Bergen Cathedral School


Bergen Cathedral School is an upper secondary school in Bergen, Norway. Located in the city centre, next to Bergen Cathedral, the school has about 850 students, 95 full-time teachers, and 5 administration personnel, including the headmaster, Lise Hårklau Holsen.
The school is thought to have been founded in 1153 by Nicholas Breakspear, making the school the second oldest in Norway together with Oslo Cathedral School and Hamar Cathedral School, which were founded the same year, one year after the founding of Trondheim Cathedral School.

History

Although the earliest written records documenting the school's existence date back to 1288, Bergen Cathedral School is believed to have been founded in 1153 by Nicholas Breakspear, who became Pope Adrian IV in 1154. It was founded as a theological school for the education of priests. Pupils would start attending the school around the age of seven. Until the school reform in 1806, the school was tied to the church.
The school moved to its present location in 1840. The original building is still in use as the offices for the administration, as well as some classrooms. This building also houses the school library. In 1869 the school's gyms were built, and the same year the school changed its name from "Bergen Latinskole" to its present "Bergen katedralskole".
The school was independent until 1896, but has been administered by the government since. In 1972, the school was made a regular upper secondary school administered by the county government.

Buildings

A classrooms only building was built in 1957. Another building, containing science laboratories, computer rooms and a cafeteria was built in 1992.
In July 2007, large amounts of mold were discovered in the building from 1840. This led to the building getting closed, resulting in a shortage of teacher offices. The building contains several old classrooms, an auditorium and the school library, which is the oldest library known in Norway. For a while, the school administration considered delaying the start of the term, but this never happened as the teachers and the day-time adult education classes ended up moving into temporary barracks in the schoolyards of Bergen Cathedral School and Tanks Upper Secondary School. In February 2008, it was decided that the building will be renovated at a price of 6 million NOK as a temporary solution that will last until at least 2014.
At present, 2016-2017, the original building is closed for renovation and an additional building is being added between it and the classroom wing. The administration, the school library and some classes are temporarily located at the former Tanks videregående skole.

Academics

Of the mainline courses offered in Norwegian upper secondary schools, only the generalist line, studiespesialisering, is offered by Bergen Cathedral School. The school is the only one in Bergen offering the IB Diploma Programme, from which about forty students graduate per year. In the 2005-2006 school year, the senior year students of Bergen Cathedral School received the third best grades in Western Norway, which was the highest achieving region of Norway. The school has a reputation as a prestigious school, because of its history and high grade requirements.

Notable people

Alumni

A number of the most famous alumni in the history of the school are engraved in a plaque in the old building from 1840: