CEIP Divino Maestro it’s an Infant and Primary school located in Los Molinos, and provides education for about 300 pupils aged 3 to 12.
CEIP Divino Maestro is a Pre-school and Primary school located in Los Molinos and it provides education to about 300 students aged 3-12 years old.

We are the only school in Los Molinos. There are two Nursery schools nearby which provide education to children between 0 and 3. We keep close contact with both.

We are thrilled by challenges and new learning opportunities and we are looking forward to embarking on new projects that can lead us to a better teaching practice and therefore to a better learning experience for our pupils. Our team is enriched by both professionals with broad experience in teaching and by young teachers full of energy, illusion and dynamism.

We work hard at providing a global education to our pupils, offering a variety of activities regarding the nature that surround us as well as cultural visits, science experiments and class work.

1. Main Features of the School

a) The village and its surroundings

The village of Los Molinos is situated to the northwest of the region of Madrid in the Valle Alto of the River Guadarrama surrounded by the villages of Guadarrama, Collado Mediano and Cercedilla. The river flows through the village, on its way down from the nearby mountains.

The village centre is situated at an altitude of 1,045 metres. The mountain peak of La Peñota, symbol of Los Molinos, is at some 1,925 metres.

Los Molinos has very cold winters and warm summers, with cool nights. It is known as the Valley of Light, as mentioned on its coat of arms, thanks to its bright and sunny location. The same name is given to the village nursery school, one of two nurseries, the other one being Our Lady of Fatima (Nuestra Señora de Fátima).

Los Molinos is quite picturesque surrounded by valleys, mountains and rugged peaks.

In addition, it boasts a very rich fauna and flora, both in variety and quality. One does not have to go far to see oak, ash, sycamore, poplar and pine trees, animals such as rabbits, quails, hedgehogs, squirrels, vultures and eagles; and delicacies such wild mushrooms and other types of fungi can be found.

This setting provides with a particularly useful educational resource which allows us to study and enjoy nature “on the spot”. Our school, the CEIP Divino Maestro, is the only centre in the village which offers both nursery and primary schooling – 0:3 years in the nursery and 3:12 years in the primary.

The primary school takes its pupils from this nursery school, from families who have kept their youngsters at home until they have reached 3 years and in some cases, children from the nearby village of Cercedilla.

Los Molinos has a population of some 4,000 residents, most of whom live in the centre and some in surrounding housing estates. Because of this, there are no school bus services to our school, although there are school buses to take pupils to the high schools in Cercedilla and Guadarrama.

The most characteristic aspect of Los Molinos, compared with other nearby villages, is the low growth (in absolute terms) of its population, caused by the virtual absence of new housing developments and very little industrial activity. This explains why some age groups are small, with class sizes of 14-15, while others are large, with class sizes at their legal maximum of 30. This factor determines how we have to adapt continuously our diversity plans.

b) Social Background

Although the last few years have seen significant increases in house prices, this has not stopped young families from moving into the area, so they can be near their own parents and relatives. The result is that a high proportion of our school children live near grandparents who share responsibility for caring and looking after the children. This phenomenon of the “extended family”, valued highly by the teachers, means that the children are not burdened with after school activities, while their parents are at work, as well as helping with school work.

On the other hand, over the last 10 years families from Madrid, seeking a better quality of life, have established themselves in the surrounding housing estates. These families are mostly middle class with better quality jobs. This group demand good quality after school services since they do not have the extended family available to look after the children while they are still at work.

The third group of parents are foreigners, mainly South Americans, Moroccans and Romanians. Neither do they have the extended family to help them look after the children when school finishes. However, for economic reasons they do not ask for after school services. The only exceptions are the South American families who pay for their children to eat in the school canteen.

During the afternoon, after school has finished, these ‘foreign’ children tend to group together with brothers, sisters and friends and play in the public areas like parks and sports centres. They are very mixed groups with 7 year olds playing with 12 year olds and even children from the first year of high school.

The parents are typically working class with little or no education, working in the building industry, domestic service and other unskilled occupations.

c) School Facilities

On September 18th, 2009 new facilities were opened, like our new school building.

The quality is very good, well equipped with sports and computer facilities. There are welcoming common areas and spaces for the use of the Parents Association and other interested groups.

2. Principles and Values

– Compensation for differences in status, culture and cognitive abilities;
– Integration and normalisation with the required adaptations to attend to each individual;
– Autonomy, initiative and responsibility with the participation and involvement in the day to day management of the school;
– Connection with nature with an attitude of respect and protection;
– Interest in sports, health and hygiene with the development of physical activities, management of free time, healthy habits, drug prevention;
– Constructive relation with the environment, collaboration with different associations and other schools;
– Collaboration with families. They are all very welcome to come in and participate;
– Use of technologies during the lessons, with the continual training of teachers and renovation of equipment;
– Democratic participation of all sectors of this community: children, parents/pupils, teachers within the established rules and agreements.