Avram Iancu Secondary School

Our school is a Secondary School located in Turda, a small town in Transylvania, Romania. There are 540 students, which also includes special needs ones, 45 teachers 22 classes, 2 science labs, IT lab, a History lab, one library,1 festivity room. Our students come from disadvantaged families as most of the factories have been closed and their parents are unemployed. The school is one of the best in our town, the students winning a lot of prizes in school competitions. They are opened minded and willing to learn something new, they are creative and extremely involved in all the activities. Projects are a challenge for them as they have the chance to study about different cultures and practice English language and last but not list their partners’ language. The town is a small and beautiful one which is visited by tourists all over the world due to the Salt Mine which is unique in Europe, the Salt Lakes, Turda’s Gorges-a natural reservation. Due to the location environmental issues are a priority for our students who involve in voluntary work regarding the environment.

The school comprises 12 primary classes with children aged 5 to 10, as well as 10 secondary school classes with pupils aged 11 to 15. The school has got 35 teachers, 1 head teacher, 1 assistant head teacher and 540 pupils. In our school are 12  children with special needs,  children from disadvantaged backgrounds (30 % of the children in our school).

The school offers a dynamic learning environment which favours the growth of intellect, creativity and investigation skills within the newest knowledge domains and links the traditional education with the digital resources in line with the new European trends in education. The school is equipped with 5 laboratories. Within these laboratories, activities specific to Mathematics, Physics, Biology-Chemistry, History and ICT take place. Our school also includes a “Club”, i.e. a room equipped with an interactive whiteboard where several extracurricular activities take place. The second ICT laboratory in our school, which includes 17 laptops, was set up thanks to our pupils’ efforts who were winners in the ‘Emil Racovita’ Project in 2012. The teachers and the pupils in our school take part in several national and international drawing and music contests. The school has got a folklore dance group who take part in various festivals. Moreover, some of our pupils are famous folk and pop music singers. In partnership with the Municipal Arts Centre, our school hosts canto and instrumental music courses. In partnership with the Municipal Theatre, our school also hosts the ‘Alter Ego’ theatre club whose members perform in several shows locally. Our school also promotes partnerships with higher-education university institutions within such domains as research, article publishing in prestigious publications (ActaDidacticaNapocensia and Romanian Review of Geographical Education), or practice exchange through various financed projects.

Our school is in close cooperation with the Cluj County Teaching-Staff Resource Centre, with NGOs and with the Romanian Ministry of Education, as it houses several courses at regional level (Semantic Pathways for Building a Spatially-Thinking Society, Mate-didactica, IntelTeach, The Pathway to Inquiry-Based Science Teaching). Our school is involved in partnerships with all the schools in our town. There is a tight collaboration among these schools as we take part together in various contests, carnivals, theatre performances, school trips or methodical activities. Our school offers the sharing of the experience we have acquired during formal and non-formal activities, various teaching materials, the place where the communication skills of the partners involved in the project can be put into practice, the material supplies needed for the successful development of the project activities, the initiative to put into practice some of the activities developed by the schools involved in the project and by the communities to which they belong. The optional courses offered by the school  to our pupils are My friend the computer, Culture and traditions, Theatre – The little artists, Friends with books , Learning with Earni.

The school is financed by the local council and by the Parents’ Association.

The school can also obtain finance from trading companies that support the educational process.