Colegio Santiago Apóstol

The Archdiocese of Valencia is the legal entity under the Santiago Apóstol Diocesan College of Valencia in the neighbourhood of Cabañal. The right to education, to freedom of learning as protected by the Constitution in article 27 is reflected in our Center. Our Center is at the service of the community in which it is based, trying to the extent of our possibilities to respond to the educational option that the family members demand, guaranteeing gratuity and avoiding any type of discrimination for economic, social or cultural reasons We try at all times to prepare students to participate actively in the transformation and improvement of society. The Santiago Apóstol School is located on Calle Escalante 329 in València. The center is small, single-line, with limited financial resources and limited space. We serve a total of 200 students. We are currently developing the Learning Communities Project. Our educational plan, mainly serves students who are in a situation of social disadvantage and belong to a minority culture within society such as that of the Roma community. Our students are concentrated in three neighbourhoods where the situation of marginalization and segregation of the Roma community is very intense (Beteró, Malvarrosa and Cabanyal). This means that the percentage of Roma students in this centre is around 98%, except in Basic Vocational Training, which is 50%. Teachers, educators, volunteers and internship staff try every day to the extent of our possibilities to respond to all the needs of our students and their families. From 2008-2009 academic year, a transformation process began towards inclusive and intercultural approaches with the participation of the entire community. Today we continue to advance in the analysis and reflection on the most relevant organizational, cultural and curricular aspects for the construction of a quality school for all, from the respect of diversity. We also want to achieve after this work of reflection, one after another, the dreams that we have not long wanted. We are currently immersed in a transformation process towards a Learning Community. We put into practice all the successful actions of learning communities, based on the INCLUD-ED project, the largest research related to the social sciences with funding from the European Commission and presented in December 2011 in the European Parliament. This process is a path that requires continuous training on the part of professionals, having as reference authors of international scientific recognition to conduct successful educational actions in the best way. Since October 2012 we have been part of the network of learning communities and we continue working day by day so that this transformation process is the ideal prelude for our students to access the world of work with guarantees. Currently 40% of the educators in our educational centre are youth coming from the same Roma community who have graduated from secondary school and are continuing their training process, participating in our job placement program. In the last two years, 15 students have obtained a school degree through our Basic Vocational Training and are continuing with Middle Grade Vocational Training studies or have joined the Labora itinerary but already in Level II courses, without the need for access test, a real funnel for the labour inclusion of students of this profile. This work is carried out with two social educators who coordinate with the Basic Vocational Training teaching team with the aim of developing the educational-labour orientation plan of the centre through the Family Training programs and professional training itineraries. This is our best asset, since they are indisputable examples of the transformation achieved and at the same time very close examples for our students, thus giving meaning to the message that we try to convey every day "studying really improves people's living conditions" . Due to the socio-economic conditions of some of the f