European School, Luxembourg I


The European School, Luxembourg I was the first of the European Schools. It was founded in October 1953 on the initiative of officials of the European Coal and Steel Community, with the support of the Community's institutions and the government of Luxembourg. In April 1957, it formally became the first of the European Schools. Today it is located on the Kirchberg-Plateau in Luxembourg City.

History

Boulevard de la Foire

Parents working for the European Coal and Steel Community established the school in 1953. It became necessary to establish a new school when many European children from varying language backgrounds appeared.
When the school was founded it was located on the premises of a former furniture shop in the Limpertsberg quarter of Luxembourg city. It initially had 70 students. The school later moved to Villa Lentz in Hollerich. In 1956 construction began on a new building, located on Boulevard de la Foire, just outside the city centre. The building was opened in 1957, on 11 December. This building today houses the language teaching centre of Luxembourg. The first students graduated in 1959; the graduating class was 23.
At a later date, the school moved to a new site on the Kirchberg plateau, another quarter of Luxembourg city. During the late 80s, the school re-used the building at Boulevard de la Foire, as an overflow school for three age groups of the primary school. Since the end of the 1990s, the old building at Boulevard de la Foire has no longer been used by the European School.

Kirchberg

The school progressively moved to Kirchberg in the 1990s. At the end of the 1990s, the grounds on Kirchberg were completely redesigned. Old buildings were demolished and new ones were built, though three blocks of the old Secondary school were left standing. T and L blocks were added due to high number of students. In 2012, the school relocated a large portion of students to a second European School of Luxembourg campus, situated in Mamer. 3 years after the separation, it was decided that only T block will be conserved, while L is due to be demolished.
In 2014 the Luxembourgish government signed an agreement for the European Schools to accept 100 more students in their English and French sections.

Notable alumni