Day 4 - Turin, Italy
Instituto Comprensivo Statale di San Maurizio Canavese
Today, we visited this group of schools in San Maurizio Canavese. It was a whistle stop tour of about 7 schools from kindergarten aged 3 -5 years to primary school aged 6 – 11 years, then to the middle schools aged 11 – 14 years and finally to secondary schools aged 14 – 18 years. We met the Erasmus Co-ordinator Elena who had planned our visit – we were the first Erasmus visitors to their school. They were so proud to show it off! We saw many well-resourced classrooms and outdoors area equipped with soft play zones and playgrounds – all set against the backdrop of the Alps. We were kindly brought around to the various schools by Mary Wallace, who hails from Wellington Bridge. We initially made contact with Mary when she visited our school in May for the 75th anniversary celebrations. Mary was curious about our Erasmus project and built some contacts in schools in Turin. We were very grateful to Mary for showing us around and driving us between all the schools.
After the San Maurizio schools, we visited a private school in Turin city called Lycée Francais. This was a different experience because the children are coming to learn French predominantly but they also learn English and Italian. We had some great discussions about additional needs and they were very interested in how we organise and run our autism classes. They aren’t in an Erasmus programme yet but they hope to apply. They love to send children to English speaking countries and because the UK isn’t in the EU anymore Ireland is the main country they wish to build links with. We spent the afternoon visiting their classrooms, outdoor gardens, sensory gardens etc.
This was a productive Erasmus experience and allowed us to reflect on our Erasmus objectives. We wanted to see how Italy approaches additional educational needs and digital technology. We did but we feel that Ireland is still far advanced when it comes to additional needs because we have developed supports and methodologies and approached to help those with the greatest needs. We wanted to see leadership and management styles and one thing that struck us was that in Irish schools we have many more opportunities for collegiality and collaboration. In most of the schools we visited, the staff stay with the students all day, there is no ability to have a coffee or lunch with the staff. This was an unusual approach and we felt that our approach is far better. We also wanted to see how schools develop inclusion and diversity. This is very obvious all schools have a multi-cultural and multi-denominational profile because there are children from all backgrounds and religions. All of the children were happy in their classrooms and engaged in very positive classroom experiences.
To see our day today please click on the video here: https://youtu.be/Jy9-itx5Z10
Thanks everyone for tuning in!
Audrey