private high school
A private school or independent school is a school
A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of ...
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
, Turkey. It was founded in 1856.
The
high school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
was established in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
as a
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...
school for girls only. It was later transformed into a co-educational status. The Medium of instruction from
preparatory class
Education in France is organized in a highly centralized manner, with many subdivisions. It is divided into the three stages of primary education (''enseignement primaire''), secondary education (''enseignement secondaire''), and higher educat ...
through
twelfth grade
Twelfth Grade (also known as Grade 12, Senior Year, Standard 12, 12th Standard, 12th Class, or Class 12th or Class 12) is the twelfth and final Educational stage, year of Formal education, formal or compulsory education. It is typically the final ...
Turkish language
Turkish ( , , also known as 'Turkish of Turkey') is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, a member of Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch with around 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and one of two official languag ...
, and takes four years after a
preparatory class
Education in France is organized in a highly centralized manner, with many subdivisions. It is divided into the three stages of primary education (''enseignement primaire''), secondary education (''enseignement secondaire''), and higher educat ...
of one school year.
NDS Schools ( Turkish: ''Neslin Değişen Sesi Okulları'' or ''NDS Okulları''), established in 2001 by the Notre Dame de Sion High School Education Foundation, offers French-language education for preschool, primary, and middle school levels in Istanbul suburb Bahçeşehir,
BaÅŸakÅŸehir
BaÅŸakÅŸehir is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 107 km2, and its population is 514,900 (2022). It is in the European part of Istanbul. The district is home to Ä°sta ...
.
History
A group of eleven French nuns traveled to Istanbul arriving on October 7, 1856. They took over the administration of ''Maison du Saint-Esprit'', a
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...
Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul
The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (; abbreviated DC), commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, is a society of apostolic life for women within the Catholic Church. ...
(), a
society of apostolic life
A society of apostolic life is a group of men or women within the Catholic Church who have come together for a specific purpose and live fraternally. It is regarded as a form of consecrated (or "religious") life.
This type of organization ...
for women within the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
girls, it shortly after attracted
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
pupils. From 1863 on,
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
girls attended the school following the interest of the notable families in the Empire and the approval of the Ottoman Sultan.
The school closed down during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
when the French nuns left the country as a result of their country being at war with Turkey.
In 1919, the school reopened. With the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the school was subordinated to the Ministry of National Education, and Turkish administrators and teachers joined the school staff. It began also to serve as a
day school
A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...
. The
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
section was closed in 1971, and the boarding school in 1972. From 1989 on, the head of the school administration was handed over to a secular rector while the nuns remained serving in the school as well. After a 140-year long tradition of girls only school, it went co-educational, accepting boys with the 1996–97 school year.
Cultural projects
An international piano contest was organized by the school in 2013.
A
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...
concert was performed in the school in 2014 in commemoration of harpist Fatma Ceren NecipoÄŸlu, who died at the
Air France Flight 447
Air France Flight 447 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Rio de Janeiro/Galeão International Airport, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France. On 1 June 2009, inconsistent airspeed indications and mi ...
accident in 2009.
In 2015, the art gallery of the school hosted an exhibition titled "''Osmanlı'dan Cumhuriyet'e Kadınlar''" ( English: Women from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic) showing Christian, Jewish and Muslim women mainly on postcards from 1880 to 1930.
Notable alumni
*
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...
's adoptive children, including Afet İnan (1908–1985)
* Ayla Algan (born 1937), film and stage actress and singer
* Adile Ayda (1912–1992), diplomat
* Oya Baydar (born 1940), sociologist and writer
*
Aliye Berger
Aliye Berger (24 December 1903 – 9 August 1974) was a Turkish engraver and painter. She is one of the first engravers of Turkey. She is known for her expressionist engravings and winning the painting competition of Yapı Kredi Bank in 1954. ...
(1903–1974), artist, engraver and painter
* Selina Özuzun Doğan (born 1977), lawyer and politician
*
Balçiçek İlter
Balçiçek İlter, formerly also known as Balçiçek Pamir (born June 16, 1973, İstanbul), is a Turkish journalist, columnist and television presenter.
Early years
She studied psychology at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara after fi ...
(born 1973), journalist and television presenter
* Güzin Sayar (1922-2006), journalist and agony aunt known as 'Güzin Abla'
* Nazlı Ilıcak (born 1944), journalist and writer
* Suzan Kahramaner (1913–2006), mathematician, one of the first Turkish female mathematicians with Ph.D.
*
Füreya Koral
Füreya Koral (June 2, 1910 – August 25, 1997) was a pioneering Pottery, ceramics artist born into a prominent artistic family in Turkey.
Known for her wall panels, Koral worked in a variety of media such as tiles and Figurine, statuette ...
(1910–1997), ceramist
* Matild Manukyan (c. 1916-17–2001), businesswoman
* Bedia Muvahhit (1897–1994), stage and movie actress
* Türkan Rado (1915–2007), first ever Turkish female professor of jurisprudence
*
Pınar Selek
Pınar Selek (born October 8, 1971) is a Turkish sociologist, feminist, and author.Kerem Öktem (September 15, 2008)"Another Struggle: Sexual Identity Politics in Unsettled Turkey". ''Middle East Research and Information Project''. Retrieved Jan ...