Jan Neruda Grammar School (Czech: Gymnázium Jana Nerudy) is a Czech state secondary school situated in Prague. It is named after the writer Jan Neruda.
The school ranks as the second best secondary (high) school, and the best public (state, i.e. attended for free) secondary school in the Czech Republic according to the Czech Ministry of Education, based on the performance of students/graduates at the Maturita (A-level equivalent).
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Description
The grammar school is located on Hellichova Street in Prague. Jan Neruda Grammar School offers two courses of study: bilingual (French-Czech) and general (there used to be two general courses, science and humanities, although the difference between the two courses was marginal compared to the Anglo-Saxon education system; recently, these two courses have been merged). In the first and second years bilingual-course students are taught in Czech, but from the third year most subjects (apart from languages, fine arts and sports) are taught in French. It takes 6 years to complete the Grammar school. The staff of the Grammar school consists of about 65 teachers. Between 1996 and 2012 the school offered also a separate course consisting of general subjects and extensive music lessons for musically talented students in a different building located on Komenského Square (nowadays an unrelated institution with its own headmaster).
The Grammar school is a member of the ASPnet UNESCO network. The school building is barrier-free.
Subjects and activities
The structure of the course reflects the Czech national curriculum and consists of following subjects:
Compulsory subjects:
Czech – Czech and world literature, Czech writing, Czech grammar
English
German or French
Mathematics
Physics
Chemistry
Biology/Geology
History – Czech and world history, including modern history
Social sciences – psychology, philosophy, sociology, political science, law, economics
Geography
IT
Latin/Descriptive geometry
Music – singing, playing instruments, history of music, theory
Arts – creative lessons
Physical education
Methodology of thesis
Various elective and optional subjects, e.g.:
Literature seminar
Humanities
Biology seminar
History seminar
Administration
After the death of PhDr. Zuzana Wienerová in 2026, she was replaced temporarily by her deputy headmaster PhDr. Jaromír Kekule, PhD. A competition for the permanent position was announced permanent position of the headmaster was announced
History
Jan Neruda Grammar School is one of the oldest grammar schools in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 1865, although not in the contemporary building which has been occupied since 1876. The original name of the school was Malostranské gymnázium (Malá Strana Grammar School).
Graduates of note
Among hundreds of well-known graduates of the school there are:
Bohumil Bydžovský – academic
Bohuslava Kecková – the first Czech female doctor
Jaromír Hanzlík – actor
Jan Patočka – professor and philosopher
Jiří Paroubek – a former Czech Prime Minister and prominent politician
Jiří Šedivý – Defence Minister
Radim Palouš – professor
Jan Tříska – actor
Vladislav Vančura – writer
Josef Dostál - canoeist