Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SSHL | |
Established | 1927 |
Location | Sigtuna, Sweden |
Founders | Manfred Björkquist, Harry Cullberg and Arvid Bruno |
Colours | Blue and Purple |
School anthem | Time is Here |
Homepage | http://www.sshl.se |
Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket (SSHL) is a Swedish boarding school located in Sigtuna, Sweden. Famous alumni include the Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and former Swedish Prime minister Olof Palme.
Contents |
[edit] History
Founded by Manfred Björkquist, Harry Cullberg and Arvid Bruno. The first buildings of what eventually became SSHL were constructed in 1927-1931. Until 1980 Sigtuna housed two schools, Sigtunaskolan (SS) and Sigtunastiftelsens Humanistiska Läroverket (SHL), located on hills on either side of town. In 1980 the schools were consolidated at the SHL site on the western side of town.
[edit] Education
The school is considered to provide a high class education to those who are motivated. The Swedish section of the school offers Sweden's two main secondary school programmes, Humanities and Sciences/Mathematics. The English-speaking part of the school mostly follows the International Baccalaureate (IB). Future businessmen and politicians can be counted amongst the graduates.
[edit] Boarding
The school consists of 580 students of which approximately 2/3 are boarding students. There are six homes for boys and five homes for girls, where students aged 12-20 live.
Most boarding students are from one of Sweden's larger cities (Stockholm, Gothenburg or Malmö), but a large proportion come from abroad, where their families live. There is therefore some rivalry and hostility between the "true Swedes" and the "expatriates". Houses holding many "expatriates" have often been the target for evil jokes and false rumors.
All boarding houses have a clearly defined hierarchy, where the oldest students enjoy many privileges, among those the right to order younger students around. Those elected to be prefects and vice prefects set the rules, which often include punishment, both physical and psychological, of those who do not follow these rules.
Each boardinghouse has over time been given many different characteristics and rumors which has lead to many jokes and laughs at the different homes. For the boys houses there exists fierce rivalry between some which has its roots in "Hemserien", the competition in which all boys houses compete in a number of different sports throughout the year. In most cases the games are played in a friendly manner but at occasions there has been fighting and smaller riots at the side of the pitch.
Politically, the school, both the boarding and non-boarding sides, is traditionally quite to the right. Many students are active in the Moderate Party and Christian Democrats youth organisations and tend to vote for such parties. In the school elections 2006, extreme-right party "Sverigedemokraterna" (Sweden Democrats) received 18% of the votes, a cause for concern for the school board.
Boarding house for boys
- Herrgården
- Kvarnbranten
- Midgården
- Sandvreten
- Tallåsen
- Ängsbacken
Boarding house for girls
- Berga
- Björka
- Haga
- Backa
- Skoga
[edit] Leisure
SSHL is located close to Stockholm, Uppsala and Arlanda airport. It is an advantage for students to be close to the capital for activities and to Arlanda for travelling. However, there are many opportunities for activities already at the school, without going to Stockholm. Also, the school sports association, magazine, pupil council, environment group, Theatre Specto and Sigtuna Rowing Club organise various ongoing activities. Even though the choice is wide, many pupils choose to use free time for their own sport, course of study, music or drama group. They might also take the initiative for a mountain trip or go to a concert. Sigtuna, being close to two cities, can easily attract wonderful course leaders. Consequently, they are able to offer an extensive range of courses. Perhaps you could consider a course, which offers in a national hunting diploma, a course in yoga, brake dancing, driving licence theory, swimming, drama, fencing, jazz dance, astronomy or classical ballet. Maybe learning the art of tying a fishing fly appeals to you. Or maybe you would like to stick with a normal sport like basketball, soccer, track and field, or tennis The fact remains that the choice of courses is so wide and large that one can be spoilt for choice.
Student societies:
- Arcu
- Elevrådet
- Estetföreningen
- Hjärter ess
- Idrottsföreningen
- Life Link
- Miljögruppen
- Prefektkollegiet
- SRK
[edit] Alumni
Famous alumni include:
- Marcus Wallenberg (1956-), Swedish industrialist, President of the International Chamber of Commerce
- Carl XVI Gustaf (1946-), Swedish King
- Olof Palme (1927-1986), former Swedish Prime minister
- Peter Wallenberg (1926-), Swedish industrialist, Honorary Chairman of Investor AB
- Povel Ramel (1922-), Swedish entertainer
- Curt Nicolin (1921-2006), Swedish industrialist, former CEO and President of ASEA and ABB