Bánffy Katalin Lyceum, the predecessor of Varga Katalin Grammar School was founded in 1930, and originally constituted an eight-grade secondary school for girls. It acquired its present name at the beginning of the fifties, and became co-educational in the sixties.
Varga Katalin Grammar School is for students of 14-19 and our prime aim is to prepare them for higher education in any field of knowledge. Our institution has a long-established reputation based on its open and colourful atmosphere and the students’ achievements.
The independent selective subject experiment has become the programme of the development of different skills and talents since 1971.
In 1977-1978 the school – uniquely in Hungary – served as a venue of a UNESCO research.
In 1986 the school was charged with the task of helping the post-graduate training of the teachers in the county as a base-school and with this we have provided an opportunity for the experts who have been interested to get to know our special school system.
The English-Hungarian Bilingual Programme started in 1988 is a unique programme of our school, to the national acknowledgement of which the achievements of our students have contributed greatly. The objective of the programme is the acquisition of a high level of English. For this sake students acquire professional vocabulary in Mathematics, Physics, Biology and History by being taught these subjects in English by Hungarian teachers who have received an American teaching experience with the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Scholarship.
The Mathematics – English Programme has a double objective: the acquisition of safe mathematics and foreign language basic knowledge during the first two years of education, and preparation for higher education in the field of the choice of students during the last two years of education.
The Arany János Talent Development Programme was started int he year 2000. With this the school system of the existing talent and personality development was extended and a chance was given to the young people living in small settlements to get admitted to our school, where after the special development programme of the first preparation year they can meet the ’Varga’ requirements of continuing their studies at universities and colleges.
In the 2008/2009 academic year a new educational programme is started: the general talent development programme in 4 modules. Besides the compulsory subject lessons there is an offer of
4 modules for students to choose from in 2 lessons per week: arts and practical communication, international relations, mathematics-physics and biology-chemistry. Students learn the modules for
4 terms based on their choice. There is an opportunity to change their decision at the end of every term.
In Varga Katalin Grammar School students can choose from 5 foreign languages. Besides learning English, German and French there is an opportunity to learn Russian and Spanish, the latter one within the framework of a course organised by the foundation of our school.
Special opportunities of talent development are provided by extra-curricular activities including the drama club, the poem reading circle, the arts club, the choir, the ’Vargánya’ student magazine,the film club or the talent show. We strongly believe that participation in such activities enhance our students’ academic achievements.
Sports and being fit have a great role in our school life. We have excellent athletes in table tennis, foot-minton, tennis, mini golf, kayaking, canoing, rowing, athletics, swimming, fitness but we are successful in team games such as basketball, handball, football and volleyball as well. Skiing camps, boating tours and the natural science field trips are very popular.
The international student exchange programmes have a long tradition in our school. Hosting foreign guests, travelling abroad provides a special opportunity for our students and teachers to discover other cultures and to become the ambassadors of our school and home town as well.
Our main objective is preparation for higher education and during this process we focus on the students’ personality development.
Our achievements are related to the performance of the above-mentioned objectives. That is why the ’Secondary School League Table’ and some prominent achievements on the national level shown by other surveys are important for us.