The school is the largest Comprehensive Institute in the province of Ancona, there are almost 1,400
students. All kindergartens, primary and secondary (lower level) schools in Loreto are part of it. One
of the main goals is to give relevance to European values in the community and strengthen language
learning (English, French and Spanish) using the most modern methodologies. The school has
recently improved its ICT skills and equipment. In some classes all students and teachers work with
iPads, apple TV and a
large smart TV.
Teachers have received specific training in the new advanced technologies; they are
experimenting with new teaching strategies like the “flipped classroom” and beginning to produce
innovative teaching material to be used in the “Book in Progress” (the Project “Book in Progress” is a
network of schools which are cooperating in the creation of interactive and open educational
resources). As a consequence, it is part of the “Educational Avanguardes”. Apart from the ordinary
Music lessons in the
morning, students can attend afternoon piano ones. The school would like to strengthen students'
competence by using CLIL methodology, didactic innovation, ICT, poetry and music.
The Institute
has been experiencing a strong push towards innovation (both pedagogical and technological) for the
last 3 years. In this context, it paid attention to robotics too because it is expected to play a significant
role in everyday life. Since most people will be dealing with robots in one form or another during their
lifetimes, it is important to help everyone understand them. Education must help preparing the
general population to fit into society. Since society changes with technology, it is essential that
education keeps pace with new technology and adapts curriculum to educate the population to each
new development. For this reason, a STEM summer camp for students has been organized since
2016. So, the project's activities will take place in a fertile ground, enabling the school to reach higher
standards and objectives. Thanks to the cooperation with the partner Institutes, the school aims to
the creation of a competent, aware, qualified team of teachers, people who will be able to face the
modern challenges and the new educational needs. The use of CLIL methodology, innovative
pedagogical approaches and ICT in the best possible way will greatly help teachers' work in the new
2.0 classes and their contribution to the "Book in Progress" network. The school's priority is to offer
good opportunities to all students, especially those at disadvantage and those with special needs,
paying attention to individual needs. Students need to be conscious and prepared European citizens.
As a result, the school expects:
- to introduce new teaching methods, strengthening CLIL teaching;
- the adoption of innovative pedagogical approaches and the use of ICT;
- new learning material to use in the "Book in Progress" network and in e-learning platforms and
Open Educational Resources;
- a significant change in the school curriculum and lesson planning;
- a big improvement in the teaching professionalism and students' competences which can be shared
on the eTwinning platform, on the school web site and in the local press.
Long term benefits will be achieved with qualified and motivated teachers, as well as a better
relationship among school-students-parents.
We would be happy to give success perspectives both in a local and in a European context.
The school has been a partner as well as a coordinator in several Comenius projects. Last year it
carried out an Erasmus+KA1 project centered on CLIL (Grant Agreement Number 2016-1-IT02-
KA101-023189 Project Title Innovazione didattica "in progress" per una scuola europea
dell'inclusione School year 2016/2017). The mobilities led the schools write different booklets. An
example is “In the Footsteps of the Tudors”: the outcome of a CLIL activity linked to History. This led
the school to pay particular attention to language
acquisition and use, emphasising the importance of teaching English through images and trying to
develop critical thinking, even at an early stage.
The school also organized cultural exchanges with France, Spain, Poland and Germany (hosting
students and teachers) as well as linguistic stages in Great Britain and Spain. Further on, it has
always been offered to secondary school students training for the Cambridge University KET/PET
language certifications with excellent results. The school is active in its area with local projects like
the very well-known one linked to AVIS-AIDO-ADMO (blood, organ and bone marrow associations).
The school tries to promote multiculturalism. The last Comenius project was entitled “I’m the author
of my future” and it was focused on the topic of learning styles and life-long learning as a key to
success. Finally, the school received a very important national award for the project “Women for
Women”: it was the only school in Marche region to attend the award ceremony held by the President
of the Republic in 2015.
Referring to robotics, the school organized an initiative linked to an integrated Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) approach during the summers 2016 and 2017, with a lot of
exploring, testing, observing and doing. All this was so enjoyable for students who attended these
special classes with interest.
Talking about the key people involved in this project, the contact person is the teacher responsible
for European Projects appointed by the school. She has experience with past Comenius projects and
the Erasmus+ KA1 and has attended a specific course in European Project planning. As to general
management the Headmistress is actually pushing the school towards an international dimension. As
to administrative skills, the school's employees know how to deal with budget management very well.
As to robotics, there is a team of teachers willing to develop a curriculum based on the idea of
educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics
— in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Last but not least, there is a very active team of
teachers in the linguistic area and a conspicuous group of very dynamic teachers of other subjects
(Italian, History, Geography, Music, Art). These teachers are part of an innovation plan and the
majority of them were involved in the KA1 last year.