Language
Although we have many students from abroad, we consider the boarding school a Danish school with an international atmosphere, and the everyday language spoken at the school is Danish. Any student who does not have a working knowledge of Danish on his arrival at the boarding school must therefore be prepared to attend a Danish course and must be willing to use the language in everyday communication with fellow students and members of the staff.
Everyday Life
As the facts mentioned above show it will of course never be possible to create a traditional family life at the boarding school. Each student therefore, to a considerable extent, has to organize his own everyday life. This may cause some uncertainty in the beginning, but experience shows that most of the stu- dents find out how to administer this kind of everyday life very quickly. The school considers it very important to help each student find himself and his place in our community and to teach all students to accept the responsibility for their actions and show consideration for each other. And in agreement with Danish democratic, pedagogical principles the boarding school has no prefect system. We believe that life at the boarding school, based on these principles, matures the students and enables them to take independent initiatives and make their own decisions.
The students also have chores to do at the boarding school. They must keep all the rooms they share tidy, and they take turns in cleaning their own bathrooms and hall kitchens. They also help with the cooking. Once or twice a year each student must, for a week, help in the kitchen after school for about 3 hours a day. It is not especially demanding to help by the cooking or cleaning, but the school considers it important that the students realize that they cannot always be waited on, but that they, like in most homes, have to contribute something to make everyday life function.
New students may easily become too preoccupied with boarding school life. There are always friends to talk with and many leisure possibilities. It can be tempting to concentrate only on life at the school and the boarding school. But in the long run this kind of life offers too few challenges. It is therefore important that the students make friends with class mates who live at home and join organizations and clubs. As the boarding school functions as the students' home for the two or three years they study here, we find it important that theyare allowed to invite their friends home. Guests are therefore very welcome, and arrangements can be made so that they can participate in the evening meal.
Activities
In order to strengthen the feeling of community at the boarding school we arrange a tour for all students and the staff in the beginning of the autumn term, and during the rest of the year film and theatre goings and study groups are arranged. The students also have the opportunity of taking part in sports after school under the guidance of a teacher, or they may borrow the school gym every afternoon and evening.
Holidays
The boarding school is closed during summer, autumn, Christmas, winter and Easter holidays.
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