About the School

Mikołaj Rej Polish School

The Mikołaj Rej Polish School was founded in 1953 by the family of Mr. and Mrs. Urbanowicz and Mr. M. Nadachowski, then Chairman of the Polish Education Association.
Initially, our school was based in St. Margaret’s School on Sutton Court Road, and was attended by seven students.
Today over four hundred students attend our school. Our teachers are highly qualified and experienced, and make sure that every student makes progress in learning Polish and acquiring knowledge about Poland by individualising tasks, interesting lessons with the use of multimedia materials and using diverse teaching methods.
The Mikołaj Rej School Polish School remains faithful to the message of its patron, to take care of the Polish language as an element of national identity.
For 67 years now, successive generations of students have been immersed in the secrets of Polish language and literature. They also learn history, geography, religion and singing.

Our Patron

Rej from Nagłowice (1505 -1569) – poet, novelist, translator. Spokesman of the Reformation in Poland; multiple MP, owner of many villages. In his literary work, he drew on both medieval models and humanistic Latin literature, taking the side of the reforms transforming the state into a noble Republic.
Rej was self-taught – although as a child he did not pay attention to education, as a young man he started to take an interest in the world around him and to educate himself. He was an attentive observer of people and events and took an active part in public life. Rej was the first Polish writer who wrote exclusively in Polish. He was called the “father of Polish literature”, and King Zygmunt I the Old awarded him a village – the first material prize for his work. Rej owned numerous estates, which he managed perfectly. He travelled around Poland a lot. He never went abroad.
His works are original and reflect the life of the nation at that time. He was valued for his life’s wisdom and his contribution to the victory of his mother tongue over Latin literature of the time.