Franciscan Grammar School of Sinj () is one of the oldest educational institutions in Croatia, dating back to 1838/39 school year. It was the first school in Dalmatia with Croatian as official teaching language. The holder of the school is Franciscan Province of the Most Holy Redeemer for Split.

History After a number of monastery schools that were organised by a Province of Saint Redemptor for the purpose of schooling its candidates, in 1838 all these schools were associated to Domestic college of the Franciscan Province of Saint Redemptor (), that was organised in three levels, located into three convents: Zaostrog, Knin and Sinj.

In 1854 this dislocated college starts to work in integral institution in Sinj, with the denomination of Public Croatian grammar school in Sinj under government of the Franciscans of Provence of Saint Redemptor (). From 1854 the College starts with teaching in Croatian, and becomes the first Croatian grammar school in Dalmatia. The teaching languages were Italian and/or German, and mostly Latin before.

In the later history, school had got and lost the right of publicity, stelled between various political systems, governments and empires. Although atmosphere was not always so clear, the Provence has not given up on all its endeavours to make the school better. In 1908 the present magnificent building of school was built, in famous Alkarsko trkalište (the street in which Sinjska Alka is played), and new professors are schooled for the needs of good teaching.

In 1939, after years of so-called "partial" right of publicity, school reaches the full right of publicity, with the denomination of Franciscan Grammar School of Sinj with law of publicity (). This is its present name.

The name of the school The school is named after its founder and owner, the Franciscan Province of Saint Redemptor in Split, as Franciscan candidates attend it alongside other students. In addition to primary education, the school incorporates a Christian perspective and the principles of Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order.

The school has "with law of publicity" in its name because it is accredited to issue vouchers according to present public law in Republic of Croatia.

The school is "classical" because it has the classical curriculum, with the special emphasis on classic languages and culture, such as Greek and Latin.

Classes

There are two courses maintained in the Franciscan grammar school in Sinj at present: Classical course Language course

The annual-per-week schedule is given in the next table:

Subject Classical course Language course I. II. III. IV. I. II. III. IV. Croatian 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 English 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 German # # # # 4 3 3 3 Latin 4 4 4 4 2 2 # # Ancient Greek 2 2 2 2 3 # # # Visual Arts 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Musical Arts 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Psychology # # 1 # # # 2 # Logics # # 1 # # # 1 # Phyilosophy # # # 2 # # # 2 Sociology # # 2 # # # 2 # History 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Geography 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 Math 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 Physics 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Chemistry 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Biology 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Informatcs # 2 # # # 2 # 3 Politics and economy # # # 1 # # # 1 Gymnastics 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Catechism 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 TOTAL PER WEEK 33 34 34 34 33 33 33 32 German (optional) # # 2 2 # # # # Italian (optional) # # # # # # 2 2

Employees Some of the employees/professors are civils, and some are Franciscans. The majority are professors that schooled for professors in Croatian universities, and some of them have Master of Doctoral degree.

Head-master of the school is mr. sc. fra Josip Grbavac, prof.

Professors are at present: Iva Čugura, prof. – Philosophy Andro Čalo, prof. – Musical Arts Marija Ivišić, prof. – Math Helena Kodžoman, prof. – Math fra Nedjeljko Jukić, prof. – Biology Dario Klarić, prof. – Gymnastics Radmila Klarić, dipl. ing. – Biology and Chemistry Mihaela Miloš, prof. – German and Latin Hrvoje Markulin, prof. – Croatian fra Ante Branko Periša, akad. slikar – Visual Arts dr. sc. fra Jure Hrgović – Greek and Latin Anđela Tomašević, prof. – Politics and economy Snježana Radan, prof. – Informatics, Physics and Math fra Antonio Mravak, prof. – Catechism Ivan Vuleta, prof. – History Antonija Čarić, prof. – History mr. sc. fra Ivan Udovičić – Psychology and Sociology Marijana Vuleta, prof. – Croatian Dijana Župić, prof. – English Marko Zec, prof. – English Brankica Jerkan, prof. – Greek and Latin

Alumni

Some of the alumni of the Franciscan grammar school in Sinj made a great contribution to science and social and political atmosphere in Croatia. Some of them are: dr. sc. fra Josip Olujić, paleontologist academician Dušan Bilandžić, historiographer prof. dr. sc. Anđelko Mijatović, historiographer fra Josip Ante Soldo, prof., historiographer

See also Croatia Dalmatia Sinj Sinjska Alka Croatian

References

External links Official website of school Official Website of the Province of Saint Redemptor