On November 30, twenty-nine students from the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium participated in the European online English Language Competition Best in English for the first time. They were more than eager to grasp the opportunity to compare their English language skills with those of 15 107 European peers coming from 683 schools and 28 countries. The test fulfilled the needs of students of all years and abilities.

Today we are delighted to announce some really impressive results of our students. The most outstanding achievement of Tinkara Uršič Fratina from 3C class, who held the 42th place, was just the best among other impressive results obtained by Nika Knez, Nina Katarina Štular, Mark Loborec, Matic Kotar and Matevž Herič. We offer our sincere congratulations to all our contestants! /Petra Kromar/

Twenty-nine students from the DCG joined almost 11.000 other students from about 500 schools from all over Europe to compete for the first time at the international competition The Best in English. The event took place on 30th November 2016, it ran smoothly and suited the needs of students of all years and abilities. At nine o’clock sharp participants’ faces got absorbed by the tasks presented on the screens and all one could hear was keyboard typing and mouse clicking. Laughter provoked by up-to-date videos was occasionally heard and generally, a happy atmosphere was created in the classroom.

The teachers of English as well as students believe that this is a lovely way to compare their language skills with those of their European peers. What is more, the test is free of charge and especially students were satisfied with results that appear right away at the end of the contest. In short  The Best in English competition is a great European experience. Presently the results are being calculated and we cannot wait to have them announced! /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium has been invited to participate in the 11th IFCM /International Federation for Choral Music/ world symposium on choral music, which will take place from 22nd – 29th July, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. As mentioned on the official website, the event will follow the theme of the Colours of Peace, and bring together the world’s choirs, choral musicians, composers and publishers.

Symposium in brief

The World Choral Symposium is the most esteemed non-competing choral meeting organized by IFCM. Such events have been organised since 1987 every third year in various parts of the world. The upcoming 11th symposium will host 24 selected choirs from Spain, USA, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Germany, South Africa, Argentina, the Netherlands, Denmark, Korea, Ireland, Moldovia, the Philippines, Latvia and Slovenia. Some of them are to sing premieres of sixteen renowned composers such as Ēriks Ešenvalds, Bob Chilcott, Jocelyn Hagen, Hideki Chihara and others.

Who will be there?

The symposium’s organizers expect 3000 conductors, singers, composers and other music experts. The programme consists of concerts in the central auditorium and some other venues of exceptional architectural beauty, such as Palace of Catalan Music and the Sagrada Familia, lectures given by experts from different countries, master classes led by Elisenda Carrasco, Helmuth Rilling, Rollo Dilworth and Simon Halsey and other events. Among others, Choral EXPO needs to be mentioned where music editors, producers, festival organizers, and providers of music business will meet and highlight their services. It is an important platform for promotion of music events and activities and above all for presentation and purchase of music and professional literature.

St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir Cannot Wait to Go

St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium will perform in the second part of the symposium from 26th – 29th July. The girls under the leadership of the conductor Helena Fojkar Zupančič are looking forward to meeting and listening to some world famous choirs. The preparations are in full swing and they are proud to present Slovenia and St. Stanislav’s Institution with the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium at such a prominent choral event.

The conductor of the choir Helena Fojkar Zupančič commented on the upcoming event with the following words: “A year and a half ago we were invited to apply for the selection of performing choirs. The board of experts have chosen our choir along with 24 others from all over the world on the basis of a weighty programme, video and audio recordings as well as strong references. Now we are happy to embrace this unique possibility and perform in such outstanding music event.”

The first step into an entirely new world, the first immersion into the sea of words, the first melody – everything is music …

The above verses are taken from the hymn written on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of The Music School in St. Stanislav’s Institution by Primož Bratina, pianist and piano teacher.

The Music School was established in 1996 by the then Archbishop of Ljubljana dr. Alojzij Šuštar. The occasion matches the 200th anniversary of the music education in Slovenia, which is being celebrated this year. In the two decades the Music School has left a remarkable trace and offered countless joyous music events of artistic excellence.

Today The Music School employs 25 teachers engaged in teaching and inspiring about 240 students. Apart from musical theory, sight singing, jazz singing and preschool music, 11 instruments are taught, along with music making in chamber and large string orchestra as well as the guitar ensemble. Teachers devote special attention to students’ creativity. A lot of students excel in competitions at different levels from regional to international, some take in music as a professional path in their lives and continue studies at music academies at home and abroad.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Music School several events will unfold. The solemn celebration to honour the patron’s day of St. Stanislav’ was already set up on 15th November by the staff of the music school and understandably music played an important part. If you missed it, another concert will be put on in the Slovenian Philharmonic on 1st December 2016 at 6. p.m. This will offer another opportunity to listen instrumentalists, singers, guitar ensemble and to Bratina’s Hymn accompanied by four choirs and the large string orchestra. What an appropriate was to celebrate the life of a music school  –  with music touching everybody’s heart! /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

 

The students of the DCG from the English Drama Club act in William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. The first night will take place on 28^th November 2016 at 7 p.m. in Matija Tomc Hall (St. Stanislav’s Institution), two reprises are to follow on 2nd and 12th December 2016, both starting at 7 p.m.  Twenty-seven students, of who nineteen actors, set up the entire play in English language, providing themselves for the scenery, props, lighting and audio-visual media. They rehearsed under the mentorship of Alenka Battelino, teacher of English and mentor of English Drama Club as well as Mojca Lavrič, theatre actress and mentor of the Slovene Drama Club at the DCG.

The comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been selected to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. It is one of Shakespeare’s most popular works for the stage and widely performed in theatres. It is set in the woods outside Athens, which are a busy place on this magical night! Four runaway lovers find themselves in the middle of the dispute between the King and Queen of the fairies. What could possible go wrong? Come and see for yourselves! We are looking forward to meeting you in St. Stanislav’s Institution! /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

Each year the entire school community celebrates St. Stanislav’s Day to mark the feast of the Institution’s patron. We have the pleasure of inviting you to this year’s celebration which will be marked with holy mass and a solemn celebration on Tuesday 15th November 2016. Holy mass will be celebrated at 3 p.m. in the parish church of St. Vitus in Ljubljana Šentvid by the Archbishop of Ljubljana Msgr. Stanislav Zore. The solemn celebration will take place at 5 p. m. in the new sports hall of the Alojzij Šuštar Primary School. Mrs. Vlasta Doležal Rus, a long serving Headmistress of The Music School in St. Stanislav’s Institution, will hold the official speech. In the heart of our educational process is a person growing up from kindergarten children to high school and university students. Every period will be marked by poetry, music and speech, which complementary interact and establish relations, thus forming a sensible entity.

The performance will be given by the students of all schools in St. Stanislav’s Institution and they will attempt to answer the following questions: Why is school important? What advantages does a school community offer? What road does your life take? What is your next step?  We look forward to meeting you.

Roman Globokar, Ph. D., Director of St. Stanislav’s Institution

THE BEST IN ENGLISH CONTEST is a truly European online English language competition, open to all high schools within the EU. The test is designed for high school students aged between 15 and 19. So far 10.985 students from almost 500 schools from 19 countries have been involved. The purpose of the test is to motivate students towards greater language comprehension having the chance to compare the results with other students across the world.

The next competition will take place on 30^th November, 2016 and The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium is to participate for the first time. First thirty students will be able to join in the competition! The organisers of the Contest are the Institute for Competencies Development, a non-profit organisation, and two student agencies. The Test has been put together by Akcent International House Prague language school. More on: http://bestinenglish.org/ You are kindly invited to join in the competition! The contact person at the DCG is Petra Kromar. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

 

 

President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor and the Minister of Education, Science and Sport dr. Maja Makovec Brenčič received on Saturday, 8th October 2016 the cream of the crop of this year’s high-school Slovene graduates, who attained all possible amount of points at Maturity examination. There are nineteen such graduates in Slovenia, among who also three from the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium: Živa Dolenšek, Eva Gričar and Eva Kržišnik.

The President pointed out on this occasion that it is the young who enter the world with an opportunity to change it. “ Your knowledge offers self-confidence and prevents you from others taking important decisions instead of you. /…/ You shall have this power and I wish you to use it for good and noble goals. It is up to you to improve the society we live in.” We congratulate Živa, and both Evas on their outstanding achievement and wish them all success in their future endeavours. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

From 26th – 30th September 2016 the traditional international sport event took place in Busto Arsizio, Varese. Apart from the Slovene and Italian teams, there were also high school students from The Check Republic, Germany and the Netherlands. The event was the twelfth in a row, this time dedicated to headball with 21 matches taking place. The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium took the second place, after the match result being a draw (14:14), and the hosting school Liceo Scientifico Statale Arturo Tosi winning the point of a difference after a penalty shoot-out. Beside competitions, teachers took part in the International conference on new teaching methods and proper nutrition for athletes. /Tea Obrč, PE Teacher, exchange coordinator/

26th September 2016 marks the 15th anniversary of the European Day of Languages. The aims of the event as declared by the Council of Europe are to increase plurilingualism and intercultural understanding, to encourage lifelong language learning and to promote Europe’s rich linguistic and cultural diversity. Thanks to cultural institutes such as the Goethe Institut, the Institut Français and the British Council, the European Day of languages is nowadays widely celebrated especially in schools.

St. Stanislav’s Insitution is no exception. The event took place already for the ninth year in a row. Back then it all started with DCG students presenting basic language skills to pupils of the Alojzij Šuštar Primary School in seven different languages taught at the DCG. This meant using English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Latin and classical Greek. Lately teachers of foreign languages at the DCG devised riddles and other challenging tasks in the above mentioned languages through which students displayed their knowledge of the language as well as culture, history and geography of the respected country. This year students had to define the origin of photographs with various motifs from different European countries. Students with the most correct answers in the shortest amount of time received a practical award. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/