Poland
Our school Zespół Szkół Nr 7 is located in Gdynia, a modern port city by the Baltic Sea in northern Poland. Our home town is located near the historical city called Gdańsk and Sopot which is a popular resort. Gdańsk Sopot and Gdynia are well-known in Poland as Tricity. There is a very good transportation system with local trains, trams and buses which makes travelling in Tricity really convenient for everybody. A lot of people come here to study or work.
The school is divided into a middle school and a primary school with additional kindergarten classes. There are 800 students altogether whose ages vary from 5 to 16, and 77 teachers. The school is 77 years old with a long teaching tradition. It’s been in our district called Witomino since 1935. In addition to regular classrooms, there are three computer rooms, a library, a canteen, a swimming pool and a common room for smaller children. The school is open until evening as the students take part in after school activities. We run sports club, as well as drama, biology, chemistry, photography, tourist and many others. Last year our primary school was on a short list of 10 top schools in Tricity. With the years it has become an important center for our local community.
Among our students we have some with behavioral problems such as ADHD and ADD, as well as auditory or visual disorders. Some of them come from poor or single-parent families. The school provides them with free lunches and textbooks. There are also some pupils with learning disorders, mainly dyslexia. We cater to their individual needs, offering them extra lessons. At the same time, we adhere to a policy of inclusion. We try to teach our students to help the needy. We have been cooperating with a small village school in Czerniewo for ten years. Our students collect money to pay for school lunches for poor village children and send them packages with food and clothing at Christmas. They travel to Czerniewo then to invite the children to visit Gdynia. This way our children get a chance to see a small village life and can show the others the town life.