This is our school!

It’s situated in Spain. Spain is a big country so it’s formed by 17 Autonomous Communities. We are in the North-East, in Catalonia (Catalunya). Catalonia is an Autonomous Community in Spain next to the Mediterranean sea. It has four provinces: Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida and Girona.

Our school is exactly located in a small city next to Barcelona called Sant Adrià del Besòs. This city is known by its river called “Besòs” and its three chimneys.

Near our school there are the sports facilities of R.C.D. Espanyol (Real Club Deportivo Espanyol). This is a football club where girls and boys from different ages train and play matches.

We have two mother tongues, which are Spanish and Catalan. Catalan is also spoken in Valencia (another Autonomous Community), in the Balearic islands, a department in the south of France (Roussillion) and even in another country, Andorra. Catalan is spoken with a different accent in each place.

Here you can see two pictures of our school:

And now you can see our school from the back, that is to say from the playground:

By Nashla, Víctor & Andrea Alcántara

You start school when you are three years old in Spain. The first year is P-3. Until the age of five, children continue with P-4 and P-5. When P-5 finishes, children begin the Primary School and receive a certificate after the Infant Education. The Primary Education lasts for six years: 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th grade. When you finish 6^th of Primary School, you are 11 years old and you receive another certificate when finishing.

Children have to study for four years more. These four years are called ESO when they are 12 years old, and they continue with 2^nd ESO, 3^rd ESO and 4^th ESO grades until they are 16 years old. If you don’t finish  the ESO when you are 16, you can leave school or you can do a special cycle, called “PQPI”. Here you can get a certificate of ESO, with which you can work or continue studying. If you decide to study, you can do “Batxillerat” until you are 18 years old. You can also study a cycle called “Grado Medio” (for two years). If you want to continue studying, you have to pass an exam called “Prueba de Acceso”, and then you can study “Ciclo Superior” (two years more). You finish “Ciclo Superior” when you are 20 years old.

When you finish “Batxillerat” (two years), you have to do an exam called “PAU”, in order to continue studying in University.

This is a summary of our educational system:

By Héctor & Claudia

Our school has got four floors:

In the ground floor there is the secretary, the dining room, the reception, the Primary classrooms, some toilets and a staffroom.

This is the corridor where the primary classrooms are:

In the first floor there are ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education) classrooms, some more toilets, the library, the music classroom, a departments classroom, a laboratory and there is another staffroom.

In the second floor there is another computers classroom, the Infant classrooms and middle cycles (special courses for those who have obtained the Graduate) classroom.

This is one of the classrooms for kids aged 4 or 5:

In the third floor, there are Batxillerat (a courses which lasts two years before university) classrooms, superior cycles (special courses for those who pass the middle cycles or Batxillerat) classrooms and PQPI (is a special courses for who have not obtained the Graduate) classrooms. When we say “Graduat” we refer to the certificate we obtain at the end of Compulsory Secondary Education (similar to GCSE).

By Eric, Yolanda & Allison

In Spain we must study until we are sixteen years old.

From three to five years old we study Infant Education.At the beginning of this period, we are still very little and we only colour, cut, stick… And after this period, we start to read and write.

From five to twelve years old, we study Primary. During this period we learn sums, multiplication, division…

Look at this photo. It is Bruno, our music teacher, who is also teaching at primary.

From twelve to sixteen we study ESO (Compulsory.Secondary.Education). During this period we write compositions, we do projects, we do oral presentations… When we finish the Primary and ESO, we get a certificate.

After Secondary Education there are a lot of options.

By Laia, David & Mireia Ordóñez

When ESO finishes, we can continue studying batxillerat, professional training or start working.

- Batxillerat: Spanish two year course to prepare students to get into university. To get into university you should do the selectivity (university entrance exam). In our school you can study the humanities and social sciences or the sciences and technology batxillerat.

- Professional training: Special course that you study to start working. Different types of professional training that you can study in our school:

- Personal care.

- Infant education.

- Hygienist studies.

- Football technical.

- Trade and Administration.

Here you can see all the possible studies we can follow in our school:

By Nuria & Marc

Here in our school there are two classrooms for every course. We are two grups : 4th A and 4th B , but sometimes we are separated in two different groups depending on the level: for example , English, Catalan and maths .We can also choose other subjects, for example, if I like sciencies , I could choose then chemistry and biology, and if I like humanities , I could study latin and art then.  Or if you chose German last year, you will have to study German this year too, so if you didn´t chose German, you will have to study computers this year .

The school begins at eight o’clock . Three hours later you have a half an hour break . One hour and a half later, we go home to have lunch. We have two hours for having lunch and then we come back to school for two hours more. We show you our timetable, first in Catalan and then translated into English:

These are our classrooms. The first one is 4th A (we are not there because we had sport) and the second and third pictures are 4th B during a History lesson with our teacher and Head of Studies, Esther Novo.

And here you can see us doing sport (that’s why our classroom is empty!!!!):

By Christian, Adrián & Nahikari

In Infant Education there are three courses: P3, P4 and P5, letter “P´´ means “infant education´´ for us and the number is related to the age. Children start the school with two or three years old and they do simple activities. There are different teachers for each course such as Angie who does music in infant education. Loles is the head of studies.

Primary school is the second step, it is from 1^st to 6^th. Here the head of studies is Anna, each class has a head teacher who teaches many of the subjects. The English teacher is called Adriana and teaches all the courses of Primary. Bruno is the music teacher in Primary and ESO and Toni does gym in 5^th and 6^th and he also does maths and biology.

Look at these two photos. They are Esther and Carol teaching primary pupils:

ESO is the last step in compulsory education. There are lots of teachers and the head of studies is Esther. Here the English teachers are Anna Corredera, Blanca and Èlia.

Lots of teachers who teach class in ESO also teach class in “Batxillerat´´. However, many teachers of PQPI and Middle Cycles and Superior Cycles are not the same.

This is the staff room for ESO (secondary education) teachers:

By Kevin, Gemma & Adriana

These are the teachers of Túrbula who teach at secondary level:

-Merche is the teacher of Natural Science and Maths. She is first cycle.

-Blanca is the teacher of English and Catalan. She is first cycle.

-Antònia is the teacher of Catalan, Geography and History and Ethics. She is first and second cycle.

-Miriam is the teacher of Geography and History. She is first cycle.

-Marian is the teacher of I.T., Maths, Natural Science and Technology. She teaches first cycle.

-Mari Pau is the teacher of Natural Science and Laboratory and Maths. She teaches first and second cycle.

-Èlia is the teacher of English. She teaches first and second cycle.

-Miquel is the teacher of Laboratory, Maths, Technology and Physics. He teaches first and second cycle.

-Jose Luis is the teacher of Technology, Maths and I.T. He teaches first and second cycle.

-Anna Corredera is the teacher of English and German. She teaches second cycle.

-Anna Pujol is the teacher of Spanish and Ethic. She teaches first and second cycle.

-Esther is the teacher of History and Classical Studie, and Religion from first and second cycle.

-Bruno is the teacher of Music from Primary 1 to Secondary 4.

-Emili is the teacher of P.E. from first and second cycle.

-Pere is the teacher of Catalan and Reading Workshop from second cycle.

-Oscar is the teachers of Spanish and Latin from second cycle, Batxillerat ( a two-year course before getting into university ) and Cycles Professional Training.

-Rosa and Pepi are teachers of support from first and second cycle.

This is Pepi’s classroom:

When we say first cycle we want to say first and second courses and second cycle we want to say third and fourth courses.

By Marta, Arantxa & Joel

The porter’s lodge:

When you get into the school there is a porter’s lodge where there are two caretakers whose names are Miquel and Jordi. Miquel watches the entrance of school to avoid people from out school getting into the school. And Jordi is in charge of keeping the school tidy.

The cleaning ladies:

In this school there are cleaning ladies who are in charge of cleaning all the school. They work cleaning some things like the toilets, the classrooms and the corridors.

Secretary:

In this school when you get into the school there is a secretary where you can see two women working. In secretary you go when you have a problem and they help you with this problem.

In this photo you can see our secretary, Maria José.

The I.T Department:

These are our IT guys. They help us create this blog in order to communicate with you.

By Meritxell, Julen & Daniel Franco

Here , we describe another two classrooms: the library and the music classroom.

In the library there are books. In this class there are some trophies of the school. Here the children can read what they want. Usually the little children go there, we don’t usually go. However , we go to find information if we need. Also there are tables and chairs where the children can read and relax.

Another classroom is the music classroom where we do our music classes. There are some instruments like a keyboard , xylophones , recorders… There is a chair for each one. We sometimes watch films about music , so there’s a TV.

Both classrooms are in the second floor , next to the classes of E.S.O. If we look through the windows of those classrooms, we have views of our playground. These classrooms are very important for the school.

By Andrea Múrcia & Juan David