(L-R) Thierry Wagner, Differdange alderman; Jerry Hartung, Differdange alderman; Claude Meisch, Luxembourg's Education Minister; Véronique Schaber, Fondation LPEM President; Pascal Thill, LPEM Director; Credit: MENEJ

The official inauguration of the new site of the Lycée Privé Emile Metz (LPEM) in Differdange took place on Thursday 28 September 2023, in the presence of Luxembourg's Minister of Education, Children and Youth, Claude Meisch, as well as members of the municipal council, the board of directors, the secondary school's management and the school community.

Established in Luxembourg-Dommeldange since 1914, the LPEM opened a second site in Differdange at the start of the 2023/2024 school year. The only secondary school in Luxembourg to be certified as a "STEM-friendly" school ("MINT-freundliche Schule"; STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics), noted Luxembourg's Ministry of Education, Children and Youth, the LPEM also maintains strong relationships with industry, offering students opportunities for practical training and apprenticeships in a professional environment.

For its first year of operation, the Differdange site counts 58 students; 465 students are registered at LPEM in Dommeldange. Across both sites, the LPEM thus has a total of 523 students, as well as 101 teachers.

At the LPEM in Differdange, lessons are taught in English, providing students with an opportunity to improve their mastery of what the ministry described as a "key international language". The Dommeldange site had already offered several English-language training courses since the 2017/18 school year.

The 58 students registered at the LPEM in Differdange are divided between the following courses:

- Technician's Diploma (Diplôme de technicien - DT) in IT: two classes with eleven and fourteen students, respectively;

- Vocational Aptitude Diploma (Diplôme d'aptitude professionnelle - DAP) for mechanics: one class with eleven students;

- Vocational Aptitude Diploma (DAP) in electro-technologies: one class with twelve students;

- Integration Class for Young Adults (Classe d'insertion pour jeunes adultes - CLIJA), i.e. a preparatory school year for students wishing to follow the classes offered by the LPEM in Differdange: one class with ten students.

The LPEM administration in Differdange is located in the historic Villa Hadir at 51 Rue Emile Mark. The building houses the management, the secretariat and the SePAS psychosocial and scholastic assistance service, as well as the administrative and technical services.

Students are taught in a modular building located next to Villa Hadir. This building includes a ground floor and two other floors, with a total of eight classrooms, which the ministry described as "modern" and "equipped to provide an optimal learning environment". Other facilities include a "Makerspace", a living room and a media library.

The ministry also confirmed that starting classes will be expanded and new classrooms installed in 2024/2025 to accommodate the growing number of students. In the medium term, the construction of a new permanent building capable of accommodating around 700 students is planned.

In the near future, the LPEM school offering in Differdange will also be oriented towards general secondary education in relation to the STEM concept. Students will have the opportunity to attend the lower classes of general secondary education and choose from several sections leading to the secondary school diploma. The ministry added that the LPEM will adapt its training offering leading to the DAP and DT diplomas according to the skills needs of a "rapidly changing" employment sector.

The course schedule on the Differdange site aligns with that of the Dommeldange site: classes take place from 08:05 to 11:50 and from 12:50 to 14:25. After this time, slots are reserved for after-school and extracurricular activities.