Colombia

1. Colombia

2. Project-A Journey Without Frontiers • Between a cluster of 5 schools in London and 5 in Medellin • British Council funded for 2 years but aiming for a life-long partnership • Logo competition – June/July 2010 • MLE • Develop an understanding of local areas – October/November 2010 • Songs and playground games - Present • Future – festivals/healthy living? • Proposal for second year of project (March 2011- Feb 2012) – Keeping active • On-going - enhance pupils language skills in the second language

3. Medellin – Key Facts • Rebuilt town – get rid of past • Population 2.5 million- second largest city • Elevation – 1494metres • Location – surrounded by Andes mountains • Climate – sub tropical – with two seasons • Industry – clothes, leather goods, tourism, coffee, flowers, forests • Transport - Metro cable • World respected organ transplant centre • Excellent university

4. Culture • Music – fusion of music from around the country – salsa, merengue, bachata • Dancing • Food • Chiva – party bus • Young and Old • Main religion – catholic (98%) • Patriotic – national anthem sung in schools

5. Some of the issues in Medellin and Colombia • Traffic – cars have limited hours for driving • Poor Housing - Shanty towns along the hillside • Poverty – 9 million people in Colombia live in extreme poverty. • Violence and drugs – Medellin used to be drug capital of the world but has been cleaned up in recent years.

6. Common Foods • Patacon – plantain • Arroz – rice • Arepa – corn bread which is eaten with every meal • Eggs – fried, scrambled, omelettes • Empanadas – meat pastry snack • La Bandeja Paisa – typical plate of meat, egg, rice, plantain, pork, chicken, fried fish • Mondongos – stew of beans, tripe, vegetables served with avocado and banana, tomato salsa, arepa • Fruits – papaya, passion fruit, banana, pineapple, melon, red pineapple, guava

7. Unusual Tastes!!!!

8. Colombian Education System Basic education in Colombia is both free and compulsory until the age of 14 years. The decentralisation of education in Colombia • Since the 1990s the Colombian education system has increased the level of independence that schools and local and regional authorities can exercise. • Congress -Creates the standards and criteria which regulate education as a public service. • National Ministry of Education-Comes up with policies and general rules, supervises the distribution of resources, participates in the certification process. Responsible for quality control processes for schools. • 80 Secretarias de Educación (Local EducationAuthorities)-Provide technical assistance, distribute resources, and manage the schools and their staff. Name headteachers, directors and teachers. Support the schools in the implementation of Institutional Improvement Plans and contribute to teacher training.

9. Schools 14,110 official schools and 10,539 non official (2007) Supervised and administrated by a headteacher, the schools offer education based on their Institutional Educational Project (PEI). Formulate and implement the Institutional Improvement Plans to assure that quality levels are reached. Organisational structure In a very generic way, a school has the following organisational structure. This varies from school to school: Headteacher> Academic & Project Coordinators > Head of Department > Teachers The School Management structure is divided in 4 areas: Directorate, Academic, Community and Administration.

10. The Colombian School Amongst the specific characteristics found in the Colombian schools are: • The educational institutions integrate various sites to offer continuity to the students when passing from primary to secondary. • Government run schools offer education in 2 or 3 shifts: from 06:45 to12:00; from 12:30 to 18:00; and from 18:30 to 22:00. • On average there are 1000 students in urban schools, some have more than 8000. • It is common to find 45 or more students in a class. • According to the 2005 census data, 3.3% of the population between 5 and 16 years have some kind of special educational needs. Of those, 27% do not attend any educational institution. • ‘Repeating a year’ is a feature of education in Colombia. It refers to students that must repeat the school year because of a low grade in their exams. By law, this can only be 5% of enrolled students. • The ministry of education has programmes to strengthen institutional leadership, English learning (ELT) and sciences.

11. Escuela Normal Superior Genoveva Diaz

12. Bush Hill Park – Enfield + Bush Hill Park Primary School – Enfield linked with la Escuela Normal Superior de Medellin

13. Facts about the school • Nursery to 18 years old. • Option to train as a teacher from 16 years old, this will give you credits and experience prior to university. • Whole school ethos based around enquiry and investigative study.

14. Esculea Normal Superior - Jerico Jerico is a beautiful town high up in the Andes range. It is 3 hours from Medellin and the journey we made was worth it. The school is one of 3 in the town. It is run by nuns and the school was well maintained and the discipline was very good. It is linked to the secondary school which is next to the primary school.

15. Jose Acevedo Y Gomez I.E. Santos Angeles Custodios

16. IE Santos Angeles Custodias Fairly small suburban school All girls - rare No ‘Green Space’ Children come from surrounding area including the hillside ‘shanty towns’ Average class size 45 Primary and Secondary adjoined Maybe one interactive whiteboard per school

17. Jose Acevedo Y Gomez