Carl-Zeiss-Gymnasium Jena

Geschichte

The Carl-Zeiss-Gymnasium Jena is a state-funded German elite Gymnasium (grammar school) for highly gifted students in the fields of math, science, and technology. Before changing its profile to fully focus and these aspects, it used to be a regular German public Gymnasium with a special separate school section (Spezialschulteil) attached to it. The school is named after the famous optician Carl Zeiss and is located in the city of Jena in Germany (federal state of Thuringia). It admits students from all over the federal state.PupilsCurrently there are about 500 students attending this school. But not all of those are enrolled in the special educational program. This program is restricted to highly gifted students. Hence, there are certain requirements for an individual to be able to obtain a place at this school including qualification exams and other background checks like grades and awards accomplished by the prospective student mostly at the former school.In the early phases of the school students got to go from 9th grade on to the special section of the school (usually two new groups accepted per year). The year before is severe because this is when the exams take place and the school decides about their new students for the upcoming year. Later on it was also possible for kids to attend the school from 5th grade on.However, students starting 5th grade also had to take an exam, which didn't guarantee that they would pass the exam for 9th grade because they had to take this exam as well as everybody else (albeit they have a slight advantage by having been educated longer on a higher level).Anyway, 5th grade students do not have the possibility to stay at the boarding school. The boarding school, established in 2000, is separate and privately maintained. It offers a possibility for students from 9th (to 12th) grade to live close to the school. Fees for this boarding school are subsidized by the federal state. Even though this is a good opportunity there are very few places being offered.