It is very important to contemplate the young Jesus as presented in the Gospels,
for he was truly one of us, and shares many of the features of young hearts. (Pope Francis, Christus Vivit,31)
Everyone’s heart longs for happiness. We search for happiness, we long for the fulfilment in life. Christmas reveals that we are not alone. The One, who brings peace, love and respect, is with us.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a joyful New Year 2020.
Anton Česen, M.A., Director
For the third time in a row The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium has taken part in this online competition. 30 students from the DCG had an opportunity to challenge their English on 29th November, 2019. This year 16,472 students from 624 schools from 25 countries have participated, of who 508 from Slovenia. We are very happy to announce that Mark Loborec (year 4) was awarded first place in Slovenia and 13th place all together and Gašper Ljubič (year 3) was awarded third place in Slovenia.
The Best In English contest is a unique online English language competition within the EU and beyond. It is opened to all high schools and their students aged 14-19. The level of the test is B1 – C1 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The best students win a 2-week trip to Canada. Students come mostly from European countries; however this year there were also participants from Switzerland, Turkey, Israel and Indonesia.
We are proud of Mark’s and Gašper’s success and congratulate them upon this fantastic achievement! Their mentor is Katja Gorjup, teacher of English at The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium.
We are happy to launch the logo for the new Erasmus+ project Small Countries, Strong Cultures. This is a collaborative project binding together three smaller European countries, namely Slovenia, Scotland (the UK) and Flanders (Belgium) in order to make room for the exploration of our common roots as well as for the endeavours to build our common future.
There were 7 logos on the shortlist, created in all three participating countries. The winning logo comes from Flanders and was unanimously chosen, considering students’ and teachers’ preferences. In Slovenia we reached the conclusion via Instagram and it was great fun to observe the online voting. On behalf of the Slovenian team we congratulate the Belgian artist for a most suggestive and distinctive logo, representing certain characteristics of all three participating countries. Well done indeed! /Lily Schweiger Kotar/
On Friday 29th November 2019 five students from the DCG participated in Euroscola competition, which took place in House of EU in Ljubljana. Competition offers young contestants a virtual tour of Europe and gives them an insight into the function and work of the European Parliament.
The competition consisted of two parts: a test about EU and a debate about current EU events and problems. Three students, Gašper Kovačič, Max Davidović and Josipina Julija Petrovič, competed in the test. The average score at the end was 15,5 points. Mark Loborec and Lina Leskovec were the candidates for the debate and they did splendidly, winning 18 points. The DCG team came in third, winning a trip to Strasbourg! The experience was amazing and for some of us, our first in this field. We were all very happy, when the results were announced and everyone is looking forward to the trip!
Marjeta Hočevar, teacher of Geography, and Tadej Rifel, Ph. D., teacher of Religion & Cuture, were in charge of this year’s Euroscola competition. /Josipina Julija Petrovič, year 2/
In April 2019 The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium hosted fifteen students and two teachers from Kanto Daiichi High School. The same number of Slovene students and teachers spent a week from 11th – 19th November 2019 in the capital of Japan.
We were staying at our exchange students’ homes. The first day in Japan was a big cultural shock for everybody. Everything is so clean and nice over there and people are extremely polite and calm. At school we prepared a presentation and Kahoot quiz on Slovene culture. After that we presented some of the Slovene cuisine: potica (Slovene holiday cake) and Gorenjka (most popular Slovene chocolate). After the program, organised by the Japanese school, every Japanese student took their Slovene guest to various tourist attractions around the capital. In a span of a week all the students got to see Tokyo’s best attractions. We have visited some of the more iconic sights Tokyo has to offer. A day trip to Kamakura was spent exploring one of Tokyo seaside resorts, different shops and temples, the other day we were enlightened by the digital art museum in which a beautiful display of lights created a unique artwork. Once we were already settled into the way in which Tokyo operates, we were brave enough to explore the city on our own. After getting lost and walking around for some time we finally found the famous Shibuya crossing and thus our adventure was complete. A few days were spent listening to Japanese lessons and learning how their school life differs from ours. On the last day we even made a Japanese dish called Udon. We made it all from scratch along with noodles. This exchange helped us become more culturally enriched, but most importantly, helped our hosts acknowledge the importance of learning English and motive them to study harder and improve their speaking and writing skills.
Katja Gorjup, English teacher, and Milan Zeman, Math teacher from the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium, were in charge of the Tokyo exchange 2019. /Meta Jesenko & Ana Marie Gradišar, year 3/
Each year the entire school community celebrates St. Stanislav’s Day to mark the feast of the Institution’s patron. This year it was under the title of “Building Bridges Together” between all schools in St. Stanislav’s Institution, between the present, past and future, between the present students and alumni, between modern and classical, between you and me.
This year’s celebration was marked with holy mass and a solemn celebration on Wednesday 13th November 2019. Holy mass was 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 took place at 5 p. m. in the sports hall of the Alojzij Šuštar Primary School. Ms Alenka Potočnik, alumna of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium, held the official speech. The performance was be given by the students of all schools in St. Stanislav’s Institution.
Other events in November are taking place, such as the opening of the exhibition of Tadej Žugman’s paintings (Kregar Atrium, November 6, 2019, at 7 p.m.); a festive concert of the Music School of St. Stanislav’s Institution (Matija Tomc Concert Hall, November 12, 2019, at 6 p.m.) and the opening of the ceramics exhibition »Jože Plečnik’s Architecture as an Inspiration« (Meršol Atrium, November 18, 2019, at 6 p.m.). Warmly welcome.
Our school string orchestra, under the skilled mentorship of Drago Arko and conducted by the unmatched Damijan Močnik, went to Krakow for a week from 19th-25th October 2019 to participate in an Erasmus+ exchange with the Polish Conservatorium of Frederick Chopin. After our last rehearsal on Saturday evening we boarded the bus and departed towards Krakow. In the early morning we arrived to Katowice where we attended the Holy Mass and took a city tour and were rather astonished by its beauties. Then we visited the church of saint Faustina Kowalska and stood on top of the bell tower admiring the magnificent view of Krakow. Then we proceeded to our hostel which was in Krakows suburbs. With nothing to do, most went to sleep to prepare for the next day.
Monday arrived too soon and after breakfast we took the bus to the school where we had our first rehearsal with the Polish orchestra. After an exhausting 5-hour practise we had lunch and then were divided into several groups led by Polish students to take a Krakow city tour. The tours were indeed interesting and we learned quite a lot about the city and its people. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much alike. In the morning we had rehearsals with the Polish orchestra, then we had rehearsals of our own and finally lunch. Most of us spent both evenings enjoying Krakow nightlife while trying to be sufficiently rested for the next day. Finally Thursday came. The D day of our great concert in the church of the Blessed Aniela Salawa. First we had our solo performance, playing Corellis Sarabande, Gigue and Badinerie and 3rd and 4th Part of Benjamin Britten’s Simple symphony. Afterwards, the Polish came on stage and we played Sanjarija, Ave Maria and Meditation, at which Marjeta Banko blessed our ears with her deeply emotional and astonishing violin solo. Then our Polish colleagues took over, having their choir reinforced with a couple of our girls, and performed their parts. After the concert we felt exhausted but satisfied and once more we boarded the bus, this time taking us home. /Erazem Ivanc, year 4/
We are honoured to announce that Domen Križaj, alumnus of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium (12th generation) won the second prize at the Neue Stimmen international singing copetition. The above mentioned competition, which takes place every two years, welcomes about 1.000 young talents from around the world and has marked the beginning of international careers for many participants. The best singers qualify for the final round in Gütersloh, Germany, where they present their skills in front of a high ranking jury, intendants, agents and representatives of the music industry.
Domen has already had an outstanding career as a young singer. It all started in St. Stanislav’s Youth Choir of The Diocasan Classical Gymnasium and later with his incredible juggling between two university studies, namely at the Faculty of Medicine and The Academy of Ljubljana, both at University of Ljubljana. It seems the latter had the better of him. Domen has won several international awards and this year his music engagements include roles in Kaiser von Atlantis (V. Ullmann) and Madame Butterfly (G. Puccini), both in Theater Basel, Switzerland. Dear Domen, our heartiest congratulations on your outstanding achievement! You really deserve it. Well done! /Lily Schweiger Kotar/
Read more: https://en.stanislav.si/units/music-school/#high-achievers-in-music
Listen to Domen at Neue Stimmen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBSmo_HghKQ&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0fKJRugXJGg4Urk1AmyQuueoachl8fihQGigBkrYZemp7CiuECSIfJ1-c
The Olympiad of Metropolises is an international team competition, which is held in Moscow every year, its participants being 14-18 year old students, who live in the biggest metropolises of the world. The first olympiad took place in 2016 with 173 students competing from 22 cities, this year they came from 45 metropolises all together. They showed their knowledge of physics, chemistry, mathematics and informatics in a competition consisting of a blitz-contest and two main rounds.
From 1st – 6th September 2019 Ljubljana took part for the first time with a team of eight students, six from Gimnazija Bežigrad (T. Drnovšek, G. Gajič, Gal A. Gorše, D. Lisjak, A. Modic and M. Zupan) and two from The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium, namely Maja Budna and Urh Robič. We are happy to announce that the Slovene team was a prize-winner of a blitz-contest; an excellent result was also achieved by M. Zupna and A. Modic, both from Gimnazija Bežigrad, who were awarded silver medals in chemistry competition. The mentor of the DCG students is Helena Starc Grlj, teacher of informatics.
This is how Maja Budna experienced the event: »On Saturday morning, our team gathered at Brnik airport. We enjoyed a three-hour flight to Moscow. In the evening we were all quite exhausted, so we waited for the following day to explore Moscow. On Sunday afternoon we participated in the opening ceremony. Monday was the first competition day, when we participated in the blitz contest – the eight of us solving 80 tasks together. The next day went really well, with the first part of the official competition taking place in the morning. There were 5 hours available to solve 4 problems. In the afternoon we went on a sightseeing bus tour of Moscow. The next day the second competition followed and after lunch we visited a park. When we were all done with the competition, our exploring of Moscow had just begun. On Thursday, we took a boat tour down the river to see famous Moscow buildings from another view. The next day we were discovering Moscow by ourselves and in the afternoon we concluded the Olympiad with a closing ceremony. We were especially proud of Marjetka and Adam, who won the silver medal in chemistry. The official part was over but that did not mean we had already finished our visit in Russia. On Saturday, the Muscovites celebrated a Moscow Day with a huge number of events all around the city to mark the event. First, we took a look at the famous Cosmonaut Museum, then moved to the Izmail Park to enjoy the flea market. In the evening there was our last get-together to play games, before heading back to Slovenia on Sunday morning.» /Maja Budna, year 4/
From 1st – 6th October 2019 the first staff mobility of the new Erasmus+ project Small Countires Strong Cultures took place at Wellington School in Ayr (Scotland). At the same time the annual UCAPE conference took place with about 80, mainly French teachers, from Catholic primary and secondary schools.
The meetings covering Small Countries Strong Cultures brought together the entire Belgian team from Sint Rembert (Torhout) with their director and deputy head, the welcoming group from Scotland, led by Ms Susan Coontz, and the Slovenian team (Valerija Lah Peternel, Alenka Battelino, Eva Pišljar Suhadolc, Lily Schweiger Kotar). The meetings included finalizing the preparations for the first student mobility which is to take place in Slovenia in February 2020, funding rules for the grant, partnership agreements and taking part in the e Twinning workshop given by Gary Shiells, the representative of the British Council in the UK. One of the highlights of the visit was most definitely the Wellington school students’ performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. The tragic love story was brought to life at The Gaiety Theatre with a lot of musicality, breathtaking special effects and scenery. Friends of Wellinton, teachers, parents were justifiably proud of the magic night. Well done Wellington school!
UCAPE whose mission is to build knowledge, values and skills for global citizenship is an international association open to all schools which share the same values. In Ayr the general assembly took place with plenty of opportunities for networking along with new arrangements for the exchanges that were set up. Mr Dominique Bernard, Director of Institution Saint Dominique (France) and the present president of the UCAPE, gave the introductory speech accentuating the fact that if anybody in modern Europe needs to go beyond meeting students’ everyday needs, it is the teachers at Catholic schools. The yearly report followed some interesting presentations of Scottish culture and students’ good practice carried out at Wellington under the supervision of Ms Coontz, a dedicated member of the UCAPE board. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/