User:Mcapdevila/ASB

The American School of Barcelona (ASB) is a private, non-profit, coeducational day school serving students from 3-18 years old in the greater Barcelona metropolitan area. It was the first and largest trilingual school in Spain.

It was established in 1962 by Dr. Josep Maria Poal, an eminent physician and co-founder of the North American Institute in 1951. Ever since it has been a non-profit organization owned and run by a parent's association which elects a Board of Governors. The school was established to provide an American education to students from the local and international communities of Barcelona.

The American School of Barcelona is authorized by the Spanish Ministry of Education and accredited by Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges.

The school provides a basic American instructional program. The nature of the school permits its students to follow the American curriculum from preschool to twelfth grade while at the same time enables them to become integrated in the culture and language of the host country.

ASB offers a university preparatory curriculum which provides its graduates access to American, Spanish and international universities.

All graduates earn an American diploma, while some choose to also pursue the Co-validation Program, which prepares them for Spanish university entrance exams. Most choose the IB Diploma Program, which grants them access to Spanish universities as well as to universities around the world. ASB students have scored well above the world average in the IBDP every year since 2009. The school also recently passed with raving reviews a five-year accreditation review by the IB Organization.

Acreditations
ASB:
 * is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO);
 * is recognized in Spain as a Centro Extranjero (foreign school) by the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Spanish Ministry of Education;
 * receives a grant from the US Department of State's Office of Overseas Schools;
 * belongs to the Mediterranean Association of International Schools (MAIS) and European Council of International Schools (ECIS) regional associations;
 * participates in the Atlantic Mediterranean Activities Conference (AMAC), a sports league made up of schools from around the region and has close ties with other international schools in Spain.

Personal Approach
In addition to its rigorous academic program, ASB is well known for its personal approach that fosters a "family atmosphere," making visitors and stakeholders feel welcome. Since its beginnings in 1962, parents, students and staff have felt a strong sense of commitment to the school and community. In fact, the school is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2012-13.

Vision & Mission

 * Vision: The American School of Barcelona is an international community of learners dedicated to academic excellence, committed to lifelong learning and empowered to create a better world. We engage and challenge students to become caring and educated citizens of the world through varied learning activities that emphasize critical thinking, inquiry-based knowledge, artistic appreciation and multiple perspectives. ASB strives to be a leading international school in Europe, offering a premier education to internationally-minded families (expatriate and local) in Barcelona and serving as a resource for others in the global educational community.


 * Mission: The mission of the American School of Barcelona is to fully develop each student's unique potential by providing a high-quality American/Spanish curriculum in an English language-based, respectful and diverse environment.

Core Beliefs
ASB believes that:
 * Optimal human development depends on balanced intellectual, emotional, social and physical development.
 * Each individual has the inherent right to develop his/her unique potential.
 * Creativity and initiative enable an individual to promote and adapt to change.
 * The family is an extremely important influence on an individual.
 * Interacting in a diverse community enriches each individual.
 * Lifelong learning is essential to succeed in a rapidly changing, global society.
 * Every community needs the democratic participation and support of its members.
 * People are individually and collectively responsible for their actions.
 * Teamwork and collaboration promote excellence and foster a sense of belonging.
 * Embracing human values is an essential ingredient in a responsible society.

Academic Calendar
The school year consists of 181 teacher contract days and 175 instructional days. Semester I is from August to December/January and Semester II runs from January/February to June.

The Community and the Students
Current enrollment is 690 students. The breakdown by divisions is approximately as follows:


 * Early Childhood Center - 110
 * Elementary School - 230
 * Middle School - 150
 * High School - 200

ASB students come from 45 countries, with the most represented being Spain, the US, the UK, France, Canada and the Netherlands. The breakdown is approximately:


 * North American 20%
 * Other International 38%
 * Spanish 42%

Virtually all ASB graduates attend university following their graduation. Many are accepted into the top local programs such as ESADE, UAB, UB, UPF, UIC, European University and La Salle, while others have recently been accepted to universities abroad such as Oxford (UK), Rice, Clark, Georgia Tech, George Washington, SUNY Syracuse, RIT, Cornell, NYIT, Carnegie Mellon, Boston University, Brown, Bentley, Bryn Mawr, and Delft University (Netherlands).

Faculty & Administration
The ASB staff includes 91 faculty members (teachers and assistants), 10 support staff and 9 administrators. Virtually all teaching is done by native speakers. The approximate composition of faculty is:


 * North American: 60%
 * British: 10%
 * Spanish: 25% (Spanish teachers mainly teach Spanish and Catalan)
 * Other international: 5%

More than half of the staff members have advanced degrees and faculty turnover is relatively low.

Campus & Facilities
Since the 1986-1987 school year, ASB has been operating from the Esplugues de Llobregat site, a pleasant, open-air purpose built facility resting on 14,700 square metres of land. The campus includes:


 * more than 50 classrooms (many equipped with interactive whiteboards and digital projection systems)
 * art and music rooms
 * 225 computers, including three mobile laptop labs, three computer labs and wireless internet access
 * a one-to-one laptop computer program starting in the High School in 2012-13
 * a fully equipped science laboratory
 * a lovely cafeteria with magnificent views
 * two outdoor and one indoor basketball courts, and a brand-new, beautiful artificial turf soccer field
 * two playgrounds
 * staff rooms and offices
 * a library with 18,000 volumes
 * a separate Early Childhood Center with covered play space and multi-purpose room.

Governance
The school is owned and operated by The American School of Barcelona, Fundación Privada. The Board of Trustees is made up of a mix of internal and external members of our community.

Board's email: board@a-s-b.com

Traditions
Being an international school, it has a number of events which take place annually:

Sant Jordi
Every year, and coinciding with Sant Jordi, the Catalan Book Day, April 23rd, ASB organizes a writing contest. The categories are always Prose and Poetry, and students are allowed (and encouraged) to write in English, Spanish, and Catalan.

Halloween
Following the American tradition, the school organizes a Halloween parade the Friday of or before October 31st, where students get to dress up and compete for the best costume prizes. For the smaller grades, Halloween Day is an event in itself, as students get to have fun with their classmates and activities organized by the PA. In these grades students tend to dress up individually. As students reach the secondary school, each class or grade chooses a theme, prepares costumes, and does a choreographed performance in front of the rest of the school.

Winter Wonderland Festival
Previously known as Winter Bazar, it is the chance Elementary and Middle Students get to show their friends and family the songs they've prepared in their music classes throughout the first trimester.

MUN (Model United Nations) Conferences
MUN has a great tradition at American School of Barcelona. The school sends delegations to the Iberian Model United Nations in Lisbon (IMUN) and The Hague Model United Nations (THIMUN).