Our School Policy
LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER, BUILDING_BRIDGES AND THE BROAD SCHOOL COMMUNITY
Learning to live together
The teaching programme of the GO! Royal Athenaeum is based on the Pedagogical Project of the GO! Education of the Flemish Community. It is based on a pluralistic approach and complies with the Universal Human Rights, in particular those children.
GO! is optimally committed to the total development of the child, both in terms of knowledge, personality, social skills and attitudes.By teaching knowledge and respect for one’s own and others’ cultures and by encouraging an open dialogue, an atmosphere of mutual respect is created at our school that is enriching and stimulating. This positive appreciation defines our school’s culture.
Our School Policy is based on 3 pillars.
Learning to live together, Building_Bridges and the Broad School Community.
The first pillar, Learning to live together, is based on a cycle of four universal themes that run like a thread through the school years and across the subjects. Important policy options are linked to these themes.
TIME
Time is not only relative, but also culture-bound and subjective, because everyone deals with time differently.
We enter into dialogue about this and work on it in a truancy project, a study planning project and in focussing on the conscientious use of time.
CHOICE
Choices are important for everyone. Every choice has its consequences. Everyone has his or her reasons for making a choice.
To choose oneself is to take responsibility. Our pupils are encouraged to make their personal as well as study choices according to their abilities, interests and special skills.
SPACE
You need space to grow up and function, especially in a big city.
For us, the letters of the word “space” (“ruimte” in Dutch) stand for respect, uniqueness, initiative, courage, talent and honesty. We work on the basis of human values, starting from the pupils’ self-image. Then we expand to the relationship with others, forming an image of humanity and finally obtaining a vision of the world: a world view.
PEOPLE
The pupil – as a human being – is of paramount importance at our warm-hearted school.
Our mission is to educate young people to be tolerant and universal citizens of the world. To teach them to always engage into dialogue in order to co-exist which inherently implies respect and acceptance of everyone’s individuality. In conclusion, we examine how we, despite all these differences, acknowledge our responsibility as world citizens.
ATHENA-SYNTAX: A DIALOGUE BETWEEN WORLD VIEWS, SCIENCE AND ART
At our school we engage in an interfaith dialogue.
During these conversations, co-existence, interdependence and unshakeable, binding universal values stand central. The teachers of the various religions, ethics, sciences and arts enter into this dialogue with our pupils through various projects under the heading Athena-syntax. Art functions as a unifier in order to make difficult themes open to debate.
Building_Bridges
A second important pillar of our policy is ‘Building_Bridges’ (Over-bruggen), in which we focus on educational career counselling, the use of language, mathematics, STEAM and individual learning paths. We do so to optimise the intake, progress and outflow of our students and to develop their talents to their best. We are strongly committed to innovative education and digitalisation. We promote not only the flow within the various educational levels, but also the flow to college or university and the labour market.
We elaborate this pillar in different policy choices:
Four in a line
An intense cooperation between the third grade of primary school and the first grade of secondary school.
Discovering your talents
A project in the first grade, in which pupils discover their talents and learn to make better choices.
A+ for languages
A structured language policy and tailor-made language modules. Every teacher is a language teacher in our school; we strongly focus on multilingualism.
Rummikub
Optimising maths curricula through innovative tools, individual and challenging maths pathways.
Battleship
All the economic courses work together under the rubric of the study course ‘Port Trade Hinterland’. They are linked to the port sector and to the city of Antwerp as the engine of the Flemish economy.
The Game of Life
Optimising the choice of study and career throughout the entire learning process.
Duplo
Innovation is looking into the future. Together, we build sustainable educational innovation and guarantee quality education tailored to each pupil.
Erasmus+
International internships and work visits, for both pupils and teachers.
“Live your dream, discover your talents!”
A Broad School Community
The GO Royal Athenaeum is a broad schoolcommunity . This means that we work together with governments, companies, organisations, neighbours, parents... Together with these partners we draw the social map and ensure the personal development of our pupils.
In the school, we have an open democratic culture where participation and consultation are central.
From Toddler to Global Citizen
As a mini-society, we constantly make the link with the neighbourhood, the city and the international community by organising activities both inside and outside the school, together with our network of external partners.
Because a school is only a bridge on the road to adulthood, to the real world. Our ultimate goal is to form ‘global citizens’, worthy of a city like Antwerp.
