Nyköping Enskilda Gymnasium

The Catalan students feel always pleasantly surprised by our Swedish partner school. Not only the facilities but also the atmosphere is certainly very different from our school in Barcelona. Dana, Maite, Paula Duque and Paula González explain their impressions.

The NEG is a private school, also called "independent", is free and receives a municipal subsidy for each student but is managed by a foundation or association. The NEG is a very peculiar and unique school, because it is not like the other Swedish schools. The students are admitted to the school for the qualifications of their marks. However the Swedish education system is quite similar to the Spanish. The bachillerato (gymnasium) is optional and free, but it lasts for three years. Also all students receive financial aid (€ 100 approx.) from the Swedish Government each month to finance their studies.

In NEG students take eight common subjects and the other modal subjects, depending on the program they’ve chosen (e.g. scientific or social). They start their classes at half past eight and the timing and duration of the lessons depends on their subjects. The school is located on two floors of a building and to get in you have to enter a password. Also when you enter the school you have to take off your shoes and leave them with your stuff in a kind of a changing room. So you walk around the school in socks, something very weird for us.

The school doesn’t look like our school at all, because it seems to be designed as if it were a house, with its rooms with sofas for relaxing and a kitchen where you can get something to eat or drink coffee. The school also provides rooms for studying and doing homework in your free time, where there are books you can browse.

The atmosphere of the school is more relaxed and calm than in our school and everyone seems to be very focused on their tasks. Everything is very neat and clean and we were also surprised to see that they had candles over the tables to create a feeling of more comfort!

The classes are bigger and more spacious compared to ours. Classes lasts an hour and a half, or even more. The first part is more theoretical but in the second part is more practice, where they watch videos on the subject, or make some working groups.

In the classes the students are very attentive and much more participatory than here in Barcelona, ​​and the syllabus is often easier because they still have one more year of Bachillerato. They are always concentrated, taking notes during the lesson, and they almost never miss school. In general are correct, studious and they have a big respect for the teacher.

Students take lunch according to their schedules, usually about eleven in the morning, but there are people who eat later because his classes end after. The canteen isn’t at the school because it’s in another building, that it’s located three blocks from the school. It’s rather large, there are plenty of tables, a place for the drink and bread and a slash for serving food and it's the only place where you don't have to take your shoes as in school and at home.