Vilniaus "Santaros" gimnazija

Vilniaus "Santaros" gimnazija school provides general secondary education. It is the largest school of national minorities in Lithuania. There are 1100 students and 100 qualified teachers in the school. Santaros gymnasium was among 5 best schools in Vilnius in respect of students' academic achievements and exam results in 2015 and 2016. In 2017 our school got a status of a secondary educational institution with ecology and technology profile/approach. A special programme was created which involves activities/lessons on the topics to be integrated in all school subjects. Teaching quality improvement and internationalization are our main priorities.

The school’s Development Plan focuses on the teaching quality development aiming to:

• support staff in the acquisition of competencies (knowledge, skills, attitudes) with a view to their personal development;

• support the continuing professional development with a view to innovating and improving the quality of teaching in favour of students;

• increase students’ achievement and engaging through integrated curriculum;

• enhance the quality of English language teaching in the school and particularly to increase students’ motivation, so that they leave school with the skills necessary to communicate effectively in English with other European countries in their working career;

• enhance notably the participants’ foreign language competence.

Our school wants to improve the quality of the internationalization aiming for the staff to:

• manage and organize all kinds of international activities with or without partners abroad;

• stimulate the streamlining of curricular elements with an international orientation;

• raise awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries, offering them the opportunity to build networks of international contacts, to actively participate in society and develop a sense of European citizenship and identity

Through the project we hope to contribute to the creation and development of an open democratic society. Being the school of national minority we face some challenges related to

integration and assimilation which both are the processes taking place in our society.