ÇAĞDAŞ YAŞAM TÜRKAN TUTUMLUER – PRIMARY SCHOOL
Cagdas Yasam Turkan Tutumluer Primary Schoolwas constructed in the area of 1750 square meters in Ahmet Yesevi Street with the contribution of Tutumluer Family in the name of Turkan Tutumluer in 2004. It has 2 floors and 8 classrooms in use area of 346 square meters.
In 2004-2005 academic year, the school started education. First students transferred from the surrounding schools and the first graduates were given in 2004-2005 academic year. The physical condition of the school and the environment were reorganized in 2009 for students to have a better educational environment.
In 2010-2011 academic year, additional building was constructed with the material and spiritual contributions of Sennur and Selçuk Öztap couple to our main building. Their school consists of two separate buildings with two floors.
In this school there is a game garden that is big enough for students to play.Inside the building there are 1 kindergarten, a main class dining hall, 1 administration room, 1 guidance service, 3 classrooms, 1 library / art class, 1 laboratory and a multipurpose hall with 72 seats.
In 2013, the school has been divided into Primary and Secondary Schools in the framework of 4 + 4 + 4 system applications. At the end of the academic year of 2012-2013, the school transformed into Primary School and the secondary school was closed.
Starting from 2013-2014, the school education is continuing as Primary School. They have a director, an assistant principal, ten permanent teachers, a servant and 350 students. Their school provides education for students between 5 and 11 years, including kindergarten. Social and sportive courses are offered at their school such as Mathematics, Science and Social Knowledge, Art, English, Physical Education, Music, Traffic, Human Rights and Democracy and Theology.
The mission of the school;
In line with the general objectives and principles of the Turkish National Education System we will continue to educate their students as self-worthy, community beneficial, able to take responsibility, questioning, producing solutions, respecting human rights, considering the students as the most important value and considering their feelings and thoughts in a team work with all the staff to be ready for a higher education institution.
They have been involved in national projects such as the “White Flag” and “Nutrition Friendly School” in previous years. In our school “Ecological Schools” project is also applied.
The school is located in the district of Sultanbeyli which is in the outskirts of Istanbul. It is a suburb area. The population is approximately 400.000.
There are 350 students. The students in the school have a moderate socio-economic structure. At the school there are mildly mentally handicapped students at every grade level. Recently, 16 Syrian immigrant students have been present.
It is a national state school.
DIVERSITY
In a classroom environment, diversity has many aspects such as religion, economic status, gender learning styles, teaching methods and etc. These are all important factors that need to be considered while planning a lesson. Differences among students directly affects the school performance. Do these differences constitute a disadvantage? According to the researches, education as well as creativity improves when people that have different perspectives collaborate and work together in a harmonious way.
Diversity is one of the issues that has been foregrounded in our school. The students are Muslim, however they belong to different religious sects. These subidentities are regarded as special features and are met with respect by teachers, parents and students. All these differences and diversity are mentioned at the Culture of Religion and Knowledge of Ethics lesson that taught in 4th grade.
The economic status of our students varies and we do not want this situation to give way to negative results. So, starting from the kindergarten our students learn values like sharing, helping each other, collaborating and indulgence. They study in an environment in which they feel that they are equal and friends while considering the differences as normal.
Special education students constitute a vital part of our school community. All shareholders of the school (teachers, administration, parents’ council) work together to abolish or at least to minimize their disadvantage. SEN kids join the activities with their peers at certain days.
We give them some duties and responsibilities to sustain their active participation in ceremonies and celebrations on special days like the World Autism Awareness Day and International Day of Disabled Persons.
At the beginning of the Academic year, teachers design and plan educational and teaching plans (objectives, learning outcomes, materials) considering each students cognitive and sensual conditions. Each Sen Kid has an individual plan which is followed throughout the year. Students also get education on social skills, self-care abilities, sports, music and arts.
Our country hosts nearly 4 million Syrian refugees who fled the war. Children at school age form a large number of these refugees. Many local and central activities and projects are being carried out for the social integration of Syrian students into the educational and system and social life. We implement some projects to ensure that students feel at home as the host not as a guest. As students’ self-confidence increase in direct proportion to their sense of belonging which has a positive reflection on their school and social lives. We work together with a Refugee Association in our district. We have organized a breakfast activity at school in order to participate parents in to this process. We visited a theme park and had a sight-seeing tour so that they can know more about the city they live in.
They have taken part in cultural and traditional handicrafts activities thorough which they could learn and also live the values of the society they live in. Besides all these cultural and social works, they have extra language lessons to hinder any possible communication problems.
We are a big family growing together with our differences.
Diversity is our chance, colour and richness.
4th meeting – Istanbul (video)
Turkish School – Diversity
Presentation of the theme “Save our planet” from the Turkish school