The School with Class Foundation is an expert, non-profit organization, based in Warsaw (Poland).
It was founded in October 2015 as a spin-off of the biggest and one of the most successful educational programs in Poland run since 2002.
Our programs help young people to become active and conscious citizens and support the development of XXI century skills We help schools to become open and friendly environments engaged in solving social problems, enhancing diversity, with relations based on mutual trust and respect.
We support teachers and headmasters in their professional development and in developing student’s critical thinking and problem solving skills. We enhance team work, collaboration, social engagement, student’s responsibility in their own learning and their belief in their own capacities.
School with Class has already collaborated with over 9000 schools, 120 000 teachers and a million students. Each year we work with a vast network of schools (over 500 a year) both around Poland and abroad.
We gathered knowledge, competencies, resources and staff enabling us to work with students with a deep insight of the needs of young people in their everyday school and outside-school environment. We keep up to date with innovative methods: among others flipped lesson, peer-teaching, inquiry based learning, design thinking – and introduce them to Polish schools to support students innovation and independence. We developed a strong team of trainers qualified to work both with young people and their teachers. All our materials are published on a Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA 4.0.
The purpose of the School with Class Foundation is to:
Our main programs include:
School with Class 2.0 is a comprehensive school development program, based on design thinking approach, which helps schools to become modern and engaged learning environments. The main goals are to develop students responsibility, enhance empowerment, develop creativity and collaboration. The program supports teachers and directors through on-site trainings, workshops and online coaching for every school. The program operates since 2002, including schools of all educational levels from all over Poland. It has already involved over 9000 schools,120 000 teachers and a million students. The program is financed by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation.
Education Inspiration – grant program that appreciates outstanding teachers from small towns (up to 30 000 inhabitants) and helps them with their professional development. Thanks to the provided funding selected teachers can implement and develop with their students social projects. The grants’ goal is to equalize educational opportunities, arouse interest among students and help them to believe in their own abilities. The program is financed by the EFC Foundation.
Be Internet Awesome is a program is developing a new approach to teaching online safety in Polish schools. It helps children to be more conscious, responsible online citizens. Instead of emphasizing threats and restrictions, it focuses on building young people’s competences and positive attitudes. We provide materials, run trainings and offer webinars for teachers, educators and parents. Through a mini-grant program we encourage young people to make an impactful change in their local community, by planning and running social projects around online safety. The program is run from the google.org funds.
Let’s Play the Fraternity Card is an educational response to growing negative trends including racism, discrimination, and social exclusion. Every year, students from France, Poland, Croatia, Spain, Slovenia and Italy are sending postcards with messages of solidarity to randomly chosen people both from their communities and abroad. Prior to that students are trained in critical thinking and photo analysis, covering cover topics of discrimination, migration, poverty and volunteering. The program offers direct training to teachers, pedagogical materials, and postcards with photos from known European photographers. The program is financed from the European Commission from the Erasmus + program.
Added Value program introduces a new approach to teaching math in European primary schools. It focusies on solving everyday practical problems showing students that maths is everywhere. It helps pupils believe that they can successfully learn and understand maths. The program offers high-quality materials, lesson and project scenarios for teachers. The program is financed from the European Commission from the Erasmus + program.
School with design program supports schools in modernizing their learning environments by actively involving youth in the process of planning and implementing architectural, technological and school relationship changes. We believe that all those three components deeply influence learning, but our goal is also to awaken students’ social awareness and sense of responsibility. We offer schools an intensive individual support: on site trainings and online coaching, and workshops with architects.
Code with Class provides programming and computational skills to primary, middle and high school teachers through access to educational materials, onsite trainings and online support. We have worked already with over 750 teachers across Poland, forming an active on-line community of practice, sharing experiences, ideas for classes and new materials. The main goal of the project is to equip teachers od all educational levels with knowledge, resources and equipment necessary to run a local programming interest club or course. Although currently not active, Code with Class forms a part of the School with Class Foundation core programs.
PE with Class program helps to increase the young people’s physical activity and encouraged them to lead a healthier lifestyle. It supports physical education teachers and inspires them to conduct attractive and innovative PE lessons. Over 3000 schools took already part in the program, 10000 teachers and 400000 students from all over Poland. Although currently not active, PE with Class forms a part of the School with Class Foundation core programs.
