This public school is located in Puerto Ayora, the capital of the island Santa Cruz.  The school currently has 420 pupils between the ages of 4 to 12 years old.  There are a total of 16 classes, two per grade.  Each class has one general classroom teacher who teaches all main subjects and then there are a few specialised teachers in English, Art and Sport who don’t have their own class as instead they rotate around all the classrooms teaching their specialised subject.     

This school is the only school in all of the Galapagos Islands that offers education for children with mental and physical disabilities.  There are three separate classrooms offering education to children with special needs.  

The school has a garden play area, sports area and a snack shop where children can buy something to eat in their break time.   

VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES  

Volunteers are needed to help in the following activities:  

• English classes, the English teachers always needs help with preparing lessons, finding new materials such as English songs as well as practicing conversational English with volunteers to help pronunciation.
• Classroom assistant, all of the teachers need help in their classrooms, preparing lessons, helping with activities, assisting children who are slower than others
• Art/Sport lessons – if you are very interested in these subjects you are more than welcome to help the teachers give these lessons and come up with new ideas.
• At the moment the school does not have a music teacher so if you can help by preparing and giving music lessons the school would really appreciate it.
• The special needs classes also need help as the teachers could always do with an extra pair of hands.  

Additional activities:

When we have big groups of volunteers or a few volunteers at any time we can always plan mini projects for you to carry out in the school.  Recently the school garden was improved by volunteers and parents who planted trees and built a play area for children to use during the break.  However the ground is rocky and these rocks have to be removed in order to let the children play safely. 
Other mini-projects could include:

• A theatre, art or music project
• Painting or maintenance of classrooms
• Construction work
• Maintaining the garden and play area
• A sports eventPainting a mural on a school wall
• Help to construct an appropriate water system as the school often has problems with its running water supply.

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