Cyprian Kamil Norwid High School Nr.1 in Bydgoszcz (Polish: I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im.

In 1623, college students welcomed king Sigismund III at the city's gate and in the school's hall during his stop in Bydgoszcz on his way to Gdańsk.

A greater cultural event was even prepared in 1734 by young people and professors in honor of King Stanislaw Leszczynski riding to Gdansk.

The defeat of Prussia by Napoleon in 1806 lead to the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw, and on February 19, 1807, the takeover of Bydgoszcz under Polish rule became official.

Within the newly established College — so called Central School- a department of Polish language was created.

The building, devastated by the previous war, was repaired with founds from the Board of Education Duchy of Warsaw and other contributions.

This school kept its Polish character, even though in the early years of Prussian rule students of German nationality prevailed.

The meriting teaching staff was composed of rector Wilczewski, professor Szulc and teachers Bernhard and Królikowski.

Indeed, high tuition fees prevented boys from poor origin to receive Polish education in middle school .

As a result, the growing numbers of German families caused the true nature of the Polish school to gradually fade away.

Under the specific rule of the Prussian partition, education was a tool for germanization of society, notion which took over the classic realschule gymnasium pedagogical function.

This decision altogether lowered the spirit of the small number of Polish pupils in the city and strengthened the strong germanization in Bydgoszcz and its surrounding area.

On 11 February 1844, a ministerial regulation authorized students of Polish nationality to access university, provided they demonstrated a good knowledge of the German.

On August 1, 1878, after expansion works, the realschule re-opened in a new pseudo-Gothic edifice built on Freedom Square.

[2] Less than a year before the rebirth of Poland, Bydgoszcz had a student population of 713 in middle school, including 121 Poles.

After many years of captivity the city began a new period of its history and started developing high schools.

Thanks to the efforts of the National Directorate of Classical High School in Bydgoszcz was built in Kościelisko a recreational facility for students where summer camps were held.

In the first days of October 1939, several actions against teachers were carried out by occupying forces as part of the genocidal Intelligenzaktion campaign: 204 were arrested and underwent torture in the artillery barracks.

[11] High school students gained several titles of winners and finalists of national contests such as the Olympic Games of the Polish language or the International Olympiad in Informatics[12] I L.O.

takes part to the educational program "Odyssey of the Mind"[13] and performs many foreign exchange with students from schools of Swedish, English, German, Greek and Spanish.