Why “Intellectual”?
This is the place, where intelligent people teach intelligent people
When have the school been founded?
The school has been started by The Department of Education of the Moscow City in 2003.
Who are the students?
Our school is for talented children. Its main goal is to give talented children an opportunity to learn what they want to learn and to study as much as they wish to.
Why a need in such school did arise?
There is a fact that talented children are awkward students, who are uncomfortable in even the best school that profess traditional education concepts. They bother teachers and schoolmates with strange questions and unordinary ideas. They often seem to be lazy when performing simple tasks and have a lack of self-organization.
Such students need special educational environment, a kind of “most-favored status”, and our school provides this comfortable environment to talented children.
How much students does “Intellectual” have?
At present there are 260 students here. 16 of them are in primary school and 244 in secondary school.
Who are the teachers?
Many teachers in our school combine teaching practice and research work. 38 of our teachers have a PhD degree. They usually have a large experience in organizing out-of-school activities such as expeditions and summer schools though many of them never worked in a regular school.
Who is the headteacher?
Yuri B. Tikhorsky is our leader since September 10, 2010. He “inherited” the school from its founder and first headmaster Evgeny V. Markelov who rested in peace at September 9, 2010. Yuri works in our school since it has been founded. He is one of the people who made our school what it now is.
How is the schoolwork being organized?
Learning in our school is a difficult thing. Its main difference from the one in “regular” schools is the opportunity for each student of the 5th grade and elder to have a personal curriculum. This means that a student (with the aid of his parents, of course, as well as of our teachers and psychologists) may select any number of courses for advanced placement. The desire for advanced course must be supported with accomplished practical work on the subject or an excellent test results.
Are there any education profiles in your senior school?
We offer three education profiles to the students in our senior grades. Namely they are: physics and mathematics, natural sciences and the humanities. These profiles do not restrict students’ learning activities since everyone is still allowed to have a personal curriculim. Mathematics and foreign languages are available for advanced study in any of the profiles.
What do students do out of lessons?
Our students have a lot of opportunities to organize their spare time. About 70 study and hobby groups, including an “Intelvideo” film studio take place in our school. Most of them are of intellectual kind, but sports groups such as volleyball and football, ping-pong and even aiki-do are also popular.
Our school is often visited by interesting people who give lectures or concerts.
Every spring and summer our students and teachers set out to many expeditions, journeys and summer schools. We arrange educational tours for our students to Novgorod, St. Petersburg, Singapore, Syria and many other places. And an annual jamboree is held in autumn, where newbie students are being initiated into “intellectuals”.
How much is the tution fee?
Education in our school is free since it’s a public school and we teach students from families with different income. Students’ parents repay only meals and residence in the hostel.
Your school has its own hostel. Is there a need?
Although nearly all of our students are residents of the Moscow city, it often takes them more than hour and a half to get to the school. Moscow is really large and includes districts, such as Zelenograd, which are more than 40 km far from its centre. Living in the hostel saves three to four hours a day for our students for work and rest.
Besides being a place for rest and sleep the hostel is also a place where talented children communicate to each other – a thing that they lacked in a regular school.
What are the conditions of life there?
The main building of the school is old but well-repaired, with an assembly-hall, a choreography hall and a gym hall. The elementary school occupies a separate building. Students of junior and senior grades also reside in separate buildings. Everyone in the school may have up to six meals a day.
What difficulties await children who enter your school?
We allow our students a high degree of freedom – a freedom to make choices and decisions. It lays upon them a heavy burden of self-responsibility. Our school is not for those students who loathe working much, lack self-organization and aren’t aimed on self-improvement.
Most of our students were of A level in schools they learned before. Only a few of them can keep it there as they meet others who are much better in some disciplines. It’s a big challenge for the students and a usual cause for nervousness of their parents.
Another inevitable difficulty is gaps in schedules of the students who have a personal curriculum.
Who is eligible to enter the school and what is the admittance procedure?
New children may be admitted into the 1st, 5th and 7th grades only. Every entrant should pass entrance tests. Their goal is to answer two questions: does a child want to learn there and whether he or she is able to learn there. We admit everyone who shows both required abilities and great willingness to study here.
What do your graduates do after finishing school?
As a rule about half of them continue their education at different faculties of the Moscow Lomonosov State Univercity. The rest enter other institutions of higher education in Moscow and throughout the world.
