Atalía School is a bilingual Spanish-English school located in Gijón, Asturias, Spain. It has 352 students between ages 3-12 across infant and primary levels. The school aims to provide students with an integrated bilingual, bicultural education through a curriculum that blends the Spanish national standards with the English national curriculum. Teachers come from Spain and are native English speakers. Students are formally assessed throughout the year to evaluate their progress in both Spanish and English subjects. The school participates in various European exchange programs to promote language learning and cultural exchange.

1. ATALÍA SCHOOL Our school is located in Asturias on the North coast of Spain, in the city of Gijón.

2. Atalía is an Infant and Primary School. It is a Bilingual school English-Spanish. The school is located in what was a deprived area of Gijón. Things are changing nowadays, but it is still a working class neighbourhood. The school website: www.educastur.princast.es/cp/atalia Other websites of interest: www.infoasturias.com www.infogijon.com www.ampatalia.com Our School…

3. SCHOOL ORGANIZATION The number of students on roll is 352 Infants (3 to 5): 150 Primary (6 to 12): 202 Number of students in each class: Infants (3 year olds): 17/16 in three groups Infants (4´s and 5´s): 25 Primary: 25

4. SCHOOL HOURS Staff must be available from 9.00 till 3.00 School time goes from 9.00 to 2.00 From 2.00 to 3.00 teachers attend to meetings, receive parents and plan their lessons. There is a canteen for children to have breakfast and/or lunch. After 4.00 there are different clubs held in the school.

5. INTEGRATED CURICULUM We are one of the 43 schools belonging to the MECD/BC bi-lingual project in Spain. This project was initiated in 1996 as a unique experiment within the Spanish State Education System. The project is now well established, the first promotion of students is now in Secondary Education

6. MAIN AIM OF THE PROJECT The final aim of the project is to provide children from the age of three to the age of sixteen with a bi-lingual, bi-cultural education through an integrated Spanish/English curriculum based on: The Spanish National Curriculum The National Curriculum from England and Wales

7. DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: INFANT STAGE Infants receive 40% of their timetable in English (10 of the 25 sessions) The acquisition of language, number skills, literacy skills and science skills both in Spanish or English is largely achieved through a topic-based approach

8. DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: PRIMARY STAGE The three areas which are taught in English and in which targets must be reached are: Language and Literacy (4 sessions) Science, Geography and History (4 sessions) Art and Design (1 or 2 sessions)

9. TEACHERS Teachers in Atalía School come from different backgrounds: Spanish teachers who deliver the Spanish part of the curriculum. Spanish teachers who deliver the English part of the curriculum. Native assistant teachers who deliver the English part of the curriculum.

10. ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION - INFANTS Infants are formally assessed once per term. The assessment is made on the basis of the teacher’s accumulating observations and knowledge of the whole child. Daily observation of the child in different contexts. Assessment observations.

11. ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION - PRIMARY Primary is divided into 3 cycles. In Primary children are formally assessed every term, at the end of the year and at the end of the cycle. In year 6 BC/MECD sends external exams to assess the project.

12. PROJECTS IN THE SCHOOL “ Me, you and us” COMENIUS PROJECT EUROPEAN LANGUAGE PORTFOLIO “ BeCLIL” former Comenius Project INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (I.C.T.) SCHOOL LIBRARY: READING ENCOURAGMENT AFTERSCHOOL CLUBS HEALTH EDUCATION

13. PARENTS IN THE SCHOOL Help from families is always welcome School’s board is now well established in Spanish schools. Parents association helps organizing afterschool clubs for children. There is an afterschool English club for parents.

14. Our School and our students The little ones

15. Comenius Project: our partners

16. Comenius Project: our partners

17. We learn about Europe

18. And about our European friends Guess, who is who?

19. We exchanged Christmas cards

20. This is our Library Here we have books in Spanish, English and Asturian language

21. We learn the language in our region: Asturias

22. We have an Art room in our school

23. And a Computer room...

24. We enjoy our music classes

25. Our PE classes

26. And we love our playground!