GORDONSTOUN PERFORMANCE-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS

Project initiator:

Gordonstoun is an international school in Scotland. It is a privately maintained boarding grammar school. (The school follows the curriculum for English GCSE and GCE Advanced Level school-leaving certificates).

Around 500 pupils are educated at Gordonstoun: 90% of pupils at the school board and 35% come from countries outside of the UK. The school follows an approach similar to progressive education, focussing on creative art, music and dance.

Alongside purely passing on knowledge, life at the school focuses on holistic education that develops the character. For example, the school has its own sailing ship that enhances the pupils’ experience of teamwork and communication. A very high staff to pupil ratio of 1:7 enables highly individualised care and support for pupils.

Project description:

NEUMAYER STIFTUNG has been supporting annual partial scholarships since 2019/2020.
Scholarship recipients are chosen by the school. Along with academic performance, criteria for funding also include social and cognitive skills.

Project aims:

Performance-based scholarships give gifted pupils access to an exceptional learning environment. An international atmosphere, very small class sizes and the focus on nurturing pupils’ artistic and creative talents ensures a holistic and character-building education. Teaching of values is given the same priority as academic objectives.

Project location:

Moray, Schottland

Project target group(s):

Talented young people who can fulfil their potential in a supportive and challenging academic and personal learning environment.

Application Procedure:

Fellows are selected by the Prince Phillip Foundation Gordonstoun. Further information on the application procedure can be found here.

INTERNAT SOLLING PERFORMANCE-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS

Project initiator:

Landschulheim am Solling is a privately maintained accredited independent boarding grammar school.

Around 200 boarders from Germany, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, China, Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine attend Internat Solling. Furthermore, 50 external pupils from the local area also have the chance to attend the boarding school. The educational concept is based on empowering and supporting young people so that they can become responsible citizens of society. The school’s key objective is a comprehensive education, beyond just teaching grammar school knowledge. The aims are to bring together life and learning, academic education and to strengthen character development. Pupils are encouraged and challenged to learn independently with conditions such as small class sizes and living in residential groups. Educational concepts such as compulsory charity work and horse riding as a school subject are other special features of Internat Solling.

Project description:

NEUMAYER STIFTUNG has been supporting annual partial scholarships since 2010/2011.
The pupils receiving the scholarships are chosen in a two-day assessment in cooperation with Dornier Stiftung. Criteria include pupils’ abilities with regard to academic achievement, social skills and intelligence.

Project aims:

Performance-based scholarships give particularly gifted pupils access to a first-class learning environment. Special conditions such as small classes and the resulting opportunities for close attention ensure a consistently high level of performance, as well as individual support. Pupils from different nations and very different social environments live together, which helps to develop social skills that are given the same priority in pupils’ education as academic content.

Project location:

Holzminden, Lower Saxony

Project target group(s):

Ambitious and hard-working young people who perform particularly well academically.

REGIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING CENTRES – FORIKOLO, SIERRA LEONE

Project initiator:

Forikolo e.V., Leipzig

For 16 years now, Forikolo e.V. has been building schools and bakeries, realizing farming and agricultural projects and supporting a clinic in Sierra Leone.

By supporting education, for example by building and maintaining schools, the organisation aims to give children and young people access to a proper school education and to a well-founded vocational qualification.

Since the lack of secondary schools, in particular, prevents children and young people from accessing vocational training, a training centre is being built in Mathen, Sierra Leone. The centre will provide primary and secondary education, as well as a vocational training centre. Solid vocational training and the opportunities for regular work it gives a person can secure a living for an entire family.

Project description:

A project coordinator with a background in construction and engineering – and specialising in water projects – uses their specialist expertise to regularly support and evaluate the construction project on location in Sierra Leone.

The work focuses on construction of a training centre in Mathen, with a primary and secondary school, as well as a vocational training centre. Realization of the construction project using sustainable building materials creates an innovative model project for the region. (The education centre will be built exclusively from materials that are available in the region, so that it can be realized without expensive imported materials).

Project aims:

The vocational school gives young people opportunities to learn to do a job that they can then do in the region. For example, training plans for the jobs of farmer, joiner, electrician and solar installer, as well as hydraulic engineer, are to be developed for the training centre in Mathen, in cooperation with German vocational schools.

Established training standards should expand specialist knowledge on location in the long term. Qualified training broadens students’ knowledge and, at the same time, teaches important practical skills. These skills improve students’ chances on the difficult job market in Sierra Leone, but also in other countries.

Project location:

Mathen, Sierra Leone

Project start:

2018

Project target group(s):

The project’s target groups in Mathen are primarily children and young people (young adults, especially of secondary school age) from the Loko Masama Chiefdom.