Escuela Laboratorio in San José

The school is a public school founded in 1960. It cooperates with the UCR (University of Costa Rica) and it is financially supported by the MEP (Public Education Ministry of Costa Rica). Within its philosophy, the principles of freedom with responsibility, the child as an integral being and respect for nature and life stand out. Its main aims concerning the students are: - Learning for life (technology, individual learning based on each student’s interests, intellectual formation by awakening the students’ interest in reading books). - Responsibly realising personal liberty (developing critical, analytical, creative and innovative thinking, working in teams, independence, open communication, conflict management, providing spaces for self-reflection). - The students’ relation with the environment (developing conscience for the ecology, physical and emotional development in nature). Three different programmes form the school: - Basic Programme (5-7 years-old) - Intermediate Programme (8-10 years-old) - Final Programme (11 and 12 years-old). In addition to the regular classes, they offer activities such as theatre classes, excursions, workshops for parents and families, multicultural festivals and games. The team consists of the director, administrators, security staff, teachers, specifically trained teachers (music, arts, sports and technology), and the librarian. They communicate intensely with the families based on mutual respect in order to include them in their sons’ and daughters’ wellbeing and educational process, to let them understand the institutional backgrounds and, on the other hand, to receive the parents’ support for the maintenance of the school. This goal is reached by means of a focus on hybrid and virtual communication, to keep the families updated about the educational improvement. Important to mention the strong connection with the UCR (University of Costa Rica), with which the school collaborates in pedagogical subjects, innovation and investigation processes, psychology, nursery and orientation processes. Therefore, there are usually university students completing their internships. The Extra fee indicated covers a period of 4 WEEKS, and includes: - Transfer from the airport to a hostel in San Jose. - Two nights in a hostel in San Jose, breakfast included. - Orientation day, a day in which we give a cultural introduction to Costa Rica, safety and transportation recommendations, directions to the project and a tour of San Jose with lunch included. - Accommodation and meals at the project. This program has flexible dates depending on the availability of the project, with flexibility from one month (4 weeks) to 4 months, but this includes an additional fee to the indicated fee.

Volunteers will be picked up at the airport.

SJO

We meet the volunteers at the airport exit.