Our school community is formed by 1046 students including pre-school (ages 0 to 6 years old), Primary Education (ages 6 to 12 years old), Secondary Education (ages 13 to 16 years old) and Baccalaureate, both IB and LOMCE (ages 17 to 18). Montserrat teachers believe in students being the protagonists of their learning and so are ready to do everything to ensure they achieve excellence in all possible ways.

At Montserrat School, our motto is “Excelsior, always higher and higher” and we live up to it.

“Montserrat School is a school where everybody learns something” (Howard Gardner, 2004)

Our school was founded by the congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth, on the 29^th of September in 1926. Under the leadership of Sister Pilar Mas, we started our journey to excellence. Later, this tradition of leadership continued under the direction of Sister Cros (1949), Sister Soledad Rodríguez (1954) and Sister Montserrat Del Pozo (1993). Last, but not least, we would like to recognize the presence and devoted teaching of Dr. Isidre Gomà for more than 50 years.

It is the good work done for almost 90 years now that makes us look to the future to find ways to offer our students a complete education that “shapes their mind and their soul.” We are grateful to those who made this possible and for this we remain unwavering in our pursuit of excellence.

We seek to foster a comprehensive and harmonious education for our students through:

The congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth (@MHSFNazaret) was founded in 1874 by Saint Joseph Manyanet i Vives (Tremp 1833- Barcelona 1901) and by Sister Encarnación Colomina i Agustí (Os de Balaguer 1848- Barcelona 1916) to address one of the most urgent needs of the 19^th Century: “the training of Christian families through the education of children and youngsters.”

The congregation grew and spread throughout the five continents under the motto “One Nazareth in each home.” Today, Sister Montserrat del Pozo I Rosselló lead it as it consists of 54 educative missions in nine countries, i.e. 27.813 students. The sisters feel “called to recreate Nazareth´s virtues; their family life rests upon love, humbleness, plainness and happiness” (Constituciones, 4).

Our three-dimensional logo represents the three bases upon which our institution rests, namely our conciliatory, quality and innovative teaching; our community formed by teachers, families and students, and our religious vocation.

Bits without borders is an NGO created in 1998 by the Spanish-Cameroonian Delegation of the congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

Why this name for an NGO? The word “bit” means giving specific, accurate and effective help. “Without borders” means reaching third world countries, especially Africa, and applying European Nazareth schooling there.

Bfs becomes a wonderful platform for students to develop their global competencies as well as their solidarity. If you wish to make a donation, you can do so with the following bank account number: 2100 0841 99 02 00665755

http://bitssinfronteras.org/

The first half an hour of each morning is a privileged time in our school. It’s the time when kids come to school to listen, discover and explain new things through prayers, songs, poems and storytelling.

EntusiasMat is an educational and pedagogical project initiated at our school which takes learners from 3 to 12 years old. It is based on the multiple intelligences theory and engages students to work effectively with mathematical concepts.

Basically, EntusiasMat aims at helping students move from concrete to abstract thinking. This is why it uses different strategies to trigger physical and social responses that help learners understand mathematical concepts better.

Ludiletras is a reading-and-writing programme that aims at the neurological development of learners from 3 to 6 years old. It takes language not only as the means to communicate orally and in written form, but also as the means to understand and represent reality; to build up knowledge and to self-manage one’s thinking, feelings and attitude.

Let’s challenge ourselves to learn by combining a linguistic and a global perspective to give as many opportunities as possible to our students.

Project learning helps students conceptualize through activities related to the multiple intelligences and so they develop motor, cognitive, emotional and sociable abilities that will help them share the world in which we live.

The atelier is an experimental lab that employs a variety of tools, textures and techniques. There, students are given different possibilities to express themselves freely while further developing their creativity, their artistic interest and their imagination.

Kids learn to play the violin in the same way as they learn to speak: by listening, absorbing and imitating. In teaching music, we provide the right environment for students to grow emotionally and spiritually.

“The best and most effective way to learn music is to be in touch with it from an early age on”

“The teachers play and the kids win.” The chess programme strengthens intellectuality and creativity to help students acquire problem-solving strategies and abilities.

With the Rhythmic Gymnastics programme students work on breathing, coordination and equilibrium, i.e. the basics of any sport. It is the physical spaces and the many opportunities that leads them to be physically excellent.

From a very early age, students are immersed in a trilingual teaching environment where Spanish, Catalan and English are spoken. In the first two preschool years, one of the tutors will always speak English. When students reach Kindergarten 50% of the lessons will be given in English as there is one English teacher designated per class. Throughout these years students develop mastery in English through games, storytelling, songs, role-plays, etc.

Daily training (the 30 first minutes of the day) offered at all stages in our school that helps them become critical thinkers; it encourages them to actively participate in life and it helps them to enhance decision-making abilities.

These learning experiences engage students in complex, contextualised and significant real-life problems that combine different subjects and through which students get the abilities and knowledge they need to design and create products that meet some social needs. In doing so, they get to develop competencies and knowledge that trigger critical and creative thinking, on the one hand, and team work on the other. It is the student that steers learning; teachers are coaches that help them along the way. Below you will find some examples.

• EARTH PROJECT: Social Sciences and Music (7^th graders)
• STEM PROJECT: Natural sciences, Technology, Robotics and Film (7^th and 8^th graders)
• STEAM PROJECT: Biology, Physics and Chemistry, Technology, Robotics, and Film (9^th graders)
• WITNESSES PROJECT: Civics and Religion (9^th graders)
• ARTISTIC PROJECT: Music, Arts and Crafts (9^th graders)
• HUMANISTIC PROJECT: Social Sciences, Religion and Ethics (10^th graders)
• SCIENTIFIC PROJECT: Biology and Geology, Technology, Physics and Chemistry, Robotics and Arts and Crafts (10^th graders)

Personalized learning of Mathematics which allows students to work at a different pace and different levels using the methods that better fit their learning.

This subject makes students learn from their home city. Every Friday afternoon, from 15:00 to 17:00, together with their teacher and a syllabus, students discover something scientific, artistic and creative in the city in which they live. Students reflect their learning through a Multiple-Intelligences project with an e-learning platform and elaborate a final product using ICT skills.

One hour per week devoted to the learning of audiovisual and filming techniques that help students create and interpret cinematographic text types. All Secondary students do this subject in English.

Drama helps children grow their self-esteem, verbal and non-verbal communicative skills, concentration, lack of inhibition, and empathy through role playing.

One hour per week devoted to research and the application of the scientific method. All Secondary students do this subject in English and at the end of 10^th grade they do a Team Research Project.

In the 10^th grade, students get the opportunity to create their own small business. This helps them learn to assess and understand the social needs in and out their community and thus be able to provide some solutions to these needs. We want students to understand entrepreneurship as a tool to generate a social change, to innovate, to get to know and enhance abilities to become agents of social transformation. This subject is give in English two hours per week.

10^th Graders do EYP one hour per week. This subject offers them a close look at the European political and economical reality, and helps them understand their social and moral responsibility in this context. They work as teams and pass a political resolutions similar to the ones given in a European General Assembly. The ones that show good oral skills and political knowledge get to participate in the European Youth Parliament regional, national and European contests.

This is a special three-day training secondary students attend at some point in the academic year. Such training is chosen around varied subject-matters and implies a change in the timetable for students and teachers. Students of different ages and grades are encouraged to participate in the creation and exposition of a product that somehow is at the service of our (learning) community. Workshops are interdisciplinary and contextualized and so they help teachers to evaluate student competencies.

This is a programme designed for 10^th graders that offers students the possibility to live the day-to-day of a true professional environment (an office, an operation room, a business, TV broadcast studios, etc.) under the supervision of an expert for a few days.

The student-centered teaching model, based on projects and collaborative learning, integrates and requires that which only technology and information processing tools can offer to the contemporary classroom. Students in secondary school use iPads or laptops on a one-to-one basis in order to facilitate equal access to the curriculum, yet differentiated learning for all learners.