COMPREHENSIVE INSTITUTE OF BETTOLA

ADDRESS: via Nogent sur Marne, 8 - 29021 Bettola (Pc) Italy

TYPE OF SCHOOL: Nursery, Primary, Secondary 1° grade
NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 283
NUMBER OF TEACHERS: 55
FOREIGN LANGUAGES TAUGHT: English, French

The Comprehensive Institute of Bettola, comprises five schools situated in three different villages of the Upper Nure Valley, the names of which are Bettola, Farini and Ferriere. The seat of the Institute is located in Bettola, a small village with a population of about 3.500 inhabitants, crossed by the Nure river, in a hilly countryside about 30 kilometres from Piacenza (Emilia Romagna). In Bettola a Primary School and a 1st grade Secondary School are present; in Ferriere there is a Nursery School, a Primary School and a 1st grade Secondary School; a Nursery School, a Primary School and a 1st grade Secondary School are in Farini. Farini is a small village which lots of immigrants returning from abroad and several holiday makers animate in the summer time. During winter only few people live there.

The district of Farini also comprises the small village of Groppallo, a small inhabited place at 1000 metres on the sea level where a Nursery School and a Primary School can be found. Ferriere is a small mountain village as well, with few pupils. Groppallo, Farini and Ferriere have been considered depressed areas for several years and in such seats the didactic activity suffers from the school organization which is articulated in multi-classes. The youth living in these villages are particularly disadvantaged because they can't rely on cultural and recreative centers: the only place which gives them growth opportunities is school. In the various seats some laboratories during the afternoons have already been organized, in order to let the children spend more time at school doing stimulating activities. For some pupils the time to cover the way from home to school is long, beyond the possible difficulty in winter to reach the school seats due to abundant snow.

In the Institute classes some disable children are present, for whom supporting teachers are provided. Since 2004 our Comprehensive Institute has been developing educational projects inside the European programme Comenius.

In school year 2007/2008 a twinning has started with "Ecole Bradfer/St. Jean Baptiste" in Bar le Duc (France) and with the Institute "Tabasalu Uhisgumnaasium" in Tabasalu (Estonia).