The SSgN is a medium-sized public school, with about 1350 students (aged 12 to 18) and about 100 teachers.
Our students constitute a cross-section of the population as far as background and culture are concerned.

The SSgN is a highschool with three different levels of education. Nowadays people need more than just a diplome to be able to function properly in society. It is clear that flexibility, creativity, involvement and social and communicative skills are of major importance. The SSgN pays much attention to them, both inside and outside the class rooms.

In the first place we are especially proud of our numerous creative programmes. These include: musical, theatre, cabaret, poetry and TV-making. The school provides extra guidance for creative talents. In the same way the school gives extra guidance for top-class sport talents. The school is also very proud of her international programme.

Our mission statement
The SSgN motto is: Head, Hand, Heart. We are a so-called ‘Jenaplan school’. According to the ‘Jena-thought’ every individual is unique and has the right to create his own identity. In the case of our school this means we take special care to stimulate and support each individual student in the way that is most benificial for him or her. To achieve this goal we create a safe and social environment in which students work with different educational methods, by themselves or in small groups. There is a lot of contact between teachers and students inside and outside the classroom. The teachers work in small teams in which they discuss individual students and develop new ways to improve education.

 Our international activities
As said before, our objective is to develop the social and communicative skills of our students amongst others. With this goal in mind it is essential for students not only to interact with people in their own immidiate surroundings but also outside their environment and even outside their country. ‘Europe’ as a theme is already part of our curriculum; students write papers, give presentations and are tested on the subject. Students, however, should learn that there is a whole other world outside Europe from which they can learn.

Our international activities include:
- Comenius projects (including exchanges) with partnerschools in Portugal, Spain, Russia, Poland, Lithuania and Turkey;
- Neighbourproject with Danmark;
- Citytrips to London, Paris and Berlin;
- A project with morocco is being developed.

The headmaster
My name is Marcel Janssen and I have been principal of this school since 2002. As main benefits of the international exchanges I have noticed that our pupils gather a broader view concerning other cultures and religions and a greater general knowledge about other countries and their habits. They grow notably in their ability to speak other languages, mainly English. They learn to be responsible for their partners and they develop themselves emotionally and socially.
In connection to our Europe project I expect that the India project will contribute considerably to the personal growth of both our pupils and teachers. Plunging into a completely different culture, getting acquainted with the people, communicating in a different language and experience a vastly different social economic environment will enrich their lives as human beings.
Since 1990 the SSgN has considered Internationalisation as one of its main targets. This policy has been integrated into every year level. We always have been one of the precursors in the Netherlands in the field of international exchanges, particularly our grand programme in level three, consisting of all pupils in the ages 14-15.

Gijs Klaver en Wim Steegmans will represent the SSgN in Mumbai in November 2008.

Gijs Klaver
I am 44 years old and I am a history teacher and I teach children in the ages of 15 to 18. I don’t teach as much as I used to because I’m head of one of the six departments within our school. I am teamleader/coordinator of a group of 20 teachers and circa 250 pupils. I think there are plenty of opportunities for my pupils and pupils in Mumbai in the same age group to work together on papers, websites, and interviews etcetera.

Wim Steegmans
I am 25 years old and also a history teacher. Just like Gijs I teach children in the ages of 15 to 18. I hope that after our visit to Mumbai we have the basic outlines for a project between our students (ages 15-16) and students from a school in Mumbai. In my opinion this first project constitutes of an exchange of information about a certain subject which results in a paper and/or presentation of some kind. When this project is successful, we can consider the opportunities to expand the project and the number of students involved in the project.

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