The II Janusz Korczak General Secondary School is a school with traditions that focuses on modernity. The school implements the “School without Violence” and “School with Class” programs. It has a 100% pass rate for the matura examination and a high indicator measuring knowledge growth (EWD). In an interview, Mirosław Sakowski talks about managing a good secondary school and how the institution is becoming a leader among general secondary schools in Bolesławiec.

Editor: – In your opinion, what attracts a middle-school student to the II Secondary School the most?

Mirosław Sakowski: – We have many advantages, some of which you already mentioned at the beginning of our meeting. Every middle-school student probably follows their own needs, but my idea for inviting the best students here is a good scholarship offer. Every middle-school student who is an Olympiad finalist and has a high average will receive a scholarship from us. Of course, they must maintain their successes in competitions and Olympiads and confirm them with a high grade average in the first year of our secondary school.

Do you already have such scholarship recipients?

No, but I would like to praise our student Przemysław Pawłowski, who took third place in the first edition of the Solidarity Olympiad, organized by the Solidarity Center Foundation and the Prof. Bronisław Geremek Center Foundation, and qualified for the national stage together with two girls from Wrocław. I am very pleased with Przemysław’s successes. He is the first candidate for the Parents’ Council scholarship, which we will award starting from the new school year. This student is a Renaissance man. He is very well-read and has enormous knowledge

When encouraging middle-school students to choose your secondary school, you also emphasize the high standard of mathematics teaching.

Last school year, seven of our students reached the final of the mathematics section of the Lower Silesian Pre-Matura Competition, organized, among others, by the School of Banking and Management in Wrocław. Out of 2,500 participants, two boys took first and third place. Rafał Ryżewski was the best in the second-year category (basic level), while Jędrzej Janczewski took third place in the first-year category (advanced level). Our secondary school pulses with mathematics. We study this field not only during lessons; all students have the opportunity to participate in mathematics competitions.

Several dozen students from our school took part in the international online mathematics competition Meridian Mathematics Competition (MMC). Six students advanced to the final, including first-year student Maciej Koroluk, who took 70th place nationwide. Last school year, around 130 students also entered the nationwide Oxford competition and the Polish Mathematical Championships project. In the latter competition, Zofia Lenkiewicz, a third-year student, took first place in the province and 29th place nationwide.

Have you had other successes in Olympiads?

Quite a few. Last year, students won awards in competitions including history, literature, the Entrepreneurship Olympiad, the Tourist and Sightseeing Tournament, and recitation. Every student can find something for themselves here and develop their talents and interests.

How does the school prepare students for the matura examination?

We have a 100% matura pass rate; last year, 159 students took the examination and all of them passed. We measure the school’s contribution to preparing students for the matura using the EWD method, or educational added value. It is a nationwide project that presents reliable results concerning students’ knowledge growth. In our case, the positive EWD value clearly shows that we achieve above-average teaching effectiveness nationwide. This is particularly evident in mathematics and science subjects (mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry, biology and geography) and in mathematics itself. This does not mean, however, that the school achieves excellent results only in mathematics and science subjects. Teaching effectiveness is also visible in the humanities (Polish, history and civics) and in Polish. Recently, we hosted Urszula Tkaczyk-Ciotkowska, a consultant from the Legnica branch of the Lower Silesian Teacher Development Center, who said with complete conviction that we are a school of success.

So what do your successes look like in other areas?

One would immediately like to mention sport, because at the II Secondary School we have excellent facilities for practicing various sports: we have a gym, a sports hall and a modern Orlik field. Our students achieve high places in numerous national-level sports competitions; I will mention only the Swedish relay team’s fifth place in Poland, as well as the successes of our basketball players, volleyball players and track-and-field athletes in competitions in Lower Silesia.

In your leaflet advertising the II Secondary School, you write: learning is not everything…

…and “II Secondary School – more than a school.” As a school open to students’ diverse needs, we give them the opportunity to develop their passions and interests. Our own Michał Twerd Gallery was created for artists from our school. Photography, painting and sculpture exhibitions have become the hallmark of the II Secondary School. Young people can take part in a theater club, learn Japanese and Italian, and join sports clubs.

Our active student council organizes sweet breaks, karaoke and many other enjoyable activities. We also organize numerous tourist and sightseeing trips for our students. Students take part in language camps and exchanges; they have already visited Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Sweden and the Netherlands. From September 2013, our secondary school will also have an elevator and, as the only upper-secondary school in Bolesławiec, will be adapted for students with disabilities.

The school has received the titles “School with Class” and “School without Violence,” and we are seeking the title “Safe School.” All this, along with many other things that cannot fit into this interview, means that the II Secondary School has the best offer for middle-school students and that our young people achieve success.

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