My School Ticino

 

Thanks to the support of Medacta International SA, a company with strong social responsibility and an awareness of corporate welfare, the Medacta for Life Foundation was founded in 2011 and the My Baby Nursery school was opened the following year

The promoter and founder of the project is Maria Luisa Siccardi Tonolli, Vice President of the Foundation, mother and entrepreneur. Maria Luisa has always been attentive to Sustainability & ESG Strategies and has followed  the story of the institute with daily passion and effort from its beginnings through to the current and continuous innovations giving life to a philanthropic project that is committed to the local area and close to its needs.

The story of the educational structure develops rapidly and constantly to respond to a precise need of the local families. The school was initially created to welcome its employees children but later opened its doors to all local families with the aim of providing support to parents and promoting the return of women to work after having a baby. In 2015 the school’s educational services expanded with the opening of the My Child Pre-school. In 2017 it became My School Ticino – a bilingual school with a wide range of curricular and extracurricular educational activities.

In 2018 following the authorisation by DECS the My Kid Primary School opened. In September of the following year My Languages language school was born – a service offering language courses to children, teenagers, adults and companies. After two years of success the second language school opened in Lugano. My Languages guarantees the preparation of exams for European language certificates : Cambridge for English, Delf / Dalf for French and Goethe for German. The school is also a recognised Cambridge Examination Centre.

In 2013 the My Baby Nursery was awarded the “QualiNido” certification from Kibesuisse and since 2018 it has been authorised by the Cantonal authorities to accommodate 50 children from age 0-3 years. In the same year My Child doubled in size with the opening of a second section.

Today My School comprises the Nursery, Pre School, Primary School, Extracurricular Service and Language School (in two locations Castel San Pietro and Lugano) . The institute also boasts a rich and well organised Extracurricular Service, My Extraschool, with pre and after school, canteen with in house kitchen (recognised by the Fourchette Verte quality seal), courses and workshops open to all even children who are not enrolled at the school. Today My School Ticino has over 150 subscribers, a minor part (15%) are children of Medacta International employees with the rest made up of children from the local area.

My School is a school that offers continuous and extended hours complete with extra curricular services.

The school is open 49 weeks a year. It runs the My Weeks service during the Cantonal school holidays  and the My Summer Camp service during the summer holidays for all children even those who normally attend other schools.

The Educational Project offered by My School Ticino aims for excellence in its field supported by active teaching particularly influenced by the Montessori method and its approach of “ help me to do it myself “ and the creative style of “100 languages “ of Loris Malaguzzi, the inspiration behind Reggio Children. The third educational pillar that is of fundamental importance to My School Ticino is Italian / English bilingualism which provides the full time presence of mother tongue and bilingual teachers in each section with a systematic approach that constantly places the two languages side by side in all activities proposed. Great space is also given to Outdoor Education which is defined at an international level as teaching that aims to encourage experiences in direct contact with the environment : from the natural childhood need to explore and test himself to environmental education projects. The school campus is in a sunny, green area with little traffic. It borders the Riale river and the woods offering young students huge spaces for play and learning in the fresh air : My Woods for activities in the woods, al fresco lunches and snacks, the vegetable garden, garden and football pitch. My School is proud of its My Town, an outdoor playground built to resemble a small village. There is a main road with road signs (a pedestrian crossing, disabled parking, a STOP sign, one-way signs and other road signs) and buildings dotted along the road for role-playing games: the carpenter’s workshop, a stable, a petrol station and a restaurant.

The interaction of families in the daily activities of the school has the aim of creating an educating community, or a “shared” place where parents and teachers, respecting each others competences, accept and experience the responsibility of the learning processes related to teaching/learning and caring for the children’s well-being.