Primary education
At this stage, which is open to children from 6 to 12 years old, we support our students in their personal development, always paying attention to the needs of each one and seeking the maximum development of their abilities, both in terms of learning and personality. The closeness in the relationship between teacher and student favours the personalisation of learning, the monitoring and care of each one of them.
The continuous coordination within this stage guarantees an adequate learning sequence and the increase of two hours per week in class time allows us to reinforce the core subjects.
All about Primary Education
Linguistic project
We have made a commitment to become a trilingual school (Spanish, Basque, English) , in which the timetable for each language varies in the different courses to achieve the necessary communicative competence of our students in each of the languages.
We use Integrated Language Therapy (ILT) and CLIL (integrated learning of content and foreign language/s) as a methodology. We organize this project by promoting the teacher-language association that facilitates our students’ communication in each of the languages by identifying them with the corresponding teacher. The participation of Primary Education students in the European eTwinning community allows us to develop international projects.
Our school is an official Cambridge examination center and our students have the opportunity to take the exams to obtain the official qualification at the center itself.
Methodological innovation: improving learning
In our quest to continuously improve the teaching and learning process, we combine directed teaching with discovery learning , working in a standardised way in our Primary classrooms on cooperative work strategies and project-based learning, which we complement with thinking skills and routines.
Training in methodological innovation is constant and allows us to implement and test different pedagogical tools . We attach great importance to the emotional education of students because we know that emotions are the essential element of learning.
Participation in different pedagogical initiatives such as the OSOS Project (Open Schools for Open Societies) , an international project in which Urdaneta School participates as a pilot centre, makes it easier for our students to interact with the different agents in their environment outside the school environment.
STEAM
We believe it is very important to introduce an interest in science to our students. The increase in sessions dedicated to these areas and their experimental approach allows students to develop their skills in this field.
We are a pioneering centre in the INSPIRA STEAM Project , promoted by the University of Deusto in collaboration with Innobasque , which aims to foster a scientific-technological vocation among girls.
We teach robotics in English at all levels of Primary Education to introduce our students to learning different programming languages and to facilitate the development of structured thinking, teamwork and creativity. Participation as an organizing center in Scratch Eguna allows students in the third cycle of Primary Education to present the projects designed during their classes.
All Primary classrooms have different computer devices as a teaching tool : in the first cycle of Primary Education they work with iPads in an Apple environment and in the second and third cycles they use Chromebooks to learn how to navigate a Google environment.
Attention to culture and art
We want our students to develop their own aesthetic criteria and to develop an artistic and literary sensitivity, to learn to enjoy diverse cultural activities and for these to be a manifestation of different artistic facets. With this objective in mind, we organize numerous activities throughout the course as a form of cultural enrichment : theatrical performances in the three languages, the concert on St. Cecilia’s Day, Book Day, Euskera Eguna, and English Day (St. Patrick’s Day).
In addition, our students have the opportunity to sign up for a large number of extracurricular activities during their school hours, such as theatre, languages, baking, piano, guitar, etc.
Attention to diversity
A priority for us is to attend to the individual needs of each student, trying to obtain the maximum possible development from each one.
The Guidance Department, which has a psychologist and a pedagogue, has the fundamental objective of advising and supporting students, teachers and parents to offer an integrative, personalized and quality education.
In addition, it has a specific team that works in the field of special educational needs, made up of professionals in Therapeutic Pedagogy and specialists in Educational Support , seeking the full integration of all students. Integration that represents a great wealth for the life of our center.
In our timetable distribution we organize reinforcement classes, as well as splitting up some subjects to help our students overcome their difficulties and achieve a better result in achieving the programmed objectives.
The excellent results we obtain in the promotion percentages and in the suitability index support this commitment of the school.
Sport
Sports are a major part of the school’s daily life, and it is a strategic area that allows us to work on the student’s comprehensive education through the development of physical skills and group cohesion.
Every week, students dedicate one of their Physical Education sessions to perfecting their swimming skills in the school’s own facilities, and it is at this stage that students have the opportunity for the first time to sign up for a large number of extracurricular sports activities .
Life in Primary School
There are numerous activities during the stage that allow you to enjoy very special experiences in a different environment with your classmates and teachers.
A very important moment in the life of the school and in our stage in particular is the preparation and celebration of the school festivals . These are days full of fun, cultural and sporting activities in which the children give free rein to their joy and excitement.
Special mention should be made of the costume parade , in which each Primary class participates with a theme and choreography. This event is attended by hundreds of families who come to the school on this day to see, enjoy and share this very special moment for everyone.
The interclass competitions, in which the students passionately defend the colours of their section, allow for the creation of very close bonds between classmates.
They thoroughly enjoy the Baratze camps , organised to work on autonomy, the Basque language and values in a rural environment, and which for many is the first experience outside the family environment.
Extracurricular activities
In Primary we offer numerous extracurricular activities, which take place during lunchtime, or at the end of classes .
In-depth language activities, cultural activities (theatre, music, painting, chess, etc.) and various sports disciplines. An appropriate complement to academic activities that contribute to the physical and intellectual development of students at this stage.
#summercamppri
After the end of the course, Udaleku is organised, which is mainly aimed at students in Primary and the final year of Early Childhood Education, with the main objective of promoting participation, communication and the physical and mental development of its participants through recreational and educational activities, by means of sports and technological activities and using the trilingual model of the School (Basque, English and Spanish).