9th Primary School of Rethymnon

The 9^th Primary School of Rethymno is located at the Northern coast of the island of Crete, in a city suburb called Missiria. It is a developing area with a mixed population of civil servants, workers and a growing population of migrant workers settling down in the region, in search of better jobs in tourism and construction business. The population of pupils in the school is growing steadily in the past decade rising from 140 in 1985 to 238 this year. Respectively, the members of the teaching staff have increased from 6 in1985 to 37 this year (2018-2019).
In the last ten years or so, there has been a tremendous effort to increase the school standards and school infrastructure. A Primary Science Laboratory has been established in order to provide support to science subjects, but also in-service training for teachers and research and development of educational content. Indicatively, three science fairs have been organized by the Primary Science Laboratory, which had a successful impact to the educational and local community, within a framework of an open school to society, raising public awareness on scientific, environmental and ecological issues. An ICT Laboratory has also been established with 13 computers running on Linux and an ADSL line for Internet access provided by the National School Network, under the Ministry of Education. A special cross curriculum programme was organized by the school in order to introduce the pupils in New Technologies by using them in practice and for particular educational purposes, integrated in school subjects and projects. The programme has been welcomed by pupils and parents and is still developing with success. Moreover, we put great emphasis and effort in social and cultural activities in order to achieve coherence in the relationships of pupils and staff, cultivating a fruitful environment for collaboration and sharing of ideas and opinions with respect to each other. Theatrical plays, musical activities and festivals are integrated as a significant component of school life, with equal access to all members of the school and the local community. The inclusion of the growing number of migrant workers’ children in school life and activities is treated with special care and concern by the administration, all members of staff and the local community.
So far, the school has been involved in one international cooperation programme, as a Comenius 1 school partnership. That was for the school years 2005-2008 and the thematic topic was "Solar Energy: Awareness and action" [SEAA]. The School was the coordinating institution (more in the URL: <http://9dim-rethymn.reth.sch.gr/contents_en/Comenius.htm). The School has also been an associated member in the Comenius 3 Network “Hands-on Science” (Project Nº: 110157-CP-1-2003-1-PT-COMENIUS-C3) and has also completed 3 consecutive School Environmental Education Projects, which were co-financed by the E.U. Nevertheless, the School has participated in a number of National cooperation activities in the framework of Olympic Education (3 successful completed projects, 2002-2004, in the framework of Athens Olympic Games 2004), environmental education, science education, theatre and social studies. Several members of the teaching staff have been involved in these projects and have gained in experience and professional development. The pupils, who participated in such projects, have increased their interest and awareness in several issues and developed investigative and social skills. Recently, we completed an Erasmus+ KA219 Project with the Mehmet Hikmet Kaşerci Ortaokulu school of Izmir [2015-2017] entitled “From Ancient to Modern: Challenging Obstacles at a strokewith sport”, with a focus on inclusion and support of children with social and learning difficulties, as well as refugees, through participation in traditional games and sports, with long history, projected and evolved in the modern framework (cf. https://from-ancient-to-modern-games-nsports-en.weebly.com/), promoting equality at all levels (including gender equality, of course).