The Italian School System

 

School usually starts in the second week of September, while it ends mid June for the younger students while those attending the final year need to take a national exam in order to have access to their further education which means that they will come to school until the middle of July to take their final tests.

 

Our school year is divided in two periods: a 3-month one and a 5-month one; between these two terms the students enjoy their Christmas holidays, which last 3 weeks at the end of which remedial courses are organized for those whose marks have been unsatisfactory.

The pupils also have a short break for Easter (5 days) and some other holidays for national or town festivities during the year; the longest break is, of course, the summer one during which they can recharge their batteries for 3 months to finally get some rest for their brains! Of course those who haven’t reached the educational goals requested to further their schooling they need to study because they will be tested in the last week of August to verify if they have completed their preparation in order to attend the following year successfully or otherwise ….

In the majority of the Italian schools lessons start at about 8:00 a.m. and finish at 1:00 p.m.; the total of 30 hours per week can be sometimes spread onto 5 or 6 days from Monday to Friday.

 

We attend a scientific high school, so Maths, Physics and Science together take one third of the total amount of weekly lessons. We cannot choose to study any other foreign language apart from English unless you decide for the language courses where German or French are added. All the other subjects (Italian, Philosophy, History, Art, PE) are mandatory, apart from Religious Studies.

 

Gabriele Cimino 5A