praised the scholarship in an editorial, saying that the establishment of the scholarship was indeed politically motivated, "and admirably so", given the government's reaction to her death and continuing problems in Iran. One British–Iranian student, Leyla Ferani, has said that the scholarship could be Agha-Soltan's "most important legacy". The college has denied that it took a political decision in establishing the scholarship, stating that it aims to attract and support the best students, and arguing that refusal of the donations would itself have been a political act. Anonymous British diplomatic sources were reported as saying that the creation of the scholarship had put "another nail into the coffin" of relations between Britain and Iran. (Full article...)

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Credit: (c) Magneticcarpet

Cleveland Tower, designed by Ralph Adams Cram, is a prominent landmark of Princeton University. It is one of the defining architectural features of the Collegiate Gothic Graduate College, inspired by Boston College's Gasson Hall. The tower was built in 1913 as a memorial to former U.S. President Grover Cleveland, who also served as a university trustee. A bust of the former president is the centerpiece of the grand chamber at the tower's ground level.

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In this month

July

21st

1922 – Institut Le Rosey's first alumni association, the "Old Rosey Association," is created in Switzerland

1925 – In the Scopes Trial, the Criminal Court of Tennessee upholds the Bulter Act, which made it unlawful, in any state-funded educational establishment in Tennessee, "to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." The case was a watershed in the creation-evolution controversy.

29th

1988 – The Education Reform Act of 1988 is introduced into England, Wales and Northern Ireland, ensuring that state schools of all Local Education Authorities have a common curriculum.

31st

1881 – Permission is received from Her Majesty Queen Victoria to rename Colombo Academy and Queens College in Sri Lanka to Royal College, Colombo

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More did you know...

... that the Holgate School in Nottinghamshire, England had a Khatchkar (pictured) installed in thanks by the Armenian Government for UK-funded Lord Byron School in Gyumri?
... that Schools Plus, an education policy proposed by New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, was boycotted by 15 schools?
... that Diocesan School for Girls students can download whiteboard notes to their laptops?

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Maguire in 1866 by the Brady–Handy studio

Bernard A. Maguire SJ (February 11, 1818 – April 26, 1886) was an Irish-American Catholic priest and Jesuit who served twice as the president of Georgetown University. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the United States at the age of six, and his family settled in Maryland. Maguire attended Saint John's College in Frederick, Maryland, and then entered the Society of Jesus in 1837. He continued his studies at Georgetown University, where he also taught and was prefect, until his ordination to the priesthood in 1851.

In 1852, Maguire was appointed president of Georgetown University. His tenure is regarded as successful; new buildings were erected, the number of students increased, and the preparatory division was partially separated from Georgetown College. Upon the end of his presidency in 1858, he engaged in pastoral and missionary work in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, and developed a reputation as a skilled preacher. In the aftermath of the American Civil War, which devastated the university, Maguire again became president of Georgetown in 1866. The long-planned Georgetown Law School was established at the end of his presidency. His term ended in 1870, and he returned to missionary work, traveling throughout the country. He died in Philadelphia in 1886. (Full article...)

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... that even though Mother Mary Corona received no formal teacher training, she was the president of Alverno Teachers College?
... that students and faculty from Fuchs Mizrachi School protested at Nazi guard John Demjanjuk's home in 1993, objecting to his release from Israeli prison and residence in the United States?
... that the Proseminar in Homophile Studies, one of the first university courses about homosexuality, was held only once?
... that Winchester College football used to be played on top of a hill, with a line of boys on each side to keep the ball from rolling away?
... that the Spirit of Norfolk caught fire while carrying 89 schoolchildren?
... that a will bequeathing the Chestnut Street Opera House to the University of Pennsylvania was contested at the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania?
... that when Bill Renwick was asked to review a neo-Nazi case at the University of Waikato it was meant to take three weeks, but instead took nearly two years?
... that a 16-year-old high-school student reverse-engineered iMessage to let Android users text iPhone users with blue chat bubbles using the Beeper Mini app?

General images

The following are images from various school-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Mental Calculations. In the school of SRachinsky by Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky. 1895. (from History of education)
Image 2Vocational school in Lappajärvi, Finland (from Vocational school)
Image 3Agnes Scott College (from College)
Image 4Students in a carpentry trade school learning woodworking skills, c. 1920 (from Vocational school)
Image 5Graduates of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia include Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergey Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, and George Balanchine. (from Music school)
Image 6A staged example of an online classroom using Jitsi. The teacher is sharing their screen. (from Online school)
Image 7György Dózsa Vocational Secondary School, Kalocsa, Hungary (from Vocational school)
Image 8Dongping County Vocational Secondary School, China (from Vocational school)
Image 9Based around Notre-Dame de Paris, the Notre-Dame school was an important centre of polyphonic music. (from Music school)
Image 10Pomona College (from College)
Image 11One-room school in 1935, Alabama (from School)
Image 12Scotch College, Melbourne, an independent secondary school in Australia (from College)
Image 13First primary school in Nigeria, built in 1845 (from School)
Image 14Albert Bettannier's 1887 painting La Tache noire depicts a child being taught about the "lost" province of Alsace-Lorraine in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War – an example of how European schools were often used in order to inoculate Nationalism in their pupils. (from School)
Image 15The "red siminar", a college building pictured in the coat of arms of Nuuk, the capital city of Greenland (from College)
Image 16The Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee is the oldest technical institution in Asia. (from College)
Image 17The Abbey of Cluny (from History of education)
Image 18A high school building in Argos, Greece (from School)
Image 19Saint Anselm College (from College)
Image 20St John's College, Johannesburg, a boys' school in South Africa (from College)
Image 21Mental calculations. In the school of S. Rachinsky by Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky. Russia, 1895. (from School)
Image 22Birkbeck, University of London (from College)
Image 23Scripps College (from College)
Image 24King's College London, established by a Royal Charter in 1829, is one of the founding colleges of the University of London. (from College)
Image 25A school entrance building in Australia (from School)
Image 26Vrapice Vocational School, Czech Republic (from Vocational school)
Image 27Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, one of the world's most elite conservatories (from Music school)
Image 28Percentage of Students Taking Distance Courses (2012-2015) (from Online school)
Image 29Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland (from Music school)
Image 30Corpus Christi College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge in England (from College)
Image 31Seinäjoki College in Seinäjoki, South Ostrobothnia, Finland, in May 2018 (from College)
Image 32Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio (from Music school)
Image 33Parliament Square, Trinity College Dublin in Ireland (from College)
Image 34SUNY Purchase College (from College)
Image 35RAJUK Uttara Model College, located in the northern suburb of Uttara in the capital Dhaka (from College)
Image 36Bowdoin College (from College)
Image 37King's College London in 1831, as engraved by J. C. Carter. It is one of the founding institutions of University of London, established in 1836. (from History of education)
Image 38West Park Secondary School in Toronto is an example. It was built in 1968 for students with slow learning or special needs. (from Vocational school)
Image 39Ambachtschool (from Vocational school)
Image 40World map indicating Education Index (2007/2008 Human Development Report)
- 0.950 and over
- 0.900–0.949
- 0.850–0.899
- 0.800–0.849
- 0.750–0.799
- 0.700–0.749
- 0.650–0.699
- 0.600–0.649
- 0.550–0.599
- 0.500–0.549
- 0.450–0.499
- 0.400–0.449
- 0.350–0.399
- under 0.350
- not available
(from History of education)
Image 41Diploma of secondary vocational education in Russia (from Vocational school)
Image 42Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States (from College)
Image 43City College of New York (from College)
Image 44Plato's academy, mosaic from Pompeii (from School)
Image 45A madrasah in the Gambia (from School)
Image 46A school building in Kannur, India (from School)
Image 47To curtail violence, some schools have added CCTV surveillance cameras. This is especially common in schools with gang activity or violence. (from School)
Image 48The University of Cambridge (founded in 1209) and many other universities were founded during the Middle Ages. (from History of education)
Image 49St Patricks Primary school at Murrumbeena in Victoria, Australia (from History of education)
Image 50Braude College of Engineering (from College)
Image 51Educational institution of this type in Canton, Michigan, United States (from Vocational school)
Image 52Number of Students Taking Distance Courses by Level (2012-2015) (from Online school)
Image 53The University of Otago in New Zealand (from College)
Image 54Loyola School, Chennai, India – run by the Catholic Diocese of Madras. Christian missionaries played a pivotal role in establishing modern schools in India. (from School)
Image 55Jacobs School of Music, part of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, has over 1,600 students. (from Music school)
Image 56Royal College Colombo, a boys' school located in Colombo, Sri Lanka (from College)
Image 57A staged example of an online classroom using Jitsi. The teacher is sharing their screen. (from School)