Alex Trelinski
A brand new international school with an innovative way of teaching will open in the Valencia area this September in spite of the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Shackleton International School in Burjassot will be an offshoot of the Superfriends English nursery that has provided early learning for youngsters up to the age of six for the last decade.
Shackleton School managing director, Celeste Cutter, said: “We’ve been wanting to do this for five years and the last two years has seen the plans come to fruition after finding a suitable location for the school.”
“The pandemic did create uncertainty and make things more nerve-racking but it did not derail our objectives or lessen interest from parents wanting to send their children to us.”
The school is named in honour of the great explorer, Ernest Shackleton, who with a combination of integrity, leadership, determination, and leadership is viewed as a historical role model.
The school philosophy will be about inspiring youngsters with confidence through encouraging creative thinking and talent; speaking a language besides Spanish; and using the latest teaching methods based on the British education system.
Celeste Cutter explains: “We believe in giving youngsters an education based on values, which goes beyond just subjects and the curriculum.”
“We want all of the pupils to develop values like effort; curiosity; companionship; being adaptive; and respect though strengthening their inner-self and through their social interaction.”
There has already been a good uptake of children enrolling for Shackleton, many of whom have been at Superfriends with the new school catering for youngsters aged up to 11,
Celeste said that many of the pupils at Superfriends and the future Shackleton school come from families where either their mother or father speaks another language besides Spanish.
Children are taught English along with German as a second language at the nursery stage at Superfriends and that will be carried through to the new school.
“We use the Total English Teaching(TET) method which is similar to the way that young babies learn to speak and we have adapted that technique for the German language,” said Celeste.
Shackleton will have ten teachers that have all worked within the British school system with appropriate qualifications.
Celeste Cutter said:“We will have a team that are very qualified and we will apply the high British standards to all of the lessons which will be done in an innovative way with the latest teaching methods.”
Shackleton will also adapt the current ‘STEM’ teaching philosophy of the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to widen out to become ‘STEAM’ with the inclusion of Arts.
“We want to access the creative potential of children at a young age and we have come up with ‘STEAM’ that harnesses their talent in the widest possible way,” added Celeste.
“Every student will get the necessary tools to develop their skills and enhance what they learn with the freedom to be creative.”
More details are available via the website, shackletonschool.com or via their Facebook page, Shackleton International School.
