Scoala Gimnaziala "George Calinescu" Iasi, Romania

Webpage: https://scoalacalinescu.ro/  

Our school has been functioning in the same location since 1986 and it is situated in Dacia, an old working classneighbourhood at the outskirts of Iasi, a community of people with a modest financial status. It is a mainstream inclusiveschool that welcomes all categories of pre-school children and students, aged from approx. 3-4 up to 15. This institutionoffers education primarily to the children in our school district, an education that will help them integrate into anotherstage of learning after graduation and, later, into society.Being the biggest in the neighbourhood regarding the total number of children who attend it, our school has a greatvariety of preschoolers and pupils (a total of 995, in January 2020, out of which the majority are in primary school). 

Also part of our institution is Kindergarten No. 7, so we have 2 buildings and a large and modern gymnasium. The 38 units ofstudents (6 groups of presch, 21 classes of primary sch and 11 classes of middle sch) learn in two shifts, and our staffincludes over 50 teachers. The majority of classes exceed the recommended number of students (having over 30), thebirth rate and demographic spike being constant for the following years. There are several children with learningdifficulties and associated disabilities that benefit from educational support and learn using adapted syllabuses for Romand Maths. The real number of such children is actually bigger, but they do not have a certificate acknowledged byCJRAE, the specialised institution that evaluates children with disabilities and decides whether they can be included inmainstream education (this happens because families deny the child may have a disability of any kind).The majority of children come from families with modest financial resources (small salaries, unemployment, many familymembers) and this directly affects the formers' possibility to access some educational resources.Every class includes children coming from single parent families or having at least one parent working abroad (10% ofchildren). There are children with various health problems (Down's Syndrome, ADD, autism - scarce cases). Not allchildren benefit from specific therapy, and the parents ignore the symptoms of the aforementioned issues, leaving themfor the school to deal with.Our school's motivation stems from the interest to train teachers to deal with the above-mentioned issues, as well asprepare students to become part of a European community.

Team members: 

Larisa Tibucanu-English teacher, proj coordinator, 

Liviu Gheorghiu - Art  teacher, expertise in Eur projects, fluent in Eng, 

Rodica Dascalu - French teacher, also fluent in Eng

Georgiana Botezatu-Romanian teacher, fluent in Eng

Carmen Kehlaoui-deputy principal, expert in KA1 projects, fluent in Eng and French

These teachers have tenure in our school and are seriously involved in this project. All teachers will be involved in preparing activities when hosting international partners.