# Trần Đại Nghĩa High School for the Gifted

Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted (Vietnamese: Trường Trung học Phổ thông chuyên Trần Đại Nghĩa) is an academically selective public high school for talented and gifted students from grade 6 to 12 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Established in 2000, the school was the first partially state-funded, semi-boarding school specialized in various subjects, especially foreign languages, in Ho Chi Minh City. The school requires a highly competitive entrance exam for admission (with less than 7% acceptance rate).

## Establishment

Founded in 2000, the school was named after Professor Trần Đại Nghĩa, a scientist and engineer who invented the SKZ recoilless rifle, as well as redesigning captured weapons to adapt to use among Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War. The school was set up by repurposing existing facilities of Institution La Salle-Taberd, established by the De La Salle Brothers in 1874 as one of its many educational institutions. It was the first school to have the Intensive English program in Hồ Chí Minh City. 2003 marked the school's first graduating class.

## Facilities

The school has many academic facilities, including a library, two computer labs, an audiovisual room and a multimedia room. The school also contains one dining hall, a canteen and rooms for students to rest between classes. The school also has two basketball courts, three badminton courts and a volleyball court. In addition there are some basketball half-courts for students to practice inside the school ground. There are 6 blocks in the school: the main block in the center for the school's faculty, and five blocks for classrooms labelled A, B, C, D, and E. Additionally, block E is also used as a dining hall. As the number of students has been increasing every year, the number of classrooms and teachers has also risen.
In 2015, the school opened a second branch in District 2 for students from grades 6–7. With this, the entrance exam now accepts 525-600 students per year instead of the previous 300-400. This new branch includes one computer lab, a canteen, multiple sleeping quarters, and two dining halls, and 2 out of 4 vice-principals began working at the second branch. Due to the second branch being in District 2, an area far away from central Sai Gon, there is a shuttle service to help transfer students between the two schools.
In 2024, there was a massive change to the second branch in District 2. The library was improved greatly, from being 1 classroom large to being over 6. There was also an improvement on sanitary, food and the classrooms, with newly installed air conditioners.

### Library

In 2019, the school opened a library for all students to access. It operates from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays.

## Learning method and students' opportunities

Tran Dai Nghia High School's students are known to have high level of fluency in English, and the school has a reputation for being one of the best education institutions for foreign languages in Ho Chi Minh City. Aside from English, high school students majoring in social subjects are also taught French, Korean, Chinese, Japanese or German as a second foreign language. In addition, classes of grade 10, 11 and 12 are arranged into specialized classes such as English majoring class, Math majoring class, Literature majoring class, Chemistry majoring class, Physics majoring class and Biology majoring class. There are also triple-subjected classes: Math-Chemistry-Physics and Math-Literature-English classes. A growing number of study abroad scholarships are won by students, a fact on which the school prides itself.

## Class schedule

The school is a semi-boarding one in which students stay from 7:00 am to 4:30 pm for grade 8-12. Grade 6-7 stay from 7:30 am to 3:55 - 4:05 pm.
In the morning, classes are broken into four periods for grade 6-9 students, with one additional period for students of grades 10-12. In the afternoon, classes start at 1:15 and usually lasts until 4:30, with a break from 2:45 pm to 3:00 pm. On Saturday, students in selection teams gather to take extra classes on the subject they major in. After that, they can go home or use the school's facilities.
Extracurricular sports classes are available from 4:30 to 5:00 pm. As these classes are taught in the school yard, students are prohibited from entering the school yard for safety reasons.

## Extracurricular activities
### Athletics

Basketball, badminton, volleyball, chess, football and martial arts classes are also carried out after school, which is widely popular to students who want to improve their physical and mental condition. Half-court basketball is also regularly played after school between students. Sports competitions are held twice a year.

### Competitions

There are a lot of contests and competitions so that students of all sorts can participate.
* Singing contests (both in Vietnamese and foreign languages)
* National teachers’ day celebration
* Science fairs
* Spring festival
* Sports competitions
* Well-bred students
* Creativity Contest

### Clubs

* Journalism Club
* Handmade Club
* Photography Club (Specture)
* Art Club
* German Culture Club
* Lua Xanh Skills Club
* Papersane Book Club
* Japanese Culture Club
* American Culture Club
* Vietnamese Culture Club
* Korean Club
* English Club
* Music Club
* Chinese Culture Club
* Physics+ Club
* Public Speaking & Debate Club
* Environment Club
* Model UN Club
* The Mersy Act
* Career Venture TDN
* NGOT LAB Baking Project
* PLASBIT Campaign
* SPORTIFY Sports Project
* CINEX Cinematography Project

### School publications

Tran Dai Nghia High School releases a biennial magazine titled "Nội san Trần Đại Nghĩa". This magazine includes selective writings and artworks by teachers and students. Currently, the magazine is in its sixth issue. The school also publishes yearbooks, published perennially instead of annually.
An active student-run photoblog, called "Humans of TDN", can be found on Facebook. Inspired by the "Humans of New York", it publishes photos and interviews of the school's staff and students.