A world of differences ?Istituto Comprensivo Statale "G.Falcone-P.Borsellino" di Offanengo - Scuola

Secondaria di I Grado, Italy & 

Zespół Szkół Publicznych Nr 1 w Sławoborzu, Poland

Zespół Szkół Publicznych Nr 1 w Sławoborzu, Poland

Istituto Comprensivo Statale "G.Falcone-P.Borsellino" di Offanengo - Scuola Secondaria di I Grado, Italy

School building and school life

In Poland the main philosophy of school is to teach values, respect large-mindedness and creativity. In Italy the mission of school is accept every pupils and help them in lots of ways. The school in Poland was built in 1945 after the Second World War. The school is not very big, there are about 400 students. The building consists of Primary School and Gymnasium. Students regularly take tests, write compositions, conduct experiments, prepare speeches and projects. At the end of the sixth class in Primary school students have an exam. The next exam is at the end of the third class in Gymnasium. After that students leave school and go to a higher school. In Italy the school was built in 1960. Students have exam only in the third year. In Poland and in Italy students have very interesting and funny trips. In both schools students celebrate Christmas, Easter and other very important occasions. In both schools parents don’t participate in classes

School day In Italy schools start at 8 a.m. and end at 1:36. In Poland students start school at 8 a.m. and finish at 2:20 p.m. In Poland and in Italy pupils go to school at the weekdays, from Monday to Friday. In Italy there are 2 breaks: the first break is at 9:48 and the second one is at 11:45. Both breaks are 7 minutes long. In Poland students have breaks every 45 minutes. There are 6 breaks. They usually last 10 minutes, except one break at 10:35 which lasts 20 minutes. Then students have time for lunch. Some students eat hot meals at the canteen, other students have sandwiches. In Poland there is a canteen as a suitable place for it. In Italy there is a canteen in primary school but there isn’t a canteen in a secondary school. During breaks students change their classrooms and prepare for the next lesson. In Poland during a nice weather students go outside and play. Students in Italy have music classes at school in the afternoon. They can use gym where they do sport or dance. They also have Latin lessons. They have 4/5 different lessons every day. In Poland students go to school in the morning. In the afternoon they prepare to school.

In Poland , in primary school students have about 5-6 lessons a day. In gymnasium they have 7 lessons a day.

Getting to school In both schools students get to school by bus, by car or on foot.

School calendar  In Italy, the secondary schools start when students are 11 years old. They have 3 years of secondary school. In Poland students start primary school at the age of 6 and gymnasium at the age 13 years old. In Italy the first day of school is around 12th September and ends around 10th of June. In Poland the first day of school is on the 1st of September and the last day is around the 25th of June. In the both schools students like the first day of school because they miss their friends and teachers. In Italy and Poland students have breaks during Christmas and Easter. In Italy students have additional carnival break (about 2 days) and some special feasts: 1st November, Republic Feast, Liberation in IIWW. Summer holidays are 3 months long. In Poland students celebrate Teacher’s day, Saints day, Independence day. Students have summer holiday (2 months) and winter holiday (2 weeks). The holidays are a wonderful time because students can recharge their batteries and come back to school relaxed.

Students and teachers Generally all the teachers in both schools are nice and polite with pupils. They motivate students and help them whenever they need. In Italy there are about 25 students in each class. In Poland there are about 17-25 students in each class. Boys and girls learn together, but in Poland during PE classes students are divided into 2 groups: boy’s and girl’s groups. In both schools students don’t have to wear a school uniform. They usually wear casual clothes like: T-shirts, jeans. They don’t have to change shoes at school except PE classes. They wear T-shirts, shorts or leggings, and trainers.

Subjects and roomsIn Italy students learn: Italian, History, Geography, English, P.E., Science, Maths, Spanish, Music, Art, R.E. and D.T. their favourite subject is P.E., because they have fun. They do P.E. at the sports hall. They don’t play football during lessons, but there is a school football team, volleyball team, an athletics team and a dance team. They have English lessons 3 hours a week. Students like learning English because they know it is very important in these days. Some students study Spanish and French too. They learn English since primary school until secondary school. So, there are 13 years. In their school there isn’t a computer room, but there are interactive boards in every classrooms. They have very good science lab. They haven’t got a football camp

As in Italy Polish students learn Maths, Art, Music, P.E., History, Geography, R.E., Science, English too. They don’t learn Spanish and French. They learn Germany. Students like English lessons because they can understand English songs, watch films in English. During P.E. classes they can relax and have fun. They do P.E. in the gym during winter and autumn. When it is warm, during spring and summer, they have P.E. outside. Then they play football, tennis and do another sport. There are some school teams: a football team “Pomorzanin Sławoborze”, a basketball team and a volleyball team. Students have English classes 3 times a week too. They know that English language is very important nowadays. It helps them to communicate in the world. They start learning English in Primary school, in the 1st class. Germany language they start learning in the 4th class of Primary school. In Polish school there is one computer room and one science lab. There are interactive whiteboards in every classrooms. There are two sports halls and there is a playground next to school.

After school life In Italy students do homework. At home they study with books or computer. They study about 2 hours. Some students study more, some study only 1 hour. They have other activities after classes, they can study a musical instruments or do sport. There aren’t clubs in the school. There is a library, they go there with teacher 3-4 times every year. Students can go alone if they want. Some kids like reading, others don’t. They don’t read books in English. In Poland students have a lot of homework to do. It usually takes about 2 hours to prepare and study for the next school day. They don’t use computers during typical classes. They use PC at home. At school teachers use interactive whiteboards. There are some school clubs where students can play football, play basketball, play chess, draw, sing. There is a school library in the school. Students go there about 5 times a month. Like in Italy Polish students don’t like reading books too much. Some of them like reading books in English because they say it’s exciting.

Thank you