THE HISTORY :

 

Located in Istanbul, Turkey, Galatasaray is heir to five centuries of uninterrupted education history which started in 1481 with the establishment of an educational institution at the present site of the “Galatasaray High School" for the purpose of preparing young men for high-level public service. The school, originally named “Galata Sarayi Enderun Mektebi" (Galata Palace Imperial School) is one of the oldest establishments of its kind in the world. Last year, the school proudly celebrated it’s 150th year.After providing valuable services to the Ottoman state for over 350 years, it underwent a modernization process and adopted the French secondary education system in 1868.

 

 

Up till the end of the First World War in 1918, the school welcomed a diverse student body of different religious and ethnic groups constituting the population of the Ottoman Empire, such as Turks, Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Levantines, Bulgarians, Albanians. Many of the graduates of this period, coming from various communities, became prominent statesmen, educators, bureaucrats and writers in Turkey as well as in their home countries.With the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the name was changed to its current name “Galatasaray Lisesi" and it became co-educational in 1965. Ataturk visited the campus twice, showing his special interest, as well as all other Presidents of Turkey,to date.

 

Galatasaray High School has been, since 1992, part of an integrated educational system consisting of the Galatasaray Primary School, Galatasaray High School and the Galatasaray University, creating an active community both inside and outside of Turkey. The influence of the graduates of Galatasaray High School on the rise of modern Turkey has been enormous. In the modern era, as the need for administrators, diplomats, businessmen, scientist and other groups in accordance with Western norms became increasingly important, the graduates of Galatasaray came to play a preponderant role in diverse fields in the Republic of Turkey. The Principal of the High School is automatically a member of the board of the Galatasaray Sports Club.

 

 

 

 

THE SCHOOL BUILDING :

Galatasaray high school is located in one of Istanbul’s most well known areas, İstiklal Street, Taksim Square.  The campus extends over an area of 27,000 square meters. Along with its remarkable historical building, there is a botanical garden, a sports field and another garden where students can be found during their leisure time. 

When you pass the security you will come across a path, lined with busts of former people that have done important deeds for this school. Like one of the founder and establisher or one of the historically known figures who is a graduate of this high school. This short path leads to the middle of the campus where you’ll end up in front of our school building, painted in yellow and white.

 

The main building has 3 entrances.  The one on the right side has a trophy room in which our school’s previous successes are showcased. Across that room one of the deputy principles room is located. Moving along the corridor, you’ll see numerous classes. These classes belong to Prep Students and the 9th graders . In our high school it is obligated to attend Prep Class if your level of French is below the average.

The middle entrance is mostly used by upper classmen who take the stairs right in front of the door. On the right side you’ll find the “ Sergi Salonu” which is used during examinations, art exhibitions and certain activities that require a grand space. 

 

The last entrance door is on the left side. It leads directly to the “Grand Cour”, our school’s football field where students get together for various activities during recreation.  The football field and its bleachers were constructed with the donations of the Galatasaray Alumni.  High schoolers from other schools are brought here to have football matches in front of the faculty and other students.

These locations are all found on the ground floor, plus there are two restrooms, one for male the other for female usage, and a gym. The gym consists of two areas. The main one is for PE lessons and the smaller has fitness machines that are used commonly by students. There is also a cafeteria with the view of the “Grand Cour”. The cafeteria is always crowded and you can always find delicious meals to enjoy.

 

Moving to the first floor, you’ll find classrooms for the 10th, 11th and 12th grades.

The first floor also has two restrooms one for girls and the other one for professors. There is the Teacher Lounge in the middle of the corridor where professors have their desks and private cupboards to store their belongings.

The room of the Headmistress is located on the first floor as well. Next to it you’ll see the Information and Documentation office. The other two deputy principles rooms are also on the same corridor.  

On the uppermost floor it’s the infirmary and the dormitories. Our infirmary is open throughout the day except during lunch breaks. It has a waiting area, two resting areas and an examination room. 

 

 

The dormitories are separate for male and female students. Since this high school accepts many students from various cities in Turkey, each year the dormitories are always full. 

On the property, there are two other buildings separate from the main building.

One of them is the big cafeteria used during breakfast, lunch, supper and dinner. Students need to buy tickets in order to eat in this cafeteria. Traditional Turkish cuisine is usually served.

The other building is the Middle School of Galatasaray. Each year by a draw, 50 children are selected to enter the middle school. These students have the privilege to attend the high school without entering the national exam.

 

Around these buildings there are multiple gardens. The most visited one is near the entrance where you’ll find an outdoor basketball court. The other garden is called the “Botanic Garden”, is reserved for 12th grade only. It has a small pound with a seating area where you can enjoy the spectacular scenery of the sea and nature.  

 

THE LESSONS:

Galatasaray High School is one of the best schools, if not the best school in Turkey.In Galatasaray High School there are 40 lessons every week. For prep classes, there are French lessons for 23 hours so that Prep students can improve their French and get used to the rigorous classes in the following years. There are also chemistry, physics, biology, and maths classes which are also in French and there are Turkish, English and P.E. which are obligatory. We can also decide between music or art to take as an art class. During the freshmen and sophomore years, the lessons are pretty similar. Both have French, English, Turkish, maths, physics, chemistry, biology, religion, geography, history, P.E. and music/art. Distinctively in freshmen year, we have sanitary lessons and in the sophomore year we have philosophy, Italian and Latin instead.

For the last two years, we are able to choose which lessons we are going to take. In those years students who want to study science in the college take maths, chemistry, physics, and biology. On the other hand, the students who want to study literature take maths, literature, geography, and history. Except them, we can also choose among Italian, Religion and P.E. But instead of the lessons which we choose some lessons are obligated to take and those are French, P.E., music/art, history, Turkish, English and philosophy.

 

So we graduate from this school with an advanced level of English, upper intermediate level of French, and elementary level of Italian. In Latin, we mostly learn about the history of the Byzantine Empire and some basics words of the language which help us to relate them with the words in French so that we can understand their origins. That is why we can't go more than elementary level Latin. Native teachers who are from Tunisia, Morocco, France, and Italy teach us Italian and French so that we are able to learn the correct pronunciation of each word and improve our speaking skills.

Turkey's education system is based on memorizing by heart. What makes our school different is we do not memorize but we learn the logic behind every subject. So we do not memorize formulas but we try to demonstrate them to understand its logic. This means that our school is not a French school only because we are learning the same lessons with the other high schools in French. What is more important is the way of education, especially in science courses, which is taken from the French education system itself.

 

CLUBS IN OUR SCHOOL:

 

Sports Clubs           

 - Football

 - Basketball

 - Volleyball   

 - Table tennis

 - Tennis

 - Badminton

 - Yoga

 

 

 

Art Clubs

- Theatre

- Cinema

- Literature

- Music

- Photography

- Tango

- Folk dances

- Plastic arts

 

 

Other Clubs

• Economy

• Philosophy

- Debate

- Chess

• English (MUN)

• French (MFNU)

Our Football Team: