School Profile



2nd GERAKAS SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

GREECE

LOCATION

2nd Gerakas Senior High School is located in the region of Eastern Attica, Athens, Greece. It is a region that covers the north and east outskirts of Athens and has a significant archaeological and historical background. Additionally, it is outstandingly interesting due to its natural and man-made environment, as it has expanded in a rather chaotic way between the margins of the metropolis, Athens, and the nearby mountains: Parnitha national park, Penteli Mount, Hymettus Mount. It also has an interesting social background as a large percentage of its population has arrived in the area from the city-center or as immigrants in the recent years resulting in a mosaic of cultures. Especially Gerakas has experienced a sharp increase in its population over the last two decades.

STATUS

2nd Gerakas Senior High School is a state school established in 2003. In the current school year its staff is comprised of 42 teachers: 28 full-time teachers, 9 part-time teachers and 6 teachers specialized in Special Educational needs and 1 janitor.

All our teachers are experienced and skilled and they have adequate knowledge of ICT and English. They are committed to their job and have been attending teachers' training seminars on several educational issues trying to update their teaching techniques, aiming at their professional development and at offering high-level learning environment to our students.

Our school offers a three-year academic course of studies to our 360 students, aged 15-18. After the first year of General Education Subjects, the students have the option to attend three different streams of studies: Sciences, Humanitarian Studies and Financial and Informatics. At the end of the third year they sit the National University Entrance Exams.

Over the 16 years since its foundation, a lot of our students have succeeded academically and excelled at their fields of studies. 2nd Gerakas Senior High School has acquired an extensive experience in implementing various extra-curricular projects on Environmental Education, Sustainable Development, Active Citizenship, Culture, Entrepreneurship and has taken part in many European projects. We have adopted a Whole-School Approach and invest on the cultivation of tolerance and respect to diversity. We try to raise our students' awareness of social and environmental issues through the organization and participation in various voluntary activities.

Visit our website for an overall view of our school's profile: http://2lyk-gerak.att.sch.gr

INNOVATION / ICT /STEM

We try to continuously update the equipment of both the Physics' and Computer Science's Labs so that they can function as a hub where the basic scientific principles of observation, research, questioning, analysis and synthesis are applied.

We use a range of ICTs (mobile educational applications, on-line platforms, webinars etc). The ICT teacher has been awarded for the school website several times and has been the supervisor of the students' club "Videomuseums" where students are introduced into the skills of film making.

This school year, in its effort to address the challenges of the 21st century, 2nd Senior High School has introduced STEM education offering opportunities for teachers' professional development and creating a motivating new learning environment for students.

ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP

We go to great lengths to promote Active Citizenship. A devoted team of teachers trains our students to participate in Student Conferences, such as the Student Symposium of ASPnet Schools of UNESCO, Greek Teenager Parliament, European Youth Parliament, Models of UN Conferences (MUN), both national and international, European Projects such as Euroscola, Universities for Europe (U4EU), School-Ambassadors of the European Parliament (EPAS net) etc. Another team of teachers has been in continuous cooperation with the Greek Ombudsman for the Rights of Children in our effort to upgrade the function of the Students' Representatives and the 15-member Student Council.

EUROPEAN PROFILE

2nd Gerakas Senior High School is an Educational Institution that has a clear European orientation:

Comenius: In 2011-2012 2nd Gerakas Senior High School took part in a Comenius-Regio project titled "Youth Docs: recording critical glances on personal identity, youth culture and contemporary reality" which was included in the ERASMUS+ guide of examples of good practices.

Euroscola: 2nd Gerakas Senior High School has organized a wide range of activities and urges its students to participate in European contests and programs. Actually, our school has been hosting Euroscola contests since 2013 as one of the three Examination Centers in Eastern Attica and many of our students have participated in the training seminar in Strasburg European Parliament. In this year's contest 6 out of the 24 winners of the Euroscola contest were from our school and the School Principal was selected to be the leader of the Greek mission to Strasburg.

E- Twinning: We have organized an E-twinning project titled "European Civilization" and we are currently taking part in an "EU-debate project".

European Youth Parliament (EYP): We also take part in the yearly National Conferences of European Youth Parliament of Greece (EYP) and have frequently sent students to EYP Conferences held in other European countries (Amsterdam 2013, Kiev 2014, Kaounas 2016, Rotterdam 2018). The School Principal escorted the Greek Delegation to the EYP Conference of Kaunas, Lithuania in December 2016.

EPAS: for its commitment to the promotion of European values, it has been selected to join the EPAS net of "School-Ambassadors of European Parliament". The teachers of Civic Education have been active in promoting European values and organising simulations of conferences of the European Council and other cultural events related to the European Heritage and Identity.

ERASMUS+ Projects: 2nd Gerakas Senior High School is currently running an ERASMUS+ KA1 under the title "Towards the School of the 21st century" and has applied for 2 new ones.

INTERNATIONALIZATION

International ASPnet of Schools of UNESCO: Due to its profile and the whole school approach it has adopted, our school has been an active member of the international ASPnet Schools of UNESCO that apply UNESCO's principles in their educational practice since 2014.

In December 2015, 2nd Gerakas Senior High School was one of the 5 Greek schools which participated in a three-day UNESCO seminar on Climate Change in Paris World Convention on Climate Change (COP21).

In 2017 we held the two-day 17th Student Symposium of UNESCO ASPnet schools, accommodating 350 people.

From 2016 to 2018 we took part in a two-year international pilot project of UNESCO on Climate Change where our school excelled and was selected as one of the 14 schools (out of the 250 that took part in that project worldwide) that were included in UNESCO's guide for good practices "Getting Climate Ready".

MUN conferences : Both the principal and the English teacher have been running the MUN club of the school as MUN advisors for more than 9 consecutive years with many participations in MUN conferences, national as well as international.

ARTS

We foster our students' creativity, self-expression and familiarization with Arts: Drawing, Music, Dance, Theatre, Literature, Photography, Film-making.

Students are given the opportunity to join our choir, drama club, dance clubs of both folklore and modern dances, reading club etc. They put on music shows, poetry evenings, theatrical plays.

Visits to cultural Institutions, museums, art exhibitions, events enrich their artistic experience and contact with the cultural life of the city.

SOCIAL INTERACTION

Team spirit and solidarity are cultivated through our participation in various cultural activities, voluntary projects and bazaars.

Good relations with the Parents' Association, collaboration with the local community and local enterprises as well as active participation in the Municipality projects have become part of our school culture.

We have also developed collaboration with equivalent schools of Secondary Education, both from state and private sector.

We establish and value our long-term partnerships with Academic Institutions of Tertiary Education, Research Institutes and Organisations.

Our openness to the community and our internationalization is clearly depicted by our participation in national and international networks of partnerships such as:

Due to its various activities, 2nd Gerakas Senior High School has been awarded many times:

Award of Sustainable School (in 2012 and 2014)

Award of Environmental Sensitivity (in 2017 and 2018)

Award of an active "School - Ambassador of European Parliament" (in 2017 and 2018.

It has officially recognized as an active partner in the ASPnet UNESCO Schools since 2014.



Erasmus+ | 2nd Gerakas Senior High School