The 6th state primary school of Patras (6DIMPAT) is located in the city centre of Patras, the third largest city of Greece. Its port connects Greece with the rest of Europe as a bridge for tourist and commercial activities. Our school is an ‘integrative and inclusive’ school with 200 students; it is located in an inner city area with relatively low living standards. There are a large number of economic migrants mostly coming from Albania and Eastern Europe as well as other students from underprivileged families. Migrants mostly speak their native language at home so they hardly speak and understand Greek. Students with learning problems are also welcomed; there is a special class where these students are invited for support while attending their class school timetable. 6DIMPAT is an all day school, including students with kinetic disability, autism, learning difficulties, orphans and other difficulties. The main scope of work is focused on inclusion, quality in education, innovation, use of ICT, critical thinking and life learning competences. The social status of our students” families varies. Some come from highly educated families whereas others lack basic knowledge and opportunities. Also the impact from the specific social context is much greater as for example unemployed parents with their children to stay within the school until late following the all day school programme and activities. Furthermore, there are many immigrants communities in the area due to the South Port of Patras area very close to the school location. The school is on the boarder of the city centre with great differences in regard to clean streets and pedestrian roads, including lack of accessibility despite the increased number of students with accessibility difficulties compared to the other part of the city. Therefore, our students do not have the same educational opportunities as with other Greek schools; the socio economic European crisis is one of the reasons our students’ families experience difficulties. The school also has a modern IT room with an interactive board for he teachers to engage the students in the learning activities.
Hence, one of the main objectives of the school is to embrace culture and support for the students and their learning and socio-cultural needs throughout the study course. Consequently, a sense of community belonging and active citizenship are enabled and supported with the school community as well as the local and regional communities; diverse participatory learning and collaborative as well as socially-inclusive activities on a school, local and regional level are, and not limited to: cultural inclusion, ecological and environmental projects, health related learning activities, creativity and innovation, online games development. Everyday news about the problems in Europe as for example Ukraine, are also included because the students still have families connections with regular visits. The European identity is therefore stressed and enhanced throughout authentic activities due to the diverse European nationality of a large number of students coming from the different European countries. As such, innovative pedagogical, teaching and learning approaches have been implemented on individual, group and community levels, intercultural learning, creativity and innovation based on diversity, cultural projects targeted on citizenship. Therefore, the 6DIPAT teachers are highly qualified professionals with special interests in the inclusive culture and support. In result, the teaching staff is fully equipped with knowledge, skills and competences as with all Greek school as well as areas of specific expertise such as critical thinking, innovation, creative writing, emphasise on the effort and progress of individual, community of practice between teachers, between students, between the whole school community and the local community as well as the broader Greek teachers communities for best practices dissemination.
6DIMPAT quality system used includes the following: electronic automation; self-assessment within the community of practice via collective decision making; enhancing the expertise of every school teacher; as the national Greek evaluation system does not exist, there was a need to enable internal processes such as action research, case studies and in-school evaluation indicators jointly decided according to the needs; measure the effectiveness of teaching practices so to improve student performance; take into account a multidimensional matrix such as the socio-economical context, past performances and effort, internal and external motivation etc.