Didn’t Gotthold Ephraim Lessing say that education is not filling the mind but lighting a fire? Right here stands the Lessing-Gymnasium. It embodies this very principle. This school shares a leadership and faculty with the Lessing-Berufskolleg. Both are named after the famous writer Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
The Lessing-Gymnasium’s story began in 1910. It started as a Realschule. The school first resided on Fürstenwall in Düsseldorf. In 1913, it moved to Ellerstraße. This move marked a name change to Lessing-Gymnasium. By 1916, it achieved the status of Oberrealschule.
Fast forward to August 2007. The Lessing-Gymnasium became North Rhine-Westphalia’s first sports school. This was in cooperation with Fortuna Düsseldorf. Seven years later, on January 31, 2014, it gained another title. It became an elite football school.
Today, the Lessing-Gymnasium offers various paths to the Abitur. There are seven different ways to achieve this goal. Four are at the Gymnasium. Three are at the Berufskolleg. The Berufskolleg brings in new students for the upper school level. These students may have attended different schools.
At the Lessing-Gymnasium, students choose their advanced placement courses early. This happens during the introductory phase. The Gymnasium doesn’t keep the same class groups from Sekundarstufe I. Instead, students choose courses. These courses mix students from different learning profiles.
The Lessing-Berufskolleg now focuses on one vocational Gymnasium program. This is education path D17. It combines biology and sports with training as a leisure sports instructor.
The Lessing-Gymnasium has celebrated many athletic achievements. In 2018, the school’s table tennis team placed seventh at the World School Championships. That same year, they won the German School Championships. The football team also secured a state championship. In 2016, the table tennis team was the School World Champion.
Beyond sports, students excel in other fields. Vladimir Danila won the Jugend forscht competition in 2017. He created Vectornator, an iOS app for creating vector graphics. This allows users to scale images easily on their iPads.
The Lessing-Gymnasium emphasizes sports. To join a sports class, students must pass a motor skills test. It is also a full-day school in Sekundarstufe I. Currently, about 680 students attend the school.
The school uses the “Drehtürmodell”. This model allows gifted students to explore topics of interest. They work on these projects during and outside class. Talented students may even attend extra classes.
A school day starts at 8:00 am. It ends by 4:20 pm. The day is divided into 70-minute blocks. There is a long lunch break for lower grades from 11:55 am to 12:40 pm. Older students have their break between 1:10 pm and 1:50 pm. The school offers the Abitur after eight years. It is known as G8.
The Lessing-Gymnasium is more than bricks and mortar. It is a place of learning and growth. It fosters talent in sports and academics. The Lessing-Gymnasium shapes well-rounded individuals.