Schule Schloss Salem (Anglicisation: School of Salem Castle, Salem Castle School) is a boarding school with campuses in Hohenfels, Salem and Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It is considered one of the most elite schools in Europe.
It offers the German Abitur, as well as the International Baccalaureate (IB). With a scholarship program and its "Dienste" (Services) such as the Firebrigade, the "Technisches Hilfswerk" short: THW (Technical Support Organisation), the First Aid or the Nautical Service. The Schule Schloss Salem, also commonly referred to as Salem College, hence offers an education for its students at the academic as well as social levels.
The school was established by the educator Kurt Hahn with support of Prince Maximilian of Baden in 1920 and from the beginning accepted girls and boys. Under the Nazi regime Hahn (who was Jewish) was forced to emigrate to Scotland where he founded the British Salem School of Gordonstoun as well as later Outward Bound and the United World Colleges.
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The school today
The school's mission continues to reflect its Hahnian roots. Specifically, Salem aims to present young people with high academic and extracurricular expectations and opportunities; and to introduce them to a lifelong sense of respect for the individual, responsibility to the community and an awareness of the importance of the democratic process in sustaining both.
The academic program in Years 5-7 is in German. Intensive instruction in German as a foreign language is available for international pupils. Even pupils arriving at the School with no German are fluent within one school year.
From Year 8 onward, Salem is fully bilingual and offers a dual curriculum. Students may either continue in the German system (Abitur) or enter the international classes & the IB Diploma Programme, in which the language is English. However, students may switch systems until they enter the upper school. Approximately a third of the students in the upper years are in the IB system. Most students are of German background, but there is significant population of international students, with students attending from a variety of countries such as Switzerland, Spain, USA, China, Russia, Korea, India, Canada, Australia or Italy.
At Salem, involvement in extracurricular activities and the life in the boarding community and academic achievement are equally emphasized. All students in the upper years must engage in community service such as Nautical Service, THW (Technical Support Organisation) extended First Aid, Community Service (Kindergarten, Disabled people's home, etc.) or Fire brigade at least one afternoon per week. During the terrible aeroplane accident of 2002 in Überlingen, Salem Students were some of the first at the scene. All students must also participate in a regular program of sports and/or outdoor pursuits such as Outward Bound, Football, Rugby or Gymnastics. Participation in theatre, music and visual-arts extracurricular programs, while not mandatory, is strongly encouraged. The student orchestra in Salem is regarded to be one of the foremost youth-orchestra's in Germany and travels around the world to perform its music, such as a recent trip to Beijing, China.
Far more than in boarding schools from the Anglo-American tradition, responsibility for the everyday running of the School in the upper years is, in keeping with Salem's democratic ethos based on the principles of Kurt Hahn, placed in the hands of students under the guidance of staff. All activities and dormitories (Flügel) are led by students elected by their peers. School regulations are outlined with the consent of the student parliament and breaches of these are jointly dealt with by the School administration and the elected leaders of the student body in what is called the Leitungsrat or the 'Leadership Council', which comprises the Headmaster of the College, the two Head Boys/Girls, the students housemaster/mistress and other senior staff members.
Approximately one-third of pupils receive financial aid through various scholarship programmes, the distribution of which is based upon both need and merit. University admissions are excellent, with almost all graduates eventually attending the most selective universities in Germany, Great Britain and the leading Commonwealth countries, as well as the United States.
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Campuses
Salem is divided into four separate campuses: the Lower School in Hohenfels Castle (grades 5 to 7), the Middle School in Salem Castle (grades 8 to 11, and Pre-IB), and the 'Upper' (secondary) School in Spetzgart Castle and the new campus of Härlen (Grades 12 and 13, IB years 1 and 2). Hohenfels is located in an isolated castle above the town of Kalkofen. Salem Castle is located in a former Cistercian monastery just outside the town of Salem, while the Upper School is located on the outskirts of Überlingen in Spetzgart Castle and nearby the recently built Härlen campus.
School heads
- Uwe Reich-Kunkel, Head of Lower School
- Joachim Dorn, Head of Middle School
- Ken Lander, Head of Upper School
Notable alumni
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (as Prince of Greece) (b. 1921) (He later attended the British Salem School at Gordonstoun, as did his sons)
- Queen Sofía of Spain (as Princess of Greece)
- Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark -- daughter of king Paul I of Greece and princess Frederica of Hanover
- Begum Inaara Aga Khan (as Gabriele Thyssen)
- Berthold Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (b. 1934), major general and eldest son of count Claus von Stauffenberg
- Alice Ricciardi-von Platen (1910-2008), psychoanalyst and author of the world's first documentary about the mass killings of disabled and mentally ill persons by the Nazi regime
- Golo Mann (1909-1994), writer and son of Thomas Mann
- Monika Mann (1910-1992), writer and daughter of Thomas Mann
- George Mosse (1918-1999), historian and grandson of Rudolf Mosse
- Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1916-2010), German political scientist (though she earned her Abitur in Göttingen)
- Ferdinand, Prince of Bismarck (born 1930), head of the princely house of Bismarck
- Brian Simon -- educational historian
- Patrice Bart-Williams (b. 1979), reggae singer
- Dr Ekke von Kuenssberg CBE (1913-2001), Former President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Christian Kracht (b. 1966), Swiss writer
- Hans-Ulrich von Oertzen (1915-1944), Major in the General Staff, member of the Wehrmacht conspiracy to overthrow Adolf Hitler and participant in the unsuccessful July 20 plot in 1944.
- Rudolf August Oetker (1916-2007)-- grandson of the inventor of baking powder, and billionaire German entrepreneur.
- Eric "Winkle" Brown (1919-2016) -- test pilot who attended the college as an exchange student 1938-39
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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