Old Cantonal School Aarau

• 1. Introduction

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  In 1802, the Old Cantonal School Aarau made Swiss educational history. It was the country's first secondary school to operate without any church connection. Known locally as the Alte Kanti, the school opened in a building on Laurenzenvorstadt. That street in Aarau is now home to the cantonal police. Over two centuries, the institution grew from a small private school into a public one with a national reputation. Some of the alumni who passed through its classrooms are recognized across the world. What brought this school into existence, and what has kept it among Switzerland's most respected institutions ever since?

• 2. The Founding Circle

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  Johann Samuel von Gruner did not build this school alone. Alongside him stood the factory owner Johann Rudolf Meyer and the writer Andreas Moser. Moser carried an additional distinction: he also created Switzerland's very first gymnasium at the same address. All three men were shaped by the ideas of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, and that influence ran through the school's earliest decisions. The institution described itself as a reform school, not bound to religious doctrine or established tradition. To lead this new venture, the founders appointed Georg Franz Hofmann, who at the time served as secretary of the Helvetic government. Hofmann became the school's first director. The school remained in private hands until 1813. From that point, a new kind of Alte Kanti began to take shape. Its campus would eventually bear one of the most famous names in science.

• 3. Campus and Recognition

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  Around 1896, a new building was inaugurated for the school in Aarau. That building is known today as the Einstein House. It was named in honor of Albert Einstein, a physicist who had once been a pupil at the school. In 1917, an extension to the Einstein House was completed, adding an observatory to the campus. The school continued to build. In 1969, the Karrerhaus was completed. A rebuilt Karl-Moser-Haus opened in 2006. Two years later, a new cafeteria began serving students in the Frank building, where the library is also located. For a long time, the school has carried a reputation as one of the best educational institutions in Switzerland. In 2014, 2020, and 2021, the Alte Kantonsschule Aarau received the School Prize of the Science Olympiad.

• 4. Languages and Arts

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  German, English, and French are mandatory for all students at the school. Beyond those three, the curriculum expands considerably. Latin, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Russian, and Hebrew are all available as elective languages. Arabic joined that list in 2006. Since 2014, students have also been able to study Japanese and Chinese. For formal certification, the school offers the small Latinum, the large Latinum, the Graecum, and the Hebraicum. Students can also sit the Cambridge Advanced and the Cambridge Proficiency examinations.

  A choir, an orchestra, and several ensembles are available, alongside individual instrument lessons. Third-year students can choose music as a main subject; those in the fourth year may add it as a supplementary one.

  A drama course gives students a setting for public performance. New productions reach an audience roughly every six months. Computing runs alongside all of this as a separate and growing strand of the curriculum.

• 5. Computing and Sport

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  Since 2003, keyboard writing has been a compulsory subject at the school and at the adjacent economics school, the WMS. Examinations at the high school have been somewhat less strict than those at the WMS. In 2005, the school became an authorized ECDL test center. High school students can earn an ECDL diploma voluntarily; for WMS students, earning it is part of the required curriculum. In 2006, a class called NAWIMAT began preparing students for careers in science, with the ETH named as one possible destination. In 2010, the school launched a full computer science course called the IMS. That program carries a commercial vocational baccalaureate and a federal certificate of proficiency in Computer Science and Application Development. The IMS runs for three years in Aarau. The second year includes a five-week internship; the third includes a four-week language course. A fourth year serves as a practical placement year. By 2017, computing had become compulsory for every high school student, covering programming in multiple languages and media competence.

  Sports lessons take place at the Telli sports center, approximately 950 meters from the school on foot. A separate curriculum also runs each year for professional athletes. Elective options at the Telli include volleyball, trampoline and air-track, and football.

  An immersion class, taught in both German and English, also runs each year. That bilingual course joins a school calendar that has evolved consistently since the observatory opened on campus in 1917.