Clubs and Activities

Club

MATh.en.JEANS is an organization founded in 1989 by French mathematics researchers. 

It is non-profit and accredited by the French Ministry of Education. 

MATh.en.JEANS workshops, which received the d’alembert prize from the French Société Mathématique in 1992 and won the French President’s initiative “La France s’engage” in 2015, has also received several prizes from the André Parent du Comité International des Jeux Mathématiques (especially in Copenhagen in 2017).

The purpose is to motivate students and stimulate their curiosity for math and science through fun activities, letting them become active participants in their own learning: like a researcher, he/she engages, questions, accepts fallibility, and learns from mistakes. A conference is held every year, enabling like-minded students to meet (either through their own workshops, or through the groups from different schools, or at the yearly conference). 

The Workshop

The club meets on a weekly basis, where all levels are present.  

The students work in groups of at least four people. 

The workshop deals with different topics that are introduced by a French researcher at the University of Copenhagen, Fabien Pazuki, who coincidently was once a collège student at Prins Henrik School himself. The topics are optional and creative, enabling students to explore the realm of research. 

Our teachers, Maëlle Durey and Eveline Royer, lead the workshop, but the students decide which tools to use to solve the problem. Fabien Pazuki pays the school a visit at the start of the school year and presents the topics, returning two or three times throughout the year to meet with the groups, discuss the topics, introduce methods, or promote further research, if needed.

The Conference

The high point of the event is the conference. All of the different MATh.en.JEANS workshop groups (students, teachers, and researchers), gather in one place (a university, “major school,” natural history museum, and so on.), selected for its reputation for being a place of science and learning.  

At the MATh.en.JEANS conference, students learn to work with the scientific method in a clear and straightforward manner, creating a display (with posters and illustrations), as well as giving an oral presentation in the lecture hall. The conference promotes equal opportunity within science and teamwork, where participants compare ideas and exchange constructive criticism. 

For many, it is their first contact with the university world and the genuine scientific approach. Researchers attend the conference and give a lecture on their research, presenting the practical application of their theoretical ideas. In 2012 the conference was held in Copenhagen, organized by the Institute for Mathematics and KU. 

Photos from the conference held in Düsseldorf, 2017

Computer Club offers students an introduction to programming and algorithms through practice and participation in competitions tailored to all levels. 

• The Castor Competition covers several aspects of information technology: information and display, algorithmic thinking, logic games.
• The Algorea Competition is a competition in programming and algorithms. 
• First Lego League is a science challenge, which invites groups of students to solve science-based problems helped by the scientific approach. 
• The Alkindi Competition is a competition in cryptography for eight and ninth graders, along with 1.g.
• Code Night competition is about creating a scratch video game.

Here are some of the prizes we’ve won: 

2019: First place at the Castor competition in the PAR-category (out of 60,000 participants).
2019: Second place at First Lego League (first place in the robot category).
2020: Third place at First Lego League for technology.  

The club meets once a week. It is open to students from sixth grade to Terminale. 

The yearbook is a beloved tradition in many English-speaking countries, where schools publish a book celebrating the year that passed. It is full pictures of students, school projects, and important events from throughout the year, such as exhibits, meetings, camps, ceremonies, or students after the exams! 

At Prins Henrik School, the yearbook is produced entirely by the students themselves and Yearbook Club is where it gets written, illustrated, and edited. 

The members meet on a weekly basis (the journalists, photographers, illustrators, and editors) with Rosamonde Leal and Julie Leverdier, and have a great time together. If you would like to get involved in Yearbook Club, then get in touch – and join!

For collège students

Sports club offers collège students a weekly hour of exercise after school. There are different sports throughout the year, such as basketball, indoor football, hockey, climbing, and lots of games in the gym.
Sports club is meant to give the students some fun ways to exercise, while providing a positive environment for them to meet up with friends from school. 

For Lycée Students

Two or three days a week, Lycée students can join in the after-school activities offered by Sports Club. The activities include basketball and volleyball. Practices alter between training and tournaments, where we like to keep a sportsmanlike and fun atmosphere. Sports Club offers the students an easy way to improve their skills, meet others, and get some exercise. 

FerMUN club is for students in 1ère who like to debate, where they get to participate in mock UN conferences. Every student represents a country or organization and together they reflect upon, edit, report, and present solutions to the world’s current problems. 

The problems are often related to topics within the school curriculum. It is a unique opportunity for students to work on presentation skills, fine-tune their arguments – and have fun!

The club meets on a weekly basis for six months of the school year, all the hard work culminating with a trip to the FerMUN conference in Geneva, Switzerland. 

The FerMUN conference takes place in the beginning of January and the debates are held in the actual UN conference rooms. At some point during the trip, the students also visit CERN to see the particle accelerator and meet the scientists behind the program. 

In 2021, the conference was held online for 3 days, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

http://fermun.org/