Centro Educativo Italio-Svizzero (CEIS)

Centro Educativo Italio-Svizzero (CEIS) School (www.ceis.rn.it)

 The CEIS school was established in 1946 in Rimini, Italy after WWII. With the town in ruins,  the mayor of the town, Arturo Clari, asked for help from everywhere. Switzerland send Margherita Zoeli, who founded the school. It is fashioned from wooden barracks from the Swiss army. 
Children and staff call CEIS "Il Villaggio" (The Village). The community school served as the hub of the community, offering 'furniture packs' (consisting of two wooden beds, a table and four stools a cupboard, pots and pans, plates and cutlery, and also offered workshops on carpentry, tailoring, and shoemaking to preserve the dignity of the population.



The focus of CEIS is to educate all children. The philosophy is inspired by progressive pedagogic theories (Freinet, Cousinet, Froebel, Laporta, Borghi, De Bartolomeis); education is rooted in the concrete - it must be practical and part of the daily life of children. 



La Betulla is an afternoon group that focuses on social skills to address self-confidence and personal responsibility. The Dyslexia Lab (one of the first in Italy) was established in the 70s and works directly with children in middle and high school, and conducts seminars and workshops for educators. il Centro Stampa (print centre) employs young adults with disabilities teaching them office skills. CEIS also houses Pedagogical Park for Active Education is a library for pedagogical studies. CEIS is part of EducAid, non-governmental organization for the International cooperation in the Socio-Educational Field, founded in 2000 with Il Millepiedi and Tanaliberatutti, both social cooperatives of the Province. 

In both the kindergarten (ages 2 to 5 years) and a primary school (6 to 11 years) learning is a joyful process, which involves "the body, mind and feelings, and allows children to learn from trial and error" (www.ceis.rn.it). Learning is a shared experience and opportunity to discover diversity. The pre-nursery school (2-year-olds) has one classroom of 24 children; the nursery school uses mixed age grouping, with a maximum of 28 kids per class; the primary school has 10 classes (2 classes per grade of 17-23 children). All classes have 1-2 children with special needs (a support teacher is provided for every 4 identified children, including children with severe disabilities) 

The Diamond Kite Project is a model developed to support children through full inclusion and active education. This approach views children as curious, critical, creative citizens. "I care" involves children in active participation in the community, while teaching them responsibility through project work; "I am" focuses on the development of recognizing their contribution and building a positive identify; "I can" supports children to develop skills, experience success and build competence through a supportive environment; "I share" focuses on building social skills through interaction, peer-to-peer support/tutoring, mutual help and group work. 

There is great care to create beautiful, inspiring environments. Children's work is displayed throughout the indoor and outdoor spaces.




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