Spain

Josefina Aldecoa is a public high school of the Community of Madrid, located in the area of San José de Valderas in Alcorcòn, Madrid. The school has a total of 640 face-to-face students and 2254 vocational on-line students. Out of those, there are 310 pupils of Secondary Education (grades 7 to 10), 110 pupils of grades 11 and 12 and on top of those it holds 220 Vocational students of the administrative branch. Our programme is 25 years old and includes a staff of reliable teachers and a team of directors with years of experience. The relationship between student and teacher is excellent and this connection is the key to sustaining our educative programme. Our school includes active and determined teachers who help us accomplish our goals in the classroom. As a result, we have received various national and regional awards in several domains including science and literature, with the help of teachers and students alike. Since the 2013/2014 academic year, we have been experimenting with digital teaching techniques such as the use of tablets with our 7th graders, which we consider a success so far. The same year, we began our project called “With a tablet in your backpack” through the Project of Innovation Technology, sponsored by the Community of Madrid. As a result of our success using tablets we now have all of our groups of 7th graders using tablets as opposed to only one group in the first year. The students study using digital textbooks for all subjects which has improved motivation and led to higher test scores. Every classroom has aa computer with a projector and a Smart board with broadband internet connection. There are also 6 computer rooms with individual student equipment. Furthermore, through our project “Our challenge: a bilingual and technological education”, we have been selected to be part of the Bilingual Institutes of the Community of Madrid starting in September of 2015. Josefina Aldecoa has now become a technological and bilingual (English and Spanish) institute. It has been a challenge for our school, our teachers and the educative community, but we continue looking at the future with motivation and confidence to provide the best education possible to our students. From 2005/2006 our school belongs to the European Foundation for Quality Management and to the University Erasmus Charter since 2009. This Charter gives the School a Quality stamp to our processes, documentation and everyday work. The school offers a broad and balanced curriculum. It provides a rich agenda of extra curricular activities for pupils. Students do not have enough opportunities to speak English in authentic situations. It recognizes the importance of intercultural dialogue for its pupils, their parents and for the community it serves. Its aim is to promote friendship, tolerance and understanding at all levels and strives to involve itself in international initiatives underpinned by these values. Our students will gain a clear understanding of other young people’s lives and behaviour from across Europe and becme aware that children no matter where they are from have the same range of needs, emotions, joys, concerns and passions. The school wishes to educate its children as citizens of Europe and encourage tolerance from the experiences and lives of other European citizens from different cultures within the EU and elsewhere.