Introduction

The Attila József Secondary Grammar school was established in 1895. At first it was a boys’ only school but later became coeducational.
Its building, situated in the centre of Makó, has been rebuilt and enlarged several times. The last overall construction was done during the school year of 1999-2000.

At present we have 568 students learning in 19 classes. They are aged from 10-18 and are educated in a four- or eight- form grammar school system. For the last few years a new concept has been applied so that the students enrolled into the new 9th grades can have a chance to choose one optional subject. These subjects are as follows: Media, Maths with IT, Biology, History with Hungarian or English language.

A turning point can happen in the 11th grade when they can decide to continue learning these subjects further or change to any other subjects. From this time these subjects are taught at advanced level. Advanced level is offered in Maths, History, Hungarian grammar and literature, Biology, IT, English and German.
In the eight-form classes we expect talented students willing to participate in different competitions. For them advanced education is assured only from the 11th grade.
95-100% of them are usually admitted to institutes of higher education. A Great variety of different study and art circles provide extra-curricular activities. Our choir, dance club and verse readers often participate in school and town festivals. These additional talent support activities lead to several results achieved in town, county or national competitions.

To mention some of our last few years‘ results, our students came 1st, 4th, 5th 8th and 20th in Hungarian language and grammar, Media and History in the National Secondary School Competition. The traditional “Button pinning” ball is a big festival of ours, when green buttons are pinned on the school leavers’ clothes representing their immaturity and after the GCE they receive yellow ones symbolizing their success and maturity. We also have a very lively sporting life. Our handball and football teams successfully participate in regional tournaments and in athletics we have achieved national results as well.

At present forty teachers are responsible for the students; 20% of the staff are male, the average age is 40. The members of staff are loyal, focusing on quality work and self-education.

Several activities are added to our teaching activities such as study trips and foreign exchange programmes to Germany and Denmark. Every year a so called “country study “ is organised to different National Parks in Hungary. We also take our students skiing and on 6th October we visit Arad, an important historical town. Several traditional sport events and the celebration of different holidays and Christmas make our days a bit more joyful. The school has parents’ and students’ unions, too. They are involved in school activities and help to increase the reputation of our school as well as keeping our traditions.
On a list ranking 600 secondary schools in Hungary, ours gains the position between 80-100 ( the position changes according to the topic of the survey). In Csongrád County we are among the best 4-5 secondary grammar schools.