In the 1960s Jocelin Winthrop-Young began to compile the Kurt Hahn Archive. With approximately 140 metres of written records, it forms the central archive dedicated to the educator Kurt Hahn and Schule Schloss Salem; the oldest documents date back to the foundation phase of the School in 1919/20.

A unique community

Daily life in our boarding school is shaped by rules and practices which have been developed in a democratic process. For each year group there is an age-appropriate constitution. The core values are mutual respect and the readiness to take on responsibility for the benefit of the community. A wide range of elected offices, committees and tasks make up the institutional framework of student self-governance and co-determination.

Living at boarding school

Students live in dormitory wings - separated by gender - in two to four-bed rooms. Students in the Upper School share two-bed rooms. Four to six rooms make up a wing, which is supervised by a Mentor (or, in the Upper School, a Tutor) who lives adjacent to the students' wing. Salem's pedagogical dormitory staff live full-time on campus and are, in general, also teachers. Hence, the close interaction between living and learning at Salem is reflected in the dual roles of many staff members.

Classroom learning is not everything...

By tradition the (obligatory) program of Salem's boarding school includes numerous fields for learning and activity outside of the actual classroom setting. 
These include:

• Social services
• Creative arts and crafts (muses)
• Handicrafts (guilds)
• Sports (especially team sports)
• International student exchanges
• Outdoor education
• Leisure activities (particularly in the evenings and at weekends).

Salem offers room for faith and spirituality

• Weekly morning prayer
• Services for the entire school community at the beginning of the school year
• Services in Salem at Christmas, Easter and the end of school year
• Pastoral care
• Room of silence
• Confirmation 

Scholarships at Salem

We Support Achievement and Commitment

Our scholarship programme is financed and supported by the Kurt Hahn Foundation.  The non-profit foundation aims to support education and teaching at Schule Schloss Salem. The central idea is to enable particularly gifted and capable children and young people to visit Salem independently of their parents' income through scholarships.

• Prerequisites
• Expectations
• Community

Level of Scholarship Aid

The base amount for each scholarship is 6,000 € per year, or 500 € per month – independent of the income and financial circumstances of the family.  This means a reduction in the current school and boarding fees by this exact amount.

Need-based Increases to Partial Scholarships

Beyond this base scholarship an additional sum can be granted in consideration of the income and financial circumstances of the family. It must be applied for separately and substantiated with documentation such as tax assessments, etc. We explicitly ensure that this personal data will be handled confidentially. It has no influence on the qualification for a scholarship. The school gives sole consideration to the academic qualifications and the personal qualities of the applicant with regard to our official criteria.

As a rule it is expected that a family makes a contribution of 6,000 € per year, or 500 € per month. 
If no income statement is submitted, the scholarship will be limited to the base amount of 500 € per month.

Anyone who wants to find out what Schule Schloss Salem is all about needs to experience our boarding school life first-hand. That is why we offer the Salem International Summer Schools for children and teenagers aged between 9 and 16. This two-week academic and extracurricular programme broadens the participant's cultural and academic horizons -- true to the motto of our founder Kurt Hahn "Plus est en vous!" That is why we say to everyone who wants to discover more about themselves: "Welcome to Salem!"