Our school is more than 70 years old, has a lot of old and new traditions, we are presenting  a few of them. Beyond the traditions we consider our programs for talents like a good practice. We are going to tell you about some programms connecting with talent management, and such activities as we try to transfer a complex knowledge  - in spite of the strict curriculum and separated subjects.

Hőgyes complex competition 

 A good practice is our complex competition, with that we pay tribute to Hőgyes Endre. We have been holding this competition for decades. 

Earlier it had more parts than nowadays, like study results of the classes, number of absences of the pupils, a running race and a quiz-competition about our name-giver, and about famous people of our town. Sometimes classes have to make project to a jubilee. 

For a couple of years we just make the running race and the competition.  

And the result of the school trip contest is also included.  

Every year we organize a school trip in the fall in which all our students take part. We visit an interesting city or natural landmark. The classes participate in a quiz which is generally organized on different venues. The tasks are related to the visited places.  

The Hőgyes running race is also a decade-long tradition of our institution. On a beautiful autumn day, the classes compete in various individual and relay races on the city sports field. This event which is part of the Hőgyes complex competititon, move all the classes and students of our school. Representatives of the classes – in two categories (grades 7-10 and 11-12) – can compare their skills in different athletic runs. Our run races ranging from 100m to 1000m are complemented by the most exciting 4x100m relay race. 

Based on the results achieved, students collect points, from which we determine the final results. 

The Hőgyes-competition is organized near the end of the year, it takes part on two afternoons. Once the 5 members of the 7. 8. 9. and 10. classes. And on the next day for the participants of the classes 11. and 12. Here the students  do crosswords or have a  test on the information about Hőgyes and our school history or town history, recognize music, pictures, answer interesting questions to each subjects, present something. 

The result of the complex competition is announced on the Christmas program and the winner classes get a goblet (a big cup) and a big cake (gateau). 

 Hőgyes-week and Gala

In honor of our name-giver, in addition to our traditional Hőgyes complex competition, we organized the first Hőgyes Week with a tradition-creating intention a few years ago. This week, a number of scholarly lectures were also attended by our students and those interested. The lectures were given by university professors or our professionally recognized former students. Since then, we have been holding this series of programs every May, with a wide range of scholarly lectures to choose from: from linguistics to medicine, from history to mathematics — many topics, and fortunately every year the guest speakers gladly accept our invitation. The Hőgyes Gala will also be held within the framework of this week, to which, in addition to our teachers and students, we invite parents and relatives too. The aim of the gala is twofold: on the one hand, we create an opportunity for our students who are talented and proficient in the arts to show their talent, and not only out of bias we can say that we can enjoy very high quality art productions: instrumental, singer, dance productions, recitals and plays. On the other hand, at this festive event, we reward our talented students with the best results in subject, art or sports competitions in front of a large audience.

Managing talented students

Talent management is the “pull sector” of our school. There is a Talent Point network in Hungary, to which we joined 6 years ago. Our school immediately became an accredited excellent talent point, and by winning this title, many application and further training opportunities opened up for us.

A few years earlier, we were primarily proud of our achievements in subject competitions when it came to talent management. Since then, we have been trying to help and manage our talented students in a broader sense. Using our relationship with the University of Debrecen, we are looking for university mentors who will give our outstanding students the opportunity to get involved in research in an area that suits their interests. With their help, several of our students have achieved excellent results in prestigious academic competitions and applications.

We are currently developing a complex talent management program that will involve our 7th, 8th and 9th-grade students. With the help of psychologists and specialist teachers, the students involved can take part in personality development and complex knowledge-enhancing and enriching sessions, which can help not only in terms of experience but also in career guidance. Led by psychologists, children take part in self-knowledge, communication skills and community building sessions in one semester.

In the second semester, a teachers’ group consisting of members of different work communities linked the program of the previous school year to a specific topic, in which we present each discipline to students in a complex, innovative way, with playful tools and experiential pedagogical methods.

Before the epidemic, we spent an entire school year like this: for the first time, the children could take part in self-knowledge sessions under the guidance of a psychologist. The aim of the sessions was to increase and deepen the students' self-knowledge, to create an area habitat, and to map their resources. These sessions took place in groups, and then they could provide feedback on the experiences, thoughts and feelings. When choosing tasks, great emphasis was placed on age characteristics and playfulness, which probably increased their motivation.

Through an ancient myth, the art teacher introduced the children to certain techniques and uses of portrait, silhouette and various other techniques. Led by a chemistry teacher, students conducted learning experiments that showed the beginnings of the development of chemistry as a science. The physics teacher expanded the children’s knowledge on astronomy. In the sessions led by a math and computer science teacher, the journey, which was made difficult by logical puzzles, library research, and GPS positioning, which children called “treasure hunts,” led to the compilation of platonic solids. The Hungarian and history teacher first put together a Greek mythology-themed board game for the children, and the next time they got acquainted with Greek acting and took part in a drama competition. Under the guidance of a physical educator, the children learned about the history of the ancient Olympic Games and also compared their skills in some competitions. During the language session held by the language teachers, the students were given a text on ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt according to their language skills. In connection with the fields of everyday life, art, politics, and geography, a board game was created, which they also tried out. The history teacher introduced the children to the archeological excavations in a practice-oriented session, conducting an excavation.

 We asked the children in writing for their opinion on the annual program. The feedback was mostly positive, with students finding the sessions interesting and useful.

 One of the benefits of the sessions was that not only the children got to know each other better, but also the teachers, so it turned out that some students showed an outstanding interest in one area, so we could suggest the right specializations, individual or small group sessions. We also consider personality development to be important as one of the areas of talent development, which was also highlighted by several students, and we plan to develop this type of development in the future as well.

Science

 Science  camp

We have organized a multi-day project for talented students interested in biology, chemistry, physics, and geography entitled “Complex Scientific Study of a Hungarian Life Community”, to develop environmental awareness and cooperation skills. The program was attended by seventh- to eighth-grade students, assisted by senior-year “mentors” to complete the assignments, and the program was coordinated by 4 vocational teachers and an eighth-grade class teacher. The backbone of the project was an organized trip to the Bükk Mountains, for which the students were given preliminary tasks, which they looked up in the library, and on the Internet, got acquainted with the laboratory equipment to be used and formed groups.

 During the field practice, the children got acquainted with the flora and fauna and geological curiosities of the site, tried astronomy, took part in lectures, and collected rock and water samples. Preliminary preparation and analysis and processing of the materials collected in the field took place in the school. To end the project, we held an open day during which students participating in the program reported on the tasks completed and the experiences gained to fellow students, invited parents, and members of the press.

 This first science project has since been followed by another similar one, the necessary financial resources for their implementation can be obtained only from tenders, therefore, unfortunately, we cannot organize a program like this regularly (every year).

  Öveges-lab 

 As a result of a tender, a well-equipped, modern laboratory was set up in our school 6 years ago, which gives our students the opportunity to deepen their scientific knowledge in small group sessions.

 We want to transform cognitive practice into an experience-centered occupation by combining the effective elements of different methods: cooperative methods, the use of interactive tools, the incorporation of game elements to help children experience the positive sides of cooperation, the discovery of experimentation, a motivating and competitive experience of playful tasks.

 Our teachers have developed workbooks and aids that are not only used in classes for our own students, as we provide the opportunity for nearby primary schools to hold practice-oriented science classes in our lab, even under the guidance of our teachers. Most of the developed sessions are excellently adaptable, as we tried to put together experiments with spectacular and ordinary materials that can be done well even in a less well-equipped institution. We can provide lesson plans and worksheets for the developed classes for the schools interested in this field. We can also provide methodological recommendations on request, so that they can apply the methods as effectively as possible.

 The success of the internship is shown by the fact that the surrounding schools prefer to participate in our classes.

·   Researchers’ night

 We also aimed to promote the natural sciences by joining an EU-initiated series of programs, Researchers' Night, 2 years ago. Within the framework of the national series of events, the school offers scientific, educational, but at the same time entertaining programs for the children and adults visiting us: with the participation of our science teachers and students, laboratory visits, lectures, experiments, talks, interactive games and workshops.