A child can attend as a Gaztelueta student. from 4 months of age. We have a cot room for the little ones, with a separate layout from the rest of the nursery school, with specific breaks and lunch times for them.
The Infant stage covers the period from 4 months to 6 years of age, when they enter the primary stage.
The general school day, both for infants and the rest of the stages, starts with an entrance from 8:45 to 9:00 and in the afternoon from 16:15 to 16:30.
There is the possibility of extending the school day in the case of infant and primary school:
The maximum number of pupils per class varies according to the age of the pupils. The crèche classroom has no more than 8 pupils and the 1 year old classrooms have a maximum of 13 pupils. The 2 year old classrooms do not exceed 18 pupils and from the 1st year classrooms (3 year olds) onwards, the classrooms have a maximum of 25 pupils.
In Gaztelueta we have a ratio of one teacher for every 15 pupils from the second cycle of the Infant stage. And two teachers for every 15 pupils in the 0-2 years stage.
To start with, you can consult here the prices. In Gaztelueta there are various discounts for former students, large families or families from kindergartens and companies with which the school has different agreements.
Gaztelueta is not for profit. It was founded in 1951 driven by a group of mothers and fathers who joined forces to promote a school open to all those who wanted for their children an education in values centred on individual treatment, respect for freedom and the promotion of personal responsibility, as well as a Christian sense of life.
Since its beginnings and by the express wish of Saint Josemaría, founder of Opus Dei, it has always been made easier for a family that wants to come to the school not to stop doing so for financial reasons. In fact, since 1961, evening classes have been offered to enable young people who work during the day to continue to receive a quality education and many of them can go on to higher education.
With the same objective in mind, in April 1985 the Gaztelueta Foundationcommitted to the improvement of society to make it possible, among other things, for students with limited resources to cover the cost of school services through scholarships.
In addition, the Basque Government also has a series of scholarships and grants for the education of non-university students. Further information.
As we have mentioned, Gaztelueta's aim is that none of its students, or those who wish to become students, stop studying at the school or at the Global School for financial reasons. The Gaztelueta Foundation has a scholarship and financial aid programme for students. If this is your case, you can go to fundació[email protected], where Carlos Chávarri will attend to you with total discretion and confidentiality to help you in the process.
Above all, we seek a welcoming and caring environment. We want our students to feel at home. The attention to detail and modern and safe facilities, with natural light and a great green environment help to achieve this.
We have 52,969 m2 of green area. Almost 5.3 hectares of land for the enjoyment of the students. In addition, Gaztelueta has 17,000m2 dedicated to sport, a third of its total surface area, where there is a football pitch, swimming pool, two paddle tennis courts, indoor multi-sports courts and a complete sports centre.
In this video you can see our facilities first hand although we encourage you to see them in person.
Tell us where you live and we'll look into how our bus service can pass close to your home. The bus route service is optional. Our students are always accompanied by responsible staff from the school.
The bus service has 10 routes that allow us to cover large geographical areas: Getxo, Barakaldo, Santurce, Bilbao, Berango, Sopelana, Plencia, Laukariz, Castro Urdiales... We pick up and take, punctually, the pupils from their homes to the school and vice versa.
Our teachers welcome the pupils every morning as soon as they get off the bus, accompanying them to their classrooms in the infant and primary stages.
Gaztelueta has two dining rooms and two kitchens of its own, equipped with the necessary equipment to prepare a healthy and natural cuisine. All the food is received, cleaned, prepared and cooked in the school itself by specialised staff.
We also have the advice of a nutritionist who supervises each menu and offers a balanced nutritional proposal, including dinners, taking into account the school's daily lunch menu. On a monthly basis, families are sent the MEALS MENUS.
Throughout the course, sessions are also organised to offer families guidelines, advice and ideas that can help them at home to achieve good healthy habits. Thanks to these sessions, emphasis is placed on the importance of a good diet and good table manners through participatory and very practical activities.
We prepare more than 25 different menus in our kitchens to meet the nutritional needs of each person, according to their circumstances and needs (intolerances, allergies...).
Gaztelueta offers a wide range of extracurricular activities:
Among other activities, there are robotics, creativity, science, music, sports, speaking corner and organic gardening workshops for children. Older children can take part in a variety of workshops STEAMRobotics and Lego, Drones, Arts and Greenpower Project to reinforce learning in a playful space, combining English, fun and sport.
Teaching at Gaztelueta has no political orientation whatsoever.
Gaztelueta is a heterogeneous cultural and educational association open to all types of pupils, from any background and social condition, who have the desire to improve and learn. The families who bring their children to the school are very diverse, but with a common desire: that their sons and daughters can acquire a high quality education.
Gaztelueta and the people who form part of it want to offer students this quality, complete, comprehensive and personalised education in a climate of freedom and responsibility.
In the educational task, methodologies are used that help to deepen the aspects worked on, encouraging a critical and reflective spirit, respecting different opinions and different ways of thinking.
The Gaztelueta uniform dates back to the school's beginnings in 1951. Inspired by that of English schools, its purpose at all times was to contribute to the integration of people from different social backgrounds, as these, in those years, were manifested in the way they dressed.
At the request of the parents, the architects Eugenio Aguinaga and César Ortiz-Echagüe Rubiodesigned, in addition to the school crest, the school uniform. The purpose of this garment has been above all to prevent social differences from manifesting themselves in the way of dressing, without forgetting the convenience it offers families in terms of saving time and money.
Nowadays, we could also add other reasons why it is advantageous: it helps the group to have a sense of belonging, it generates a climate of order and care, and it also contributes to environmental sustainability (it is common for the school to organise a kind of "solidarity market" to be able to buy second-hand uniform items in good condition).
Training in values permeates all educational work. At Gaztelueta we not only give classes in values and virtues, but we also use the rest of the subjects we teach in order to transmitting values of our teaching style: sincerity, effort, freedom and responsibility... and of course also equality.
We have our own Equality PlanThe aim of the plan is to provide tools and measures for equality education in the school environment and to provide families with resources for equality education in the home. The scope of the equality plan includes all spheres of school action.
Gaztelueta is committed to trilingualism (Spanish, English and Basque) as a means of learning both content and mastery of the three languages. In addition, French is added as a language that can be taken as an optional or extracurricular subject from the primary school stage. Oral competence in the different languages is a key element in the school from the infant stage. A great support in the learning of English at an early age is the Jolly Phonics programme or the time dedicated to Speaking Corner.
An academic environment international and globalised professional requires of future leaders not only specific language skills, but also a competence in oral expression that will enable them to interact fluently and confidently in a language that is not their mother tongue.
Since 1990, the Department of Education of the Basque Government has approved our trilingual project, with the aim of achieving immersion and regular use of the three languages mentioned by the pupils. Different subjects of the curriculum are taught in second languages throughout infant, primary and secondary education. We are also an official examination centre for Cambridge and French Institute qualifications.
80% of our students finish 2nd Baccalaureate with a First Certificate and 55% also do so with an Advanced or Higher level. We have different exchange programmes as well as international projects with schools around the world within the framework of our Global Learning.
If you want to know more: Trilingualism from Infant Education onwards.
Gaztelueta - Global School has established an individualised language monitoring and reinforcement programme for each student according to their circumstances.
In these 70 years of its existence, with an Alumni Association of more than 7,000 members all over the world, a fundamental pillar has been and continues to be personalised attention.
That is why we dedicate more than 400 hours a week to tutoring, small work groups, conversation assistants and tutoring, allowing us to individualise the needs of each pupil and getting the best out of each one in a family-school teamwork that is key.
We are committed to an innovative educational model through methodologies that promote the development of the competencies and skills that our students will need in their professional development. This new way of working stimulates the ability to apply knowledge to new situations, which we consider fundamental in a constantly changing world.
Along these lines, we have various projects that aim to develop the development of STEAM competences (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). Internationally, there is an increasing implementation of these competences in schools, thus adapting education to the new needs of the 21st century.
Some of our innovation projects:
Find out more: greenpowergaztelueta.com
YouTube channel: Greenpower Gaztelueta
Forensic Science has been one of the finalist projects among the 113 applications submitted by schools and institutions in the first edition of STEAM Euskadi Saria to recognise best practices in education and has been recognised by the STEAM Euskadi Label and has attracted international interest and has also been implemented in other countries such as Finland, Poland, France, Italy, India, Australia, Mexico, Canada, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan.
Find out more: https://forensicscience.school/
In addition to innovation projects linked to the STEAM competencesWe believe it is very important to highlight the relevance of the arts and humanities, which are fundamental for a sustainable development. good personal development. Some of the innovation projects are the subject of Public SpeakingThe use of public speaking from an early age, debates in secondary school, radio programmesThe importance of entrepreneurship in various programmes closely linked to the world of business such as the International Dual Program.
At Gaztelueta we consider technology to be another tool at the service of learning and the entire educational community.
Depending on the educational stages, we use different technologies that facilitate school activity on a daily basis, in a balanced way:
Gaztelueta has a DQ Digital Citizenship Project The aim is for students to minimise risky online behaviour and increase critical thinking and global citizenship skills. The aim is to develop skills such as: digital citizen identity, screen time management, cyberbullying management, cyber safety management, digital empathy, digital footprint management, critical thinking and privacy management.
This project is developed in collaboration with the DQ Institute The Global Teacher Prize is made up of the World Economic Fund, the Varkey Foundation (Global Teacher Prize) and prestigious universities such as IOWA University (USA) and Nanyang University (Singapore), among others.
Gaztelueta is also a partner member of Smart Internet Users (SIU), which has a research group whose aim is to bring together experts involved in education to study proposals that incorporate the intelligent use of technology into comprehensive education. Through different training and social initiatives, cultural meetings and educational proposals, Smart Internet Users aims to raise awareness in society about the intelligent use of the Internet.
The degree of satisfaction of both families and students is very notable. In this linkGaztelueta's opinions can be seen through the results of the survey carried out in 2019 among the school's families (350 completed the survey), all ESO students, Baccalaureate students and alumni.
The annual external examinations and the good results in the EvAU, as well as the various prizes awarded in recent years to our students in different Science OlympiadsThe quality of Gaztelueta's education is guaranteed.
80% of our students finish 2nd Baccalaureate with a First Certificate and 55% also do so with an Advanced or Higher level. The different exchange programmes as well as other international projects with schools around the world as part of our Global Learning programme prepares them for tomorrow.
Being aware that decisions made in the present condition the future, as the end of the school years approaches, different Orientation Days so that pupils can get a close-up look at the wide range of university courses on offer today. Visits to faculties and universities are also organised and sessions are held at the school itself with the collaboration of university lecturers and professionals, mostly former students and parents of the school.
Throughout the school stage, it is very important to work on the skills that are necessary for the students' professional future, which has led us to make a firm commitment to reinforcing oral expression through public speaking and the subject of "Public Speaking". Public Speaking or the International Dual Programwhich aims to bring the company closer to the world of education, offering Baccalaureate students the possibility of having their first professional experience integrated into the curricula.
The relationship between families and school could be described as close, familiar, close and, above all, personal. At Gaztelueta we are clear that our main purpose is to accompany families in the education of their children. We believe it is essential for parents to be involved in the school's education so that work is carried out jointly, reinforcing the values and messages that the pupils receive at home, and vice versa.
Each pupil, from the beginning of their school years, has a tutor/preceptor assigned to them so that, together with their parents, they can jointly bring out the talents and qualities of each child, with the hope that in the future they will be able to put them at the service of others.
3 personal interviews with the tutor/preceptor are planned over the course of the course, approximately one per term.
In addition, the school provides parents with the necessary training to enable them to play a leading role in the task of educating their children (talks about family orientation for parents, sessions at the beginning and end of the school year, parents' school, conferences, workshops, excursions for parents and children...).
Gaztelueta has its own integrated Psychopedagogical Guidance Department (D.O.P.), which aims to prevent, detect and monitor learning problems, as well as a specific programme for students with high abilities.
Gaztelueta has two Special Education Classrooms for pupils with learning difficulties and for pupils with Special Educational Needs. These classrooms are independent from the rest of the school's classrooms and allow specialised attention to be given to pupils with academic needs and high abilities. Several teachers are qualified in Therapeutic Pedagogy.
In addition, for those students who have recently joined the school due to a transfer and who do not have basic language skills, the school has established an individualised monitoring and reinforcement programme.
All diagnostic work, both individual and collective, of whatever kind, is reported in writing individually to each family and to the preceptor.
In addition, the Department provides guidance counsellors with tools to facilitate an effective and concrete educational response when they encounter pupils with difficulties and systematically carries out training and pedagogical updating plans for the school's teachers.
Training in values permeates all educational work. The transmission of values is carried out as a priority through the example and good work of each of the components of the educational community: parents, teachers and non-teaching staff.
Gaztelueta's teaching style is unified by the training in values that is transmitted throughout the educational day. At Gaztelueta we not only give classes in values and virtues, but we also use the rest of the subjects to transmit the values of our teaching style: sincerity, effort, freedom and responsibility in our daily work, obedience to parents and teachers, respect for people, discipline, etc. Loyalty and sincerity are two human virtues which we are especially taught to practise and which are present in the school's motto: "be our yes, yes; be our no, no".
On the other hand, the promotion of voluntary activity is channelled through NGOs. Zabalketa e Ireki (recently awarded), organised by the Alumni. Gaztelueta remains firm in the conviction that all school and academic education must include a human component, solidarity and service in order to be complete. At the school we seek to educate students with values, who know how to open up to external realities and give their time to others, especially to those most in need.
Find out more:
Gaztelueta is firmly committed to the respect for the environment and inculcating these values in the pupils. Responsibility for one's own actions and the impact they may have on the environment are worked on throughout the year in a cross-cutting manner. The School Agenda 30 represents an important educational strategy for the sustainability and has become a line of student participation in the action plans of our municipality.
We participate in environmental awareness campaigns and competitions. One of the biggest environmental problems in big cities is the pollution caused by the combustion of fossil fuels in cars.
Young students contribute to raising social awareness on the use of electric cars by participating in the Greenpower urban races.
Another educational resource of the first order are the different school gardens located in the infant and primary stages, which enable active and cooperative learning to be put into practice, as well as the effective development of values conducive to the conservation and improvement of the environment.
At Gaztelueta, we consider personalised education and emotional management to be key. In today's educational environment, emotions are a very important part of children's health. As Raúl García, primary school teacher, psychologist, pedagogue and speech therapist, says, "if we want to help our children in terms of their emotional health, the first thing to bear in mind is that we have to accompany them in their childhood emotions, we have to connect with our own feelings and validate them".
In line with the idea of working hand in hand with families and educators at the school and knowing that our mission is to accompany families in educating their children, in recent years we have held various courses on emotional education aimed at both families and the entire teaching staff.
Hand in hand with the Uptoyou Foundation and sponsored by the Gaztelueta FoundationUnder the title 'Discover a way to grow from your emotions', this training has been carried out based on reaching an understanding of the emotional reality of the human being and the characteristics of emotional education, deepening in some necessary aspects to carry out a personal accompaniment that generates growth processes.
Recently we have also had various training sessions for both teachers and families that have helped us to continue learning and deepening our understanding of emotional management from speakers such as Fernando Alberca o Marian Rojas Estapé.
Gaztelueta promotes an atmosphere of dialogue and trust, a context in which students learn to exercise freedom in a responsible and respectful way with others and can enjoy a safe environment. With this aim, Gaztelueta has some distinctive means that -in close relationship with the families- help the personal and social improvement of the students:
The actions set out in our Coexistence PlanThe programme promotes different educational objectives by stimulating improvement in all areas of the individual:
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To be part of Gaztelueta as a pupil or as a family, you do not have to be a member of Opus Dei, or even be Catholic. Gaztelueta is a heterogeneous educational centre open to all types of students, of any creed, origin and social condition, who have the desire to improve and learn. The families who bring their children to the school are very diverse, but with a common desire: that their sons and daughters can acquire a high quality education.
Fundamentally, it means that Gaztelueta has its own style that is reflected in the way it treats and understands people, in the important role played by families and in a common purpose among all the members of the educational community that goes beyond the transmission of purely academic knowledge.
We educate with a transcendent vision, being aware of the transforming power that education has in society, knowing that we are training the leaders of the 21st century, understanding leadership with a perspective of service to society and to others. Numerous social responsibility and volunteering activities are organised each year in the different educational stages.
Opus Dei is, as its founder, Saint Josemaría Escrivá, liked to say, a "little part" of the Church whose purpose is to recall the call to holiness of all Christians.
All over the world, inspired by the same message as Gaztelueta, there are other educational centres, universities, business schools as well as centres for the promotion of women, medical dispensaries in underdeveloped areas or countries, student residences, cultural centres...
There are several aspects that particularly define Gaztelueta as an Opus Dei educational centre:
As mentioned in a previous question, Gaztelueta is a heterogeneous educational centre open to any teacher who wishes to carry out the educational work in the best possible way.
Just like the families who bring their children to school, the teaching staff is also very diverse. It is important, however, that from the moment a person joins the school, whether in teaching or in any other task (administrative, secretarial, maintenance, IT, etc.), that he/she is familiar with the school's educational style and identifies with the school's purpose.
Saint Josemaría Escrivá used to use the expression "common denominator" and "very different numerator", which is a comparison from the world of mathematics, and we know well that the common denominator is something that allows the fractions to be added together, and that is an interesting characteristic: to be people who know how to join forces, and who within a great diversity know how to have that spirit of collaboration, to seek synergies to achieve objectives more easily than with individualistic criteria.
Gaztelueta, as has already been mentioned in previous issues, is an educational association that welcomes all types of students and families, from any background, religion or social condition, who have the desire to improve and learn. Since its beginnings, more than 70 years ago, it has sought to offer an education in values, in a close family environment centred on the person, in the development of human virtues and with a deep Christian sense of life.
The families who bring their children to the school are very diverse, but with a common desire: that their children can acquire a high quality, complete, comprehensive and personalised education in a climate of freedom and responsibility, respecting different opinions and ways of thinking.
There are practising families, non-practising families and families of other religions, baptised pupils and pupils who are baptised in the course of their childhood or adolescence and others who are not.
We want to emphasise that Christian identity constitutes an extraordinary competitive advantage because Christian values are as attractive as they are respectful of the opinions of others. It is not necessary to be given the gift of faith to hold in high esteem ideals such as the spirit of service, the respect for othersprofessional honesty, the protection of life - especially the life of the weakest -, the solidarity with those most in need, honesty, loyalty and the protection of nature. All this in an atmosphere of healthy optimism and joyful hope.
It is a fact that Throughout history, Christian values have been the driving force of great social change and the champion of many fundamental rights. With exquisite respect for the freedom of individuals and their consciences and with the centrality of the individual person in the educational process and in the formation of the personality, we have more than sufficient grounds to be convinced that Christian identity is a magnificent product.
Educational establishments inspired by these principles are places that are enlightened by a grand and captivating message, deeply human and open to transcendence.
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