Keio Shonan-Fujisawa Junior & Senior High School

Keio Shonan-Fujisawa Junior & Senior High School (慶應義塾湘南藤沢中・高等部 "Keiō Gijuku Shōnan Fujisawa Chū Kōtōbu") is located on the campus of Keio University in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

Since its founding in 1992, the school has been commonly known as Keio SFC, or simply SFC. The overwhelming majority (99%) of its students advance to Keio University, one of the top universities in Japan. In 2006, for example, out of 237 students who entered the senior or final year, 232 were admitted to the various campuses of Keio University.

School

This is one of three Keio University attached, or in Japanese "fusoku" schools. The school is a combined Junior and Senior High, with grades seven through twelve. There are 160 students per grade in Junior High, virtually all those students continue into the high school with another 80 students joining in the first year of Senior High, bringing the total to 240 students per grade. Most of the teachers teach in both the JH and SH. Both JH and SH are in the same buildings, which is uncommon in Japan. Junior and Senior Highs are usually physically separate.

Campus

The nearest station is Shonandai, which is about 45 minutes away from Shinjuku by train. Almost all of the students take the bus from the station, as the campus is approx. 3 kilometers from the station. Most students live in Kanagawa Prefecture and the typical commuting time is 90 minutes. About a quarter of the students are returnees who have lived in various countries. Some of these students have a high English language proficiency by Japanese standards. The school emphasises English education as well as IT in its curriculum.The school is on a trimester system with a five week summer vacation and a three week break at the end spanning late December and early January.Like other university-attached private high schools in Japan, students in their final year of high school are exempt from taking entrance exams in order to enter the affiliated university. This frees up enormous amounts of time for extra-curricular activities. Most students belong to clubs of some sort (sports, music, arts, dance, etc) and will typically spend 12 to 20 hours a week on club pursuits. The school hosts an annual festival in November which is a show case for many of these clubs. The school is co-educational and the number of boys and girls is effectively equal. Students in their last year can specify which Keio University faculty they wish to enter and are granted admission to a specific faculty dependent on their academic grades and other intangibles. Many of the teaching staff of the school are themselves Keio University graduates. Most of the staff have Masters degrees, unusual among secondary educators in Japan.

External links

* [http://www.sfc-js.keio.ac.jp/ Keio Shonan-Fujisawa Junior & Senior High School]
* [http://www.keio.ac.jp/index.html Keio University]