Here she is. Our school. Yes, she. We made a mistake deliberately. Czech language has three genders and like German der, die, das for both animate and inanimate nouns. The Czech word for school is " škola" (pronounced shcola). So you can see that though Slavonic our language is, many words come from Latin, Greek, German and recently from English. The name of our school is hard to translate because you have no schools of this kind in your countries. There are following possibilities:

The school includes two types of classes or branches - technical lyceum and chemistry classes. The former prepares pupils for study at technical universities. The major subjects here are mathematics, physics and computer studies. The latter are attended by more students and have several subspecializations, like analytical chemistry and chemical technology. The graduates from chemistry classes find jobs in labs and factories or go on studying at various higher schools, mainly those with chemical specializations.

The study lasts four years but if you fail, you can repeat each grade once. So theoretically you can stay at our school for eight years. However, it has never happened because really weak or lazy students have no nerves or guts to face their teachers, they leave the school and look for an easier secondary school.

The school has a nickname. Generations of students have called it "KŘEMENCÁRNA". (The Ř is a very special Czech sound you can never pronounce successfully)

Our school is quite old. Its construction was finished in 1894 and a grammar school was established here (like German Realschule). Between the world wars the school bore the name of the first president of Czechoslovakia T.G.Masaryk. He never studied nor taught here but it was fashionable to give his name to institutions. The grammar school was cancelled in 1949 and a different school (specialized in chemistry) was moved in here from another building. As Masaryk was not popular with communists, the school was not allowed to use Masaryk´s name any longer and it had taken 35 years before his name was given back to the school. It happened on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the existence of the school in 1994. The 100th anniversary celebrations were probably the most important event in the last decade. A lot of former teachers and students came from all corners of the world.

Our full address is Křemencova 12, 116 28 Praha 1 - Nové město.

The school building is situated in a comparatively quiet one-way street in the center of Prague, near the river Vltava, on the right bank. The name of the street is very likely derived from the word křemenec, which means quartzite (a mineral). Perhaps the name of the street refers to the opposite standing brewery " U Fleků", which was founded in 1499 and used to be a property of a man called Křemenec a long time ago. Our school is located in the part of Prague called Nové Město (=New Town). This New Town is pretty old. It was founded in 1348 as the third oldest town of Prague (after the Old Town and the Lesser Town). There are a lot of historical sights in the surroundings. We wrote you about them and sent some pictures last year.

How to come to our school ? We recommend by tram or by underground. The nearest underground station and the tram stop are not far. In fact a few minutes walk. Never come by car. All parking places are occupied permanently.