European School, Culham

Infobox Secondary school
name = European School, Culham
established = 1852 (as Culham College), 1978 (as a European School)
type = International
founder = European Union
headmaster = Mr. Uffe Gravers Pedersen
free_label_1 = Ages
free_1 = 4-18
gender = Male and Female
city = Culham
state = Oxfordshire
country = England
free_label_2 = Former Pupils
free_2 = Culhamites
website = [http://www.esculham.net/ www.esculham.net] The European School in Culham, Oxfordshire, is one of 13 European Schools around Europe and the only one in Britain and currently has around 900 Nursery/Primary (4-11 years old) and secondary (11-18 years old) students.

It was opened in 1978 to educate the children of scientists working on the Joint European Torus (JET) project. It now also educates many pupils whose parents are not associated with the JET project.

It is sited on the grounds of the former Culham College, a teacher training college established in 1852 by Bishop Samuel Wilberforce. Its buildings are in a style described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "institutional Victorian Gothic at its grimmest".

As of October 12 2003, the student population of the European School, Culham was 884 — of which 88 were in the nursery school, 343 in the primary school and 453 in the secondary school.

The European School Culham school newspaper was set up in 1994 as the "Culham Oracle". Recently it changed name to BIAS.

This European School finished 9th in Eurosport 2005 in Munich.

There are 5 language sections at this European school. a German, French, Italian , Dutch and English section. For pupils from other European countries who don't have enough pupils to open a section, there are mothertongue lessons, and the rest would be in English.

The future of the European School Culham is currently under discussion. These schools were formed primarily with the aim of serving Commission's employees where EU projects were present. JET/EFDA, in Culham, is currently scheduled for closure with the project moving to Cadarache, France around 2016/17, thus the envisaged closure of the school. Parents and the local community are seeking to transform the school in order to safeguard its future as an associate European school. Details on the related activities can be accessed from the CESPA or ETEE sites (see below).

Address

European School Culham, Thame Lane, Culham, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 3DZ, United Kingdom

Facilities

The European School Culham has many sport and educational facilities. These are:
*A full-size basketball indoor sports hall
*A five-a-side sized indoor gym
*A sport field
*Another sport field across the road which can be accessed using a bridge going across Abingdon road
*A library which can be used to study as well as read
*3 computer rooms, one of which can be used by pupils at all times

References

European School Culham (Hg.): "Schola Europaea. Culham 1978 - 1988", Culham 1988

Further reading

*Leonard Naylor and Gerald Howat: "Culham College History", Culham Educational Foundation, 1982, ISBN 0907957013.

External links

* [http://www.esculham.net/ Official website of the European School, Culham]
* [http://cespa.org.uk/ Culham European School Parents' Association]
* [http://www.esculham.elludovico.co.uk/ European School Culham by 2005 Baccalaureate Students] [http://www.elludovico.com/ Webmaster: Elludovico]
* [http://www.eursc.org/ European Schools]
* [http://www.etee.org.uk/ English Trust for European Education]