2. Nursery-school (nido d’infanzia): For children between the ages of six months - three years. Infant school (scuola dell’infanzia): For children between the ages of thirty months - six years.

3. INFANT SCHOOL The infant school is the first grade of the school system and is in effect the first form of schooling. It lasts three years, contributing to the educational and emotional psychomotorial, cognitive and social development of boys and girls. The infant school may enrol children who turn three years by the 30 th of April of the school year

4. What infant school is “ infant school is a social and educational service of public interest for all children between the ages of three and six. It aims at children’ s growth, in a place that garantees the right to education, respecting individual, cultural and religious identity.

5. Aims of the infant school “The infant school aims at: training children in socialization, in order to help their psycophysical well-being, and to develop their abilities in knowledge and social attitudes; Child care, involving adults other than parents in a context outside the family; supporting families in child care and in educational choices.”

6. infant school management “Educational services for infants” are managed by: a) The state b) public subjects or bodies authorized by the state; c) Religious bodies

7. Infant school opening times They are usually open for eight or nine hours a day from Monday to Friday. They open the third week of September and close at the end of June.

8. TYPICAL DAY 8-9.30 entrance 9.30 -9.45 snack with fruit or yoghurt 9.45- 10 routine activities (calendar, conversation, sing a song, story-telling) 10- 11.45 laboratories 12-13 lunch 13- 14 free games in large room or garden 14-15.30 organized activities - board games 15.30- 16 go home

9. Tasks of the Staff “Staff are responsible for child care and education and for relationships with families. “Staff work in teams, closely cooperating with families, in order to garantee uninterrupted educational activities.

10. Indication for the curriculum Pedagogical, educational and functional identity is defined by the National Indications for the curriculum. “ For each child, pre-school aims at developing identity, autonomy, competence, social responsibility and the concept of national identity.” These definitions help to regulate goals, educational- didactic proposals and field esperienze.

11. Educational-didactic proposals “Pre-school sets up educational and didactic proposals allowing children to empirically explore and discover the surrounding world through a specific curriculum. There is also a more formal curriculum made of factors that define the learning field and make it clear and at once recognizable...”

12. The place “The place must be comfortable, warm, tidy; it must express the pedagogical and educational choices of each school. It’s a place that is structured around the children who live there, that considers their importance, their need to play, move, express themselves, whether they want to feel alone or socialize.”

13. NATIONALITY OUR GOALS IDENTITY. AUTONOMY CREATIVITY ABILITY

14. Fields of experience 1. The self and the other: the basic questions, the moral sense, living together. 2. body movement: identity, autonomy, health. 3. Languages, creativity, expression: gestures, art, music, multimedia. 4. Speech and words: communication, language, culture. 5. world knowledge : order, measure, space, time, nature.

15. Primary School Corresponds to elementary school and lasts 5 years. Primary school is compulsory. It can enrol children who have not yet reached 6 years of age but who will have by 30 April of the school year. Attendance and textbooks are free.

16. ORGANIZATION School in modules with 24 or27 or 30 hours per week school full time with hours of 40 hours per week The number of pupils intended for each class, should be generally not greater than 25 and not less than 10. When the class contains a pupil with special needs, the total must not exceed of 20. Primary school is one of the places where "training for basic social development of the personality of the child occurs".

17. SUBJECTS The compulsory subjects specified by ministerial programmes are: Italian, at least one European language, mathematics, science, history, geography, social studies, art, sound and music,physical education, literacy and (religion optional). At the end of training there are no final exams to go on to secondary school.

18. Primary school projects Incontriamoci: a parents’ cooking day with multicultural food Adozione a distanza: sponsorship of children(e.g. South Africa) Biblioteca in rete: school library on the web Animazione: making of cartoons Scuola a colori: painting walls and classroom Imparo l’opera: opera for children Sportello di ascolto: Counselling service with a psychologist for parents

19. Primary school laboratories <making science toys Playing with language, drama and role playing games Making creative objects with waste material. Through various creative activities organized in laboratories, each child is given the opportunity to experiment and have different kinds of learning experiences. As children become more familiar with the materials and tools, they are be able to use them to communicate their questions, ideas, understanding, emotions. This communication or “creative” language will open up new possibilities for conversation, elaboration, taking perspective and working together.

20. Lower secondary school Corresponds to the current Middle School and lasts 3 years Pupils attend school for thirty hours per week. Some schools distribute the timetable from Monday to Friday, excluding Saturday and Sunday and considering the hour 55 minutes. (eg. from 8.00 to 13.30). Some other schools have a frequency of 5 hours daily from Monday to Saturday. Others last five hours per day with re- entries in the afternoon.

21. Programmes Programmes include Italian language and literature, geography, history, civics, two of the European languages, maths, science, I.T., art, music, P.E. and R.E.(non-compulsory). Many schools independently organise afternoon activities. These may include language courses to improve literacy or Italian lessons for foreign students to help them integrate more rapidly.

22. First cycle ends The first school cycle ends with a state exam for admission to the following level. Pupils choose the higher level of schooling according to their particular aims and talents but the choice they make will not necessarily limit their choice of Further education.

23. Secondary education Upper secondary education (ages 14-19) is divided into 2 basic kinds of school: Licei or High Schools Schools providing more vocationally orientated education Both paths can lead to further education, whether at university, art, music or dance academies, further vocational training or serve as an introduction to the world of work.

24. University The Italian university system has been reformed to conform to the European model and now is basically divided in two levels, (basic degree followed by a specialisation 3+2 years) thereby permitting greater job mobility within Europe.