Ovidius High School is a prestigious presence in the Constanța county, having established itself as a centre of excellence in its more than 50 years of existence.

Founded in 1955 with the name of Scoala Medie nr. 3 – Secondary School nr.3, it became Liceul nr. 3 – High School nr.3 in 1965, when the national educational system changed to 12 years of compulsory education. In 1972, in the presence of cultural personalities from 17 countries and of the representatives of the mayors of Constanța and its sister city, Sulmona (Italy), the school management proposed the name Ovidius be attributed to the high school. The proposal remained unanswered and in 1975 the high school became Liceul de Matematica-Fizica nr.1-High School of Mathematics and Physics.

In 1982 its name became Liceul Industrial nr. 10 (Industrial High School nr.10), becoming the first high school in Constanța county to create classes specialising in “Computer Science and Informatics”. Beginning with the 1st September 1990 it became a theoretical high school with the official name of “Liceul Teoretic “Ovidius” (“Ovidius High School”).

Ovidius High School offers science-oriented specialisations: Mathematics-Informatics and Natural Sciences, some of which also offer a further specialisation in languages (English, French or German intensive study). Our high school students’ age profile is 15 to 19 years old. Since 2000, secondary school classes (ages 10-15) have been created and are now part of our profile. Our institution has : 24 classrooms; 9 laboratories – 1 Physics lab, 2 Chemistry labs, 1 Biology lab, 2 IT labs and 2 AEL labs with more than 100 computers (connected in three different networks with internet access); a sports hall; 2 sport grounds; a Robotics workroom; 3 language labs (English, French and German); a Social Studies lab; a counselor’s office; the school magazine’s workroom where the school radio functions as well; a school projects workroom; an auditorium with 196 seats; a conference room (70 seats), and a library with more than 21,000 books, more than 14,000 textbooks, 5 computer stations and media access. In addition, two medical offices function on the premises: a dentist’s office and a general medical office.

The teaching staff is made up of nearly 70 dedicated teachers. All of them are highly trained professionals, two-thirds of them having obtained the didactic qualification level I (didactic qualification level I or ‘gradul I’ is a certification acquired by teachers who have submitted a thesis on their speciality subject in front of an examination board).

Recently, our high school has entered the process of becoming a Pasch-SCHULE (DSD Schule). Our students are given the opportunity to study German intensively and take the Deutsche Sprachdiplom. There is one class per each level of schooling (from the 5^th grade to the 12^th grade; a little under 200 students in total) which studies German in 4 to 6 classes a week. Beginning with school year 2021-2022 there is a German teacher (assigned to our high school on the basis of a governmental agreement with the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany) who works closely with our classes and the other teachers of German, assisting students in their study towards attaining the DSD.

Ovidius High School also offers French bilingual classes and the students attending these classes will be able to take the Francophone Baccalaureate (le Bac à mention francophone). To this end, our high school welcomed a French Teaching Assistant who works closely with our students and our teachers of French.

Our students’ achievements prove a high level of training, reaching standards of excellence. Their average grades (above 9.00) upon graduation of various levels of schooling (secondary or high school) demonstrate their performance capabilities. The average entrance grade in our high school is constantly above 9 (out of a maximum of 10) and the graduation rate in our high school is nearly 100% each year. While in school, our students demonstrate their passion for learning by participating in and obtaining, consistently and yearly, many prizes in school competitions (county, national and international level). To mention only one example of successful participation: since 2000 Ovidius High School has won every year prizes in the NASA Space Settlement Design Competition (Grand Prize in 2007 and 2018; yearly, our students win First, Second, Third Prizes or Honourable Mentions).

Similarly remarkable are the results obtained by our students upon entering higher education in pursuit of different specialisations; this is yet another measure of the flexibility of the training and teaching we provide for our students. The vast majority of our students continue their education in STEM-related areas: engineering, informatics, life sciences, medical, computer sciences, etc. A significant percentage of our high school graduates choose to further their education abroad, in prestigious European universities.

The optional curriculum our teaching staff develops each year is based on our students needs and wishes. The electives we create each year in answer to our students’ requests or needs provide them with additional classes for a more intensive study of the compulsory subjects, but they also offer many additional subjects connected to various fields such as:

Sciences – Education for sustainable development, Environmental education, Education for Health, Management of Interdisciplinary Projects, Astronomy, Meteorology-the science of weather evolution, Applied Physics, NASA Projects, Applied Biology, Food science; etc.

Informatics – Lab view, Computer programming, Web Programming, Php and My Sql, HTML and CSS, JavaScript, Implementation of Algorithms; etc.

Foreign Languages – Deutsch ist logisch, Spiel und Spass, Übungsgrammatik, Deutsch mit Freude, Le français en images, Le français par la chanson, Imparare la lingua italiana, Hablamos Español, The World Today, Exam Check, English at Work.

These are only a few examples of the types of subjects we develop in response to our students’ interests and needs. Optional curricula is continuously developed, based on yearly assessment of their usefulness, popularity and opportunity.

Extracurricular Activities represent an interesting component of our students’ lives in Ovidus High School. Both teaching staff and students dedicate themselves to creating opportunities for active expression of their interests, knowledge and creativity. Here is a list with only a few of the extracurricular activities available for our students:

• Many of our students are involved in environmental activities. Our teaching staff permanently promotes and creates opportunities for Environmental education and Education for sustainable development. At the same time, our student body mantains active links with several prominent NGOs in the region (such as “Mare Nostrum”, “Împreună pentru viitor”, and others). One example is the Ecology Group which was founded in 1999. Its members have developed various projects and monitoring programmes on topics such as Bio-fuels, microplastics, Black Sea Biodiversity, and many others, with which they have obtained several prizes in different county and national competitions.

Ovidius High School is a member of the European Blue Schools Network.

• The Debate Club (‘Clubul de dezbateri’) is open to our students interested both in improving their orathorical skills and in identifying solutions to various community issues. The Debate Club functions in collaboration with ARDOR (The Romanian Association for Debates, Oratory and Rhetoric).

• CREE (Centrul de resurse pentru Educație Economică / Resource Centre for Economics Education) offers many opportunities for expression and development to our students interested in honing their entrepreuneurial and financial skills.
• STEM-based extracurricular activities are plentiful in our school. Some of them include “Spre Stele” (“To the Stars”) – our astrophysics club, the Robotics Club, training courses for ECDL, and many others.
• The French Theatre Troupe, “Amphithéâtre”, has participated in several national and international (Italy, France) festivals. With a history of more than 25 years, “Amphithéâtre” has brought home numerous prizes. Inspired by the success of our high school actors, our younger students had their own troupe created. “Mini-Amphithéâtre” is currently made up of 20 secondary school students (12-14 year-olds); the troupe made its debut in 2015 and successfully participated in the International Festival of Francophone Theatre in Sorrento, Italy in Ferbuary, 2016.
• The Basketball, Handball and Football teams function sucessfully for both girls and boys (‘junior’ teams, for our 12 to 14 year-olds, or ‘senior’ teams, for 15 to 19 year-olds).
• The school magazine holds several prizes in school magazines’ competitions. It is a bi-annual 24-pages colour magazine, entirely created by our students: content, editing, photography, graphics, etc.

We are also partners in the pilot project “Educație media” (Media Education).

• Official Test Centre: Our school also offers our students more formal opportunities for recognition of their qualifications.
  • We function as an ECDL testing centre and each year nearly 100 students take their ECDL exams in our school.
  • We also operate as a Cambridge Exams Test Centre, organizing two sessions each year in which students can take PET, FCE or CAE.
  • Recently, our school has become a DELF/DALF preparation centre for those interested in French language certification.
  • Last, but not least, our school has taken the necessary steps to become a PASCH-Schule (DSD Schule), which means our students can take their DSD exams on the premises.
• Lifelong Learning opportunities and Erasmus+ projects are a constant component of the extracurricular activities available for our students. Beginning with 2000 our school has been partner in numerous European projects, some of them addressing STEM-based concepts, others focusing more on community values, issues and creative solutions.

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