Every parent desires their children to become an individual capable of standing on their feet. However, in order to do so, the little ones need to realize their full potential.
Such a realization will equip them with knowledge and skills and will render them confident and capable enough to take the matter in their own hands. And to help the curious minds, we need institutes which can push their limits and inculcate habits and values that will guide them throughout the journey of their life.
An example of such would be British Prince School, which helps its pupils to discover their inner strength and creates a strong foundation for their individual personalities.
British Prince was founded in 1988 originally as a Spanish kindergarten and then became a Spanish-English bilingual kindergarten which it remained until 2005. For the next couple of years, the school went through extensive renovations and was reopened in 2007 with 2 students and 2 teachers. In September of that year, after launching an outstanding summer camp, British Prince opened its first full class of 15 students. To this day, the school provides a family-oriented environment, focussing on a community-led approach to learning.
The school aims to provide a British education of the highest quality by using a safe, happy, familiar, positive, and stimulating learning environment with rich and colorful experiences both inside and outside of the classroom.
Framework Designed for Development
Located 20 km from the heart of Madrid in the suburb of Las Rozas, British Prince is built over an area of 4,000 sq. meters. It comprises of 4 main buildings and expansive playground facilities.
The school has a designated football pitch and basketball court which are used during playtimes and sports classes. It has a gardening area where the children are not only invited to get involved in growing fruits and vegetables but also consume these nutrient-rich foods as part of a healthy, home-cooked lunch.
The school restricts the size of each classroom to 15 children allowing for a more personalized approach to teaching and learning.
A Passionate Persona
“Nothing worthwhile is ever achieved without deep thoughts and hard work.” This quote couldn’t be held truer for Paloma Lopez, Director of British Prince. Paloma’s vision since taking over the British Prince in 2007 has been to innovate local education, using personal touches, and creating a fun and stimulating environment. Her mother, believing in her daughter’s vision, acted as a school chef in the initial days of the school.
Today, Paloma’s sedulousness has resulted in the development of the most conducive learning surroundings for students. She has been consistently holding on to the high standards of the school for the betterment of both the staff and pupils. Since then, the school has grown from humble beginnings to become one of the prominent British primary schools in the country.
Paloma strives to broaden students’ horizons with the school curriculum. Under her leadership, the school has placed importance on artistic education, incorporating ‘Music and Movement’ as a compulsory dance/music/drama for all years from nursery. This has allowed British Prince School to push the boundaries within the Spanish school sector and has provided ample space for creative development for each pupil.
Paloma firmly believes in honesty and transparency and has a direct approach across the board. It has given staff, children and families a sense of trust and a clear understanding of ideas, methods and future projection that Paloma has for the school and the community that has been established within it. Paloma describes herself as a professional, familiar, and an individual who is deeply passionate about education. These attributes of her have propelled British Prince become the renowned primary school it is today.
Encouraging Active Learning
Using investigation and curiosity as its springboard, British Prince encourages students to explore the world around them and their learning environment both inside and outside of the school. Having a strong sense of community, children and families alike are always enthusiastic to get involved in project-based work, outreach programmes such as working with special educational needs associations or working with homes for the elderly.
British Prince shows its students real-life applications and implications of their learning which helps to keep the pupils’ curiosity ignited. It results in investigating a subject to its fullest extent and gives them endless opportunities to extend their learning both inside and outside the classroom.
Growing with its Pupils
Having expanded from Early Years into Primary education (now catering for children from 18 months – 11 years old), British Prince School is growing year on year. In the summer of 2019, the school built two eco-friendly classrooms equipped with the latest in SMART interactive whiteboard technology. It plans to build on-site sports facilities and an indoor pool for the coming years. Also the school is aiming to improve its current infrastructure. Although expanding, the school still maintains a one-form entry policy and promotes an environment where each student is seen and valued as an individual, with their strengths, who form a part of a team.
British Prince has developed a true sense of community while growing alongside its students. Alongside its pupils, the school has a strong relationships amongst families invited at the beginning of each academic year to come.
When asked about a message for the young minds and their guardians across the world, Paloma asserted, “Don’t just dream it BE IT! Coming together is the beginning, keeping together is a progress, working together is a success, so jump aboard our magic ship and lets set sail towards a horizon of great and magical adventures.”
Words of Trust
“I really like this school because the teachers are very nice and our classrooms are really comfortable to work in as we have lots of space to do different things. In our classes we learn a lot and we work and play at the same time, like in our maths classes with Eduten where we get to play maths games online and learn as we go. We have so much fun every day!” – Robert, aged 8
“I love the school´s food, it´s delicious… also playing with my friends finding treasures in the playground and learning my letters singing and dancing!” – George, aged 4
“ I really like this school for loads of reasons but what I like the best are the classes and
Teachers. My favourite subjects are maths and science because we learn about the world around us, such as fractions which help us in our lives like with cutting cakes and in science we learn how things work! We’ve learnt about the water cycle and now I understand why it rains!”
– Daniela, aged 7
“ I like this school because we learn different languages, even German. We also get to help with things such as our school pet rabbit, who we take care of every day by feeding him. Our extra classes are really interesting too, we get to learn things like robotics – last week we were even using drones in the class!”
– Tiziano, aged 9