A highly complex institute and an elite school, two worlds wall to wall in Esplugues

Two distant universes touch in the Sant Mateu street in Esplugues, on the border with L’Hospitalet and Barcelona. A street that goes up or down, depending on where you look at it, in which, wall with wall, patio with patio, to be more precise, the Joanot Martorell, public institute of High complexity (that is, with a greater number of students in situations of vulnerability than the average) in a building with more than 50 years, with the Garbí Pere Vergés school, ‘ciutat-escola’ with indoor pool and running track which occupies the fourth position in the ‘ranking’ of the most expensive subsidized schools in Catalonia (with a fee of 460 euros per month according to the Study of Subsidized School Fees and Prices prepared by the consulting firm Garlic B2B).

The reality of the students Joanot Martorell -what was the first mixed public institute in Barcelona, ​​created in 1970, still under Franco, but where freedom was breathed, and a pioneer in the implementation of the BUP and the COU- is very different from that of the students of the Garbí Pere Vergés. The first come mainly from Esplugues and L’Hospitalet, from nearby neighborhoods, children of popular class families. Many of the seconds, on the other hand, coming from families with a high or very high socioeconomic level, They come expressly from Barcelona or from other locations looking for the exclusivity of the center. Outside of these spaces, it is difficult for these young people to coincide because of their remote origins, not only geographical. At school, on the other hand, against all odds, they do do activities together like the good neighbors they are. Activities among equals, despite everything.

“We have several projects in which the students mix, and it is something enriching for all”, explains Laura Roig, devoted director of Joanot Martorell, who insists on remembering – “for a matter of justice” – that the seed of this close collaboration was planted by Jordi Carmonaformer director of Garbi, who “knocked on his door many times with desire to work together”. One of the projects they share is a ‘tastet’ of trades. students of Joanot Martorell Wanting to be teachers, they go to a classroom on I-3 del Garbí one afternoon to act as assistants and see how they do in another environment.

crossed knowledge

They also organize a robotics Day, in which the students of the Joanot they teach the garbi their projects, and also vice versa. Robotics is one of the many extracurricular courses offered by the Joanot Martorell in his obsession with being “opportunity generators & rdquor;. Extracurricular in which your students can from learning robotics to preparing for the first certificate free of charge (many of the students of the Joanot they could not afford an academy). Activities that facilitate access to other knowledge, while, in addition, the families and the center prevent the kids are on the street every afternoon.

Roig explains the list of joint activities with the garbi with naturalness and generosity, and emphasizing that they are “one more collaboration, which is very much appreciated”, as the many that they do with the environment, following the same goal: Do not clip the wings of your students. Offer them everything you can, even more. Another example of collaboration with the Garbí is the Day of the Joanot Sports Day, deep-rooted tradition in the center; day in which all the students and teachers put on their sneakers and practice all kinds of sports and in which their neighbors open their brand new sports facilities to them.

But the super sports center of the garbi It is not the only space that collaborates with the Joanot. In the same line of networking, the institute has an agreement with the Catalan School of Sportsliterally in front, on the other side of the Sant Mateu street, to offer a defendant Baccalaureate combined with a medium grade training cycle. “It was born from an informal lunch conversation between professionals from the two centers. We have a profile of students who need to start working soon, and the sports cycle allowed them access the world of work without giving up the baccalaureate. And, in addition, they do the practices in the facilities of the Catalan Sports School, that are spectacular & rdquor ;, recounts Roig. The Joanot Martorell It is one of the few -nine in total- institutes in Catalonia that offer this possibility. Pioneers again.

Laura Bonillasocial integrator of Joanot Martorell, is another of the workers of this public institute that leaves the skin so that their students, all, “get the most out of themselves.” The maxim of the center is that you have to be very aware of those who have difficulties – to no one is left behind-, but also one of the most academic, to let them go as far and as high as they can.

With this logic they also design the extracurricular ones, whose programming they designed after the elaborate x-ray of the tastes and needs that pretty made student by student. One of the most successful free, like those of the First and the Delft (the official French title), is that of theater in english. Success inside, due to the excellent reception of the students, and outside. Every year they participate and are planted in the final of the theater contest in English that promotes the Trinity College London, competing, again on an equal footing, with subsidized and private centers.

APS in the host classroom

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And that same desire to mix and learn from everything, among all, is also noticeable in the different service-learning projects, such as the conversation in Catalan and Spanish in the reception room of the institute. “Communication is easier between equals,” she highlights, proudly, of her kids Pretty.

The list of projects they carry out is endless: Roig and Bonilla They talk about everyone with the same desire and passion. They also have their curricular diversification program, Project Exitfor the boys with more difficulties such as their participation in the CONFAVC Young Talents Scholarship Project; intended to encourage access to university coursesfocused on the areas of digital, sustainable, social and innovative transformation” in boys and girls with a brilliant academic record in secondary school but with difficulties in their economic or family context.

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