Koç School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Koç School | |
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| Established | 1988 |
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| School type | Private, coeducational, bilingual, boarding |
| General Director | Tony Paulus |
| Location | Istanbul, Turkey |
| Students | 1140 (Elementary School), 880 (High School) |
| Athletics | Volleyball, Basketball, Football, Badminton, Track and Field, Table Tennis, Tennis. |
| Colors | Red and white |
| Mascot | Ram (Koç means ram in turkish.) |
| Website | www.kocschool.k12.tr |
The Koç School is a private high school in Istanbul, Turkey. It was founded by one of Turkey's wealthiest businessmen Vehbi Koç and is currently under the umbrella of Vehbi Koç Foundation, which also has more schools around Turkey. The school opened in 1988. It applies the IB program and is considered one of the most prestigious high schools in Turkey.
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[edit] Mission
The school describes its mission and self-description as:
"Koç School is a Turkish school with a global perspective. Our multi-cultural academic community, innovative methodology, and coherent K-12 bilingual program engage all students in developing their intellectual and human qualities so that they will become confident, ethical leaders and responsible citizens of Turkey and of the world community."
[edit] Vehbi Koç Foundation
Vehbi Koç Foundation is one of Turkey's largest educational foundations. It founded Koç University, The Koç School, other Koç Elementary Schools in various parts of Turkey, and many hospitals. The Foundation is currently chaired by Erdal Yildirim.
[edit] General Information
Founded in 1988 by the Vehbi Koç Foundation, The Koç School has quickly become one of Turkey's most selective and competitive university preparatory schools. In the Private High Schools Entrance Exam in Turkey, Koç School generally ranks the 2nd or 3rd in terms of its entrance score. The Koç School is the first school in Turkey to offer the IB program; which it had started applying in 1994. With the introduction of the IB program, many students started applying for overseas educational institutes with high reputation. Koç students have been accepted into universities such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and many other prominent educational institutes and the number of students seeking overseas education increases each year. Nevertheless, the school's domestical university entrance success is also considerable; in fact in 2000, the top scorer of ÖSS in Turkey was a Koç School graduate. In the 2006-ÖSS, 19 Koc students were in the top 1000 of an exam with over 1.500.000 attendants.
In 1998, the Elementary School opened its doors. It gives salient education like the high school. The school gives uninterrupted education between Kindergarten and 12th grade, however this will soon change; and entrance to high school will be done by only the central state examination.
The Koç School offers boarding for seven days a week, and dorms are located adjacent to academic buildings on a 200 acre campus on the eastern parts of Istanbul, near Tuzla. The buildings are renovated each year to supply the demands of the school. Tuzla is approximately 30 minutes to city centre by car, and is developing rapidly with an airport nearby and the Formula 1 race track, Istanbul Park.
The Koç School is fully accredited by the Turkish Ministry of Education and is a member of the European Council of International Schools (ECIS) and the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC).
[edit] Academics and Extracurriculars
Koç School gave its first 4-year high school program graduates in 2006; a year before other schools in Turkey. Students choose between IB or a non-IB tracks the last 3 years of highschool. The IB program in the Koç School is rigorous and integrated with the national curriculum. The Koç School also is the IB coordinator in Istanbul.
Each year, approximately 40% of students in the Koç School prefer to continue their educational lives in overseas universities. The school's Overseas College Guidance Office is strong, considered as the best in Turkey and one of the best in the world by admission officers.
The Koç School is a bilingual school in Turkish and English but also offers the option of a second language; French or German.
The school has many facilities for sports, and the school's football, basketball and other teams win successes in tournaments. The school has over 50 clubs, some of them being international ones such as SEMEP or MUN.
[edit] Student Perspectives About the School
The students usually have mixed feelings about their school; some find the general academic and social atmosphere of the school inadequate. The Koc School administration has historically played a divisive rather than reconciliatory role in controversies.
The defenders of the Koc school cite student admissions into prestigious US universities such as Yale, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton and the school boasts of a strong Overseas College Guidance Office. Especially in the latter years of high school education, the students undergo a rigorous academic program. Even though the school administration works with a provost within a selective process to choose teachers both from Turkey and abroad, there sometimes are disputes between the students that the teachers have lacking communication skills and inadequate knowledge about the subjects they teach.
The critics, many students and alumni amongst them, on the other hand allege draconian measures by the administration (particularly about the dress code), a lack of "school spirit" and more importantly a superficial school ethos that is more geared towards advertising the school's name and prestige as opposed to aiming for genuine student happiness. (Proving this last point, headmaster Fusun Ersoy has reportedly said that "MUN is the most important activity for the school, since it is a means for advertisement.") For instance, it is common for a student to submit her write-ups for the year book but then find later after the publication of the year book that her write-ups were censored without any prior notice. (Some students express their discontent about the school in their write-ups and the administration vehemently censures such texts in a zeal to protect school's image.) In general the school lacks the camaraderie and warmth of other more traditional high schools (such as Galatasaray Lisesi, Alman Lisesi or Istanbul Erkek Lisesi). Its location, extremely distant from the city center, stifles the social life, as many students commute an hour or longer everyday.
Koc School's notable alumni include Cengiz Pehlevan, who got the first place in 2000 University Entrance Exam (OSS), Tansa Mermerci, socialite and fashion designer and Berkun Oya, artist and playwright.
