Katedralskolan in Skara is one of Sweden's oldest Upper Secondary Schools. It was founded in 1641 at the initiative of the Diocese of Skara, and its bishop Jonas Magni Wexionensis, and was approved by Queen Christina on August 31 of the same year. For hundreds of years before that it had been a priest training school which was founded in the 13th century and the students were called Skaradjäknar. In June 1864 first student group took the final exam in Skara. Earlier the exam had been taken at a university. In 1878 came the name Higher general secondary school, which remained until 1965. The school opened for girls in 1927. The school had long been located in a building east of Skara Cathedral Choir by the then-high wall surrounding the cathedral churchyard. The building was demolished in the late 19th century, when the neo-Gothic building with a typical lecture hall was built south of the cathedral. In 1972, the current main building, which is more on the edge of Skara, was finished, and the school moved. The former high school building is now an elementary school for grades 7-9 called Djäkneskolan whose students likewise are called Djäknar The school has had, during its time, many students who have later become famous, poet Johan Henrik Kellgren, chemist Torbern Bergman and the Swedish veterinary medicine's father Peter Hernqvist to name a few. The school's motto is "Där tradition och framtid möts".
Programs
The school offers most of the programs available at this level in Sweden: Cathedral School also offers the international education International Baccalaureate and the specially designed program, Music and Production. This musical education has its offices in a building prepared for the recording of Fame Factory. MoP has already generated pupils who have made a name in the music industry, for example, there are members of Zeke's students in the program. The teachers at MoP include, for example, Lars Diedricson and Kristian Wejshag, who among other things, have made a contribution for Melodifestivalen 2010.
Double Quartet, Friends of Music and Octo Puellae
When Gunnar Wennerberg was a student at Cathedral School, he co-founded the chorus, double quartet. When Wennerberg became philosophy lecturer at the school in 1886, he co-founded the choir music's Friends. Both of these choirs are still active at Cathedral School, and have become a traditional feature of Skara's culture. MV and DQ provides, inter alia, continuous concerts in the Botanical Garden in Skara in May, they provide an Advent concert in the cathedral and sing for the bishop in a traditional courtship. In 1977 a choir of female students was formed, called Octo Puellae which now is an equal key element of the school's music scene. The choirs are also important for Cathedral School's graduation ceremony
Skara Deacon Association
The Skara Deacon Association is an association for those who have been pupils at the school. The association, founded in 1916, has approximately 1650 members. SDA has departments with various activities at four locations: Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Skara. The purpose of SDA is to preserve and enhance the sense of community with those who, through the years, have gone through secondary school education in Skara. The term "Deacon" is now used primarily for students at traditional high schools like the Cathedral School in Skara and Uppsala.
