From the early courses in the Primary stage the driving force of learning is through competencies.
In agreement with the innovative educational programme in our school, the structured competency learning is based on three strategies: creativity, cooperative learning and technologies applied to learning.
These three strategies guarantee that the students of Meritxell learn in the best way, becoming responsible citizens that can develop successfully in a complex society, globally and that is always changing.
To educate our students comprehensively and completely, we work from four main points:
Learning to be
The students must learn to be independent, to recognise their own and foreign feelings, to manage their own emotions and to make decisions and to take responsibility for their own actions. We don’t only work on these competencies during the tutorial lessons (a class that is one hour per week), but also from the different competencies.
Learning to live together
Our students are our future and they must learn to develop cooperative learning skills that promote personal compromise and attitudes of coexistence. This learning is based on sponsorship between courses and is used as a basic tool for cooperative work. We want our students to learn how to participate in community life based on democratic values, thus promoting a fair and supportive environment. They have to learn to value relevant social problems interpret the causes and the consequences to consider future proposals (social competency).
At school, we boost dialogue as a tool of understanding in the relationship between the students, through English learning in the whole of Primary (5 weekly hours from Year 1 to Year 4 and between 6/7 hours from Years 5 and 6) and one hour of French (1 hour a week from Year 3).
Learning to know and learn
Students must learn to understand the world that surrounds them and all its complexity. The key competencies for this interpretation are linguistics and mathematics. In our school, to improve these skills, they work in split groups approximately, 40% of hours are in Catalan, Castilian/Spanish and Maths and 100% of hours in English. Ahead of any special needs that any of our students have in these competencies, our school offers individualised attention.
Learning to do
To explore, to experiment, to formulate questions and test hypothesis, to plan and develop projects, are the key elements in the processes of guiding our students. Therefore, the school works from the idea of personal experimentation and with Science lab practises (done 100% in English), promoting creativity within all areas as a thinking tool, such as the thinking keys, the seven hats of Edward de Bono etc…
The students improve their digital competence (ITC), using the interactive boards (they are in all the classrooms) as well as working on robotics (Lego Wedo, Scratch…). Moreover, the new school project includes the gradual introduction of the iPad.
Classes start at 9:00am until 13:00pm and at 15:00pm until 17:00pm, from Monday to Friday, a total of 30 hours a week.
Likewise, also offered are the services of guidance and intervention from the psycho-educational department, an early morning and afternoon welcome, school transport, school meals with monitors, extra school clubs and our own school of language. See the section “Services” on this website.
