Private schools appeared in Romania after communism ended as an alternative to the state system which has been criticized for sticking to the rigid learning style of the communist era and failing to prepare youngsters for the challenges of the modern world.
Among the first private schools to open in Romania and offer students a more contemporary and international style of learning was the Lauder-Reut Educational Complex. Reut means friendship in Hebrew.
The school was part of an educational project across Europe that began in the 1980s, initiated by the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Vienna, Ronald S. Lauder, who’s also a businessman and philanthropist wanted to preserve the Jewish culture and Hebrew language in the European Diaspora which was devastated by Holocaust and the Communist regime.
The Lauder Reut School Complex opened in Bucharest in 1997 and expanded to its current size of about 500 students in kindergarten, lower, middle school and high school.
It offers classes in English, French and German, the main languages in the EU and teaches diplomacy, business, entrepreneurship, media studies and communication, public speaking, debate, IT and robotics.
Now, during the pandemic when remote learning has take the place of physical learning for hundreds of thousands of Romanian students, the school is building 10 modular classrooms which will allow the necessary physical distancing. They will be ready in three months.
Alumnus Tomer Mozafi, one of the school’s first pupils is promoting the concept or ‘elevating the brand’ during the pandemic.
He started at the kindergarten when he was 3 and graduated high school in 2016 before going on to study business management and marketing at Birmingham University in the UK.
During his first year at university, he set up Prodicode, an IT company specialized in Artificial Intelligence and cyber security.
He has revamped the school’s website with another former student Alexandru Condulescu. The new site www.laude-reut.ro replaces www.lauder-reut.eu.
„We are working closely with the Laude-Reut team to create educational excellence online. Building a new platform and visual identity … doesn’t mean just updating it, but rather elevating the brand to make sure its principles are clearer and better known.”
“As a graduate of the Laude-Reut kindergarten school and high school, I enjoyed the family atmosphere, the feeling of unity and the focus on inter-disciplinary subjects which helped my personal and professional development.”
The site which has a fresh, modern and fun feel to it; it’s only in Romanian and offers videos, links to social media and shows business and private people where they can donate.
It also features pictures of the future modular classrooms which are brightly colored and look like pieces of Lego with windows.
