When each academic year starts, we listen to parents and students’ wishes and requirements as regards the activities complementing the teaching syllabus and the work done by our Character Formation/Training Department.
These are normally stable activities at the school:

This is something in which our daily lives are increasingly involved, a tool required for any activity.
Classes in multimedia, video-conferences with exchange schools and participation in European technology schemes are customary aspects of life at the school.

It is vital to master a community language apart from one’s own mother tongue, and this always tends to be English. Since it becomes more difficult to learn as one gets older it is advisable for the pupil to become familiar with English from increasingly younger ages.
English (secondary).
Every year the students of the last year of secondary studies have a week’s linguistic immersion at a specialised centre.

Television, video games etc. mean that people read less and less all the time, and this can end up in comprehension problems. Fostering the taste for reading is something that will avoid school failure, quite apart from enriching your children. Those who read better will study better and understand better.

This boosts mental agility and helps to acquire structured thought, qualities that are highly important in areas of mathematics and physics, and in general to tackle problems of everyday life.

The experience of preparing students for University Access exams is vouched for by our students’ annual success. Part of this is due to this course, which involves the best study methods, key facets for distributing time between subjects and in general the most appropriate way to tackle this last obstacle before accessing university studies.

Dance is the art of expressing emotions with the aid of rhythmic body movements.
Jaques Dalcroze.

• Ballet.
  Ballet is classical dancing where musical harmony and body technique nourish the soul and satisfy the body. It develops coordination, the sense of rhythm and the taste for music, at the same time as cultivating the spirit of sacrifice.
  
• Aerobic.
  A gymnastic technique with musical accompaniment, based on the control of breathing rhythm, very healthy. It fosters the taste for sports and music, the development of the sense of rhythm, coordination and in general a well-ordered lifestyle.
  
• Spanish dance (secondary).
  This is our own dance, part of our own secular culture. It is great fun, gives great satisfaction on a personal level and broadens horizons of social relations.
  
• Funky (secondary).
  Today’s dancing, also the most widespread kind, for all kinds of people and concerns, from musicals to the most modern sort going today.
  
• Rhythmic gymnastics.
  Gymnastic discipline based on the synchronisation of the body and technique under choreographic direction accompanied by music.
  

• Judo.
  Fosters self-control, self-esteem and the acceptance of oneself.
  At the same time it helps to regulate the balance between body and mind. It is one of the activities that has been a tradition here for longest.
  
• Skiing.
  Each month of January, with the Physical Education teacher, the school arranges different level ski courses at a Catalan Pyrenees resort.
  
• Indoor soccer
  
• Hockey
  
• Baseball
  
• Sailing.
  

This covers any accidents occurring during the school year both at the School itself and on group transport arranged by the Centre for any activity, as well as transport from the home to the school and vice-versa. Its quota is yearly and its cost is passed on in the October bill.

In the event of illness or accident, except where there are serious symptoms, the school will get in touch with the family telephone numbers as instructed on enrolment so that the family themselves can take their child to the Medical Centre after picking him or her up at school.

On the School notice board there is a list of treatment centres which can be used, taking the slip that you will always be given at reception.

Expressly covers Civil Liability for pupils.

OBLIGATORY SCHOOL INSURANCE (3rd and 4th year of E.S.O. and Bachillerato).

School insurance services are applied for by official forms which are supplied at the Social Security Centres for Attention and Information (CAISS) and the Urban and County Agencies of this Institution, where any doubts that you may have can be cleared up either in person or in writing. Each form has details on the back with the minimum formal requisites that have to be complied with.

The assistance given by SCHOOL INSURANCE is as follows:

SCHOOL ACCIDENTS: full medical-pharmaceutical assistance, hospital stay, surgical operations and economic compensation in the event of invalidity or death, depending on the circumstances.
Such an accident will be understood to mean the sort occurring through activities connected solely with their status as student.

TUBERCULOSIS: Both pulmonary and osseous forms, including hospital stay with medical-pharmaceutical assistance for hospital treatment of at most three years.

SURGERY. This assistance should be applied for prior to the date of the operation, except in cases of emergency, when acknowledgement of the right may be requested, within three months from the date of the insured’s hospital discharge.

NEUROPSYCHIATRY: For cases of schizophrenia, drug addiction and serious psychopathic disorder with hospital stay and for at most one year outpatient’s assistance or with this, for at most six months, with the possibility of an extension in both cases.

FAMILY MISFORTUNE: Through the death of the head of the family or the collapse of the family economy. It will entitle the student to aid for the number of academic years remaining for the pupil to complete their studies. This service should be requested each school year as Extension of Family Misfortune, until the completion of studies.

REHABILITATION: This includes the costs of functional rehabilitation when this is prescribed, as a result of school accident or surgery, with a general limit of 30 sessions.

The school has hired the services of FORPAX and COSPA. The first deals with the enquiries of any student or their parents, guides the assessment sessions and applies the recovery means required for the pupils most in need. The second carries out different examinations on all courses and especially in changes of cycle and for new students.

According to ages and levels different activities are programmed (early stimulation, study techniques, etc.) throughout the school year. The quota is annual and its cost will be passed on in the October bill.

Regardless of what might be done in our classrooms, the normal case is for the school to detect the problem and the treatment be given at an institution freely chosen by the family and at its own expense.

The menus are cooked at the centre by a mixed staff of its own personnel and a subcontracted company.

The menus are drawn up based on Dietetic Guides and Recommendations established by higher bodies, through which the nutritional requirements are estimated, avoiding any misguided habits and tendencies as far as possible. An attempt is made to distribute energy between the different immediate principles following the WHO recommendations.

Samples are regularly and unexpectedly taken of the different dishes forming the menu, and analysed to guarantee the absence of pathogens as well as to ensure that our menus comply with Health Technical Regulations.

The school Dining Room runs from September to June, and from October to May covers the period of time between the completion of morning classes and the start of the afternoon ones. The amount due is made known at the beginning of the year and is charged in 8 monthly bills which are calculated by dividing the sum of all the days in the school year with dining room facilities by eight, which is why the monthly amounts are the same although the number of days with meals may vary from one month to another. This is not the case of September and June, whose amount is proportional to the working days of each of these two months.

The centre has a safeguarding service available to the Infants and Primary education pupils from 8 to 9 in the morning. In September and June this also runs at midday from 13 to 14 hours.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas is the celebration at which Jesus Christ’s birth is commemorated. At school we have all our pupils take part in this event with different activities which allow us to combine the spiritual side with the academic. There is a Christmas card competition, one for carols, collection of food, hospital, old people’s homes and orphanage visits, etc. at which we learn to value what we have and devote a little of our time to others.

The carol competition is also a good chance to get together with former students who continue to have fond memories of the school.

FESTIVAL OF OUR LADY OF CANDELARIA (2nd February).

LENT, HOLY WEEK AND THE FESTIVAL OF RESURRECTION

Lent starts with the imposition of ashes (symbol of conversion), Ash Wednesday. To prepare Holy Week different talks are given to the students by certain parents, for example on the time of Lent, Holy Week etc. Stress is given to these aspects at the Religion class by viewing films and documentaries of a religious nature. Friday abstinence is observed in the dining room.

MONTH OF MAY: PROCESSIONS

Processions to different Marian points of the city are now traditional. Flower centres are offered (as a gift from the pupils) to Our Lady. At the school the smaller children give flowers daily to the School Virgin presiding over the chapel.

SACRAMENT OF PENANCE

The preparation and continuity of this Sacrament (forgiveness for sins committed after Baptism) is experienced in the school in two phases:

Pupils are prepared for confession prior to their First Communion. This is a festival of forgiveness. The ceremony is held accompanied by the parents in our oratory.

During the school year the chaplain regularly comes to the school to administer this to any students who so wish.

SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

The preparation and continuity of this Sacrament is also handled in two phases:

The preparation for the First Communion is led by catechists who reinforce the teaching given by teachers in the classroom. The First Communion is given at a community event arranged by the centre.

The Holy Mass, celebrated at the School Chapel, is an occasion for all the pupils to take part in and consequently live their Faith.

SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION

The preparation of this Sacrament (Grace of the Holy Spirit to establish us more deeply in divine filiation) is done throughout the 3rd and 4th ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education) years; although the students of the centre on higher courses can also join in this preparation. During the school year several catechists assist the students outside the classroom.

In the month of June at the Cathedral, the Most Reverend Bishop lays his hands on these children.

OPENING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR

Each school year is opened with two events, one religious and another academic:

• The "MASS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT" by means of which we ask for the spiritual and intellectual help of the Holy Spirit for the pupils, and to give a Christian sense to the teaching year.
  
• and the "YEAR OPENING " held in the assembly room in the presence of the higher years and presided over by an academic authority.
  

FESTIVAL OF THE SCHOOL VIRGIN

The Thursday prior to the feast of “Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados” there is a Eucharist in the School Chapel held by the chaplain and sung by former pupil members of the University Choir. It is attended by the President and members of the Board of Governors, contributors and friends of the Gran Asociación, teaching staff and representatives of parents and pupils of the centre. There is a special remembrance of those who passed away in the year and a request for each person’s particular intentions, placing these under the Virgin’s Mantle.

Afterwards there is a reception in the School assembly rooms.

GRADUATION CEREMONY

Each year at the end of the course there is the traditional Ceremony of Graduation and scholarship awards to pupils completing their studies.

This is a solemn meeting at which there is a joint celebration of what is in fact an individual achievement but in whose attainment relatives, teachers and companions have all been involved. These are all actors in this solemn and emblematic event which is always presided over by academic authorities, one of these being chosen to act as patron for the promotion graduating.

FALLAS

Gran Asociación-Colegio is geographically located in the part of the city where the Fallas Festivities are most intensely experienced.

Over the days prior to these holidays, the students carry out a full programme of a Falla festival: "llibret", "ofrena", "plantà del monumento", "mascletà" and "cremà" (caption book, offering, setting up the monument, fireworks and burning the Falla).

FAMILY DAY

A day for getting together with all the members of the Education Community (parents, teachers and pupils) at which the latter prepare some of their daily activities in a special way.