Italien

School Exchange with the Italian School „Istituto di Scuola Superiore Secondaria di Moda e Disegno Grafico Caterina Caniana“ (Fashion and Graphic Design) in Bergamo, Italy

After the school exchange with a Hungarian school had completed, we searched for a while for a new school within European territory and soon we found the Caterina Caniana School in Bergamo in Italy. It seemed to be the right school to initiate a school exchange because of  their curricula including the foreign language English, their stress on work experience in and outside the school, the beautiful city of Bergamo and its surroundings and last but not least because of its UNESCO-World-Heritage locations nearby, most notably the Historical Upper Town with its majestic walls or the cathedral in Milan.
The Caterina Caniana School in Bergamo has about 900 students aged between 14 and 19 years from grade 9 to 13. At the end of their last school year, some of them reach the college degree (Fachabitur) depending on the school branch they chose. Their school curriculum foresees quite a substantial amount of work experience ranging between 300 and 400 hours beginning from their 11th grade. They also have to work during their holidays if they want to complete their work experience.
The students of the fashion branch have many arts lessons in which they learn how to design clothes.
They have some fashion laboratories in which they can train sewing and later they will sew their own creations. Once a year students have to design and sew a really sophisticated dress all by themselves and exhibit them on a school fashion cat walk.

The students of the graphic design branch have some computer laboratories specialized on graphic programmes and they attend some of their lessons there. They learn how to design adverts and posters of all kinds. They also cooperate with local companies and produce posters for them. They also have to learn how to take professional photographs in a photo lab.
Moreover, the school offers an outstandingly well-equipped fitness centre not only to train but to analyse your fitness level with highly digitized instruments for that purpose.
Outside on the school ground they have a green downhill ski area to practice and basketball and volleyball fields. The school Caterina Caniana is located in a beautiful place between the city centre of Bergamo and the Historical Upper Town of Bergamo, which can be easily reached on foot from the school.
Like the AvH the Italian school has projects that are financed by European funds and like us they follow similar educational objectives like tolerance, sustainable environmental politics and inclusion just to name some. Our common language is English. The Italian teachers’ team is warm-hearted, efficient and competent. We are really glad to have started such a cooperation with that school. For more information:  https://istitutocaniana.edu.it/

Programm in Bergamo
Programm in Rüsselsheim