Publiczna Szkola Podstawowa nr 2 im. 1 Pulku Strzelcow Konnych w Garwolinie.
Garwolin Secondary School No. 2 consists of the. 1st Regiment of Horse Rifles and Public Gymnasium. It has 41 divisions: 29 in elementary and 12 in gymnasium. 900 students attend the school.
The facility employs 112 people, including:
-92 teachers,
-3 pedagogues,
-psycholog
-speech therapist.
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It is one of the largest schools in the county. The facility is located in a small town in central-eastern Poland, which has about 17 thousand inhabitants. Although the town is growing, many residents do not work or commute to work in larger cities. A large number of our students come from rural areas and from families with difficult financial situation. Recently the number of children whose one or both parents work abroad is increasing. Usually they are under the care of another parent or relatives.
The school provides for the learning of children and young people who are socially maladjusted and at risk of social maladjustment, in accordance with their individual development and educational needs and predispositions, and is open to students with special educational needs, including: chronic diseases, motor and intellectual disabilities, conjugal disabilities and the spectrum of autism. Approximately 10 pupils are taught individually (this number varies depending on the student's health status). In addition, 9 students are assisted by a supportive teacher.
Teachers in their didactic and educational activities are guided by the well-being of the students, care for their safety and health, shape the moral and civic attitudes of their pupils, strive for the full development of their personality. The school helps students develop through the creation of a safe and creative atmosphere in the learning process, recognizing, encouraging and developing individual talents and skills to the extent of their intellectual capacities, stimulating desire and respect for learning, perceived as a lifelong process, developing a sense of pride results. The school prepares students for future life by teaching mutual tolerance and respect for other people's needs, developing positive attitudes towards learning and working, learning the principles of social cohesion, encouraging teamwork, and raising awareness of environmental responsibility.
At school there is an internal quality assurance system based on organized, interrelated and coherent actions undertaken by the School Director, Pedagogical Board, Parent Council, Student Government, and by each teacher, necessary to ensure high quality school work and in particular its teaching educative and caring.
This system includes, but is not limited to, the following activities: planning and organization of internal quality measurement and its systematic implementation including: examining pupils' educational performance, examining exam results, documenting, collecting and analyzing internal quality measurement results, developing internal quality measurement report , undertaking corrective or rehabilitative actions, assisting teachers in achieving high quality work, and inspiring teachers to undertake pedagogical innovations.
Another aspect of this system is to control the implementation of the legal requirements of the Director and other managers, including: control of the way teachers implement teacher education programs, supervision of teachers' observance of the rules for evaluating, classifying and promoting pupils, control of the teacher's compliance with the principles of student care and health and safety at work, control of the correctness of teaching records and control of compliance with the School Statute and the Internal Regulations, including teacher obligations, professional ethics and pupils' rights and rights of the child.
In addition, the school's Directorate conducts scheduled and ad hoc observation of educational activities.
A well-functioning quality assurance system will facilitate the evaluation at all stages of the project.
The past actions taken by the school to improve the situation (eg compensatory classes, exam preparation classes) have not produced the expected results and we have come to the conclusion that other solutions should be sought. The solution is to develop and participate in the project of international school partnership.
The project will involve the management of the school and a group of teachers with many specializations - science, art and technology teachers, physical education and foreign languages, as well as diverse in terms of seniority in education. Our school's director has been working since 2004. It is a person with long experience in managing an educational institution, promoting innovative and modern teaching and learning methods, supporting co-workers in their pursuit of personal development and improving the quality of school work also through international co-operation. A professional English speaker, fluent in English, excellent organizer and manager, with additional qualifications in the subject of art, giving a chance to teach the arts and music. She participated in the implementation of Comenius Partnerships for School Projects, as did the three teachers in this group. Another person from the team (project coordinator) is a teacher of technical, artistic and computer classes, and also offers classes with children with special educational needs. She completed her studies at the interior design faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, holds a BA in management pedagogy, a MSc in UMCS Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology in Lublin, postgraduate studies in technology and fine arts, English and ICT, and an art qualification course. The next member of the team is an English teacher who is currently raising his MA degree in social rehabilitation, with outstanding organizational skills and a great deal of diligence. Other members of the team include: a multi-year physical education teacher, fully dedicated to working with youth and children at risk of social exclusion within therapeutic centers and teachers of nature, biology and geography. The next member of the team is an adjunct teacher, graduated from the therapeutic pedagogy and postgraduate studies in mathematics, and has outstanding organizational skills. The youngest member of the team is a teacher of mathematics, currently he is raising his master's degree in social rehabilitation, characterized by creativity and exceptional creative thinking skills. Two people in this group also have completed postgraduate studies in the field of oligofrenopedagogics, necessary to work with a student with special educational needs. All teachers have very high professional qualifications and have extensive experience in working in various types of educational institutions, all using information and communication technologies. In addition to the substantive competences, the people involved in the project have collaborative qualities: they are empathetic, teamwork, liked by students and their parents, have extensive contacts in local and non-local environments.
This team assures the smooth planning, management and development of the project in all its aspects.
Our project concerns mathematical and natural sciences and ICT, which are part of the science subjects taught at all stages of education and English. On the basis of the multi-specialist diagnosis, we found that pupils do not achieve satisfactory levels of competence in natural subjects, which is due to mathematical difficulties, reflecting lower than expected results from external examinations, classification results, and drop in EWD indicators. In addition, we have noticed that, despite learning a foreign language from elementary school, junior high school graduates often do not achieve the expected level of proficiency in the use of this language, and yet it is one of the key skills essential for further professional development. These are not the only problems that are typical of our school - they face educational institutions in Poland and in many European Union countries. The causes of these problems may lie in the absence of an attractive offer for students with learning difficulties in mathematical and natural sciences as well as for students with special interests in these subjects, foreign languages ​​and information technologies. These are both deficiencies in the equipment of the subject workshops as well as the teaching methods used by teachers. We are aware that as the changes in the modern world change, the needs of the students and the teacher must be ready to meet these demands.