The Leonardo da Vinci Gymnasium was a state recognized private, coeducational, full-time

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...

and

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...

school for

highly gifted Intellectual giftedness is an Intelligence, intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into a ...

students located in Neckargemünd (

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

) run by the SRH Group, a Non-Profit organisation in Healthcare and Education. The school was one of Germany’s first private schools for intellectually gifted children from 5th grade onward and it was the first and sole private school of this kind in the state of

. The school consisted of a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

and a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, which correspond to the state equivalents. Its stated aim was the promotion of the intellectual and social development of its students. In November 2016, the school announced it would be closing down after the 2016/17 school year due to declining numbers of applicants.

Conception

Leonardo da Vinci Gymnasium was accredited by the Ministry of Culture and Education of the State of Baden-Württemberg and therefore required to follow the state curriculum for public schools. The school offered the same type of diplomas that public institutions provide, most importantly Abitur. The final Abitur examinations in grade 12 were identical to that in public schools.Gifted Education in Baden-Württemberg (2013).
/ref>Website of the Leonardo da Vinci Gymnasiums (2013).
/ref> The stated objective of the school was to promote, encourage and foster the education of gifted children. To this end the school offered accelerated and compacted classes, a wide variety of extra-curricular enrichment courses throughout various academic fields (e.g. mathematics, science and technology, languages, literature, music, visual arts, and sports) as well as integrated pull-out activities. In an interdisciplinary project in 2012 two grade 8 classes wrote a novel that has subsequently been published as a book."Schüler schreiben einen Roman"
(Pupils write a novel),

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...

-Newspaper, June 2013.Website of the book "Ich bin Thomas" (I am Thomas), Edition Schröck-Schmidt (2013).
/ref> Also, there was an exchange program with schools in Mexico (

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

) and China (

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Location

The school was located on the campus of the SRH educational centre in Neckargemünd, a home for several academic institutions, within 10 km (7 miles) distance to the city of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. The school benefitted from shared on-campus facilities, including a computer network, an on-campus library, fully equipped science and computer laboratories. In addition, the school had access to two gyms and its own athletic ground.

References

{{reflist

External links

SRH Group website

''Junge Hochbegabte in Deutschland (Gifted pupils in Germany)''
TV documentary (

Pro Sieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

, 6 September 2012). Boarding schools in Germany Schools in Baden-Württemberg Private schools in Germany Gymnasiums in Germany Co-educational boarding schools 2004 establishments in Germany Gifted education Educational institutions established in 2004