St. Mary School no.

2 for The Hearing Impaired

Bucharest - ROMANIA

School principal, Florica Stoica

A Short History
August 1919 The first school for deaf girls in Romania is set up by Royal Decree. The Ministry for Public Instruction puts this decree into effect through the diligence of publicist Laurentia Bacalbasa.
March, 1st, 1921 The school opens, with a number of 31 schoolgirls and only one schoolmistress, in a modest building in Calea Mosilor Street: HM Queen Mary, visits the school and makes donations. 1921 1922 Teachers Ion Cioranescu and Sevasta Popescu begin their teaching career. The number of both pupils and teachers grows every year. 1948 The school moves to a larger building at Nos. 20 and 25, Nuferilor Street.

Who Are We?

September 1976 The school is given new, modern facilities, comprising 3 buildings: the school proper, the boarding school and canteen and a gym hall with hydrotherapy pool.
September, 1st, 2000 The boarding school unit with all its facilities is taken over by the Department for Child Protection Sector 6 (with negative repercussions on the activity with these pupils).

School presentation
St. Mary School no. 2 for The Hearing Impaired has:
16 classrooms situated on three levels: ground floor, 1st floor and 2nd floor

 A library with 6,000 volumes:

A Maths Room:

 A Physics Chemistry laboratory

An Art Room:

 A Computer Science Room:

 A Psychodiagnosis Room:

 A Workshop for preparatory vocational training:

 Two clubs with TV sets and videos:

 10 soundproof rooms:

 An Audiology Room:

A Religion room

 An exhibition of icons painted on glass:

 An exhibition of handicraft objects:

The Gym Hall

a gym hall with modern equipment:

a room for medical physical culture, with adequate equipment:

Kitchen Surgery - Infirmary

School Staff
39 teaching staff : teachers specialized in Psychology, Pedagogy, Psychopedagogy, Romanian, Maths, History, Geography, English, Religion, Art, Sports, MPHC (Medical Physical Culture ), Physics, Chemistry; teacher-educators; Arts and Crafts instructor

 10 auxiliary teaching staff:

1 secretary

1 social worker

 6 educational instructors

 2 administration staff: 1 bookkeeper and 1 administrator

1 maintenance worker, 5 janitors, 2 guards

Who Are the Pupils?

The schools 120 pupils are medically diagnosed with hearing impairment:

- accentuated: hearing loss between 60 and 70 dB

- severe : hearing loss between 80 and 90 dB

- profound: hearing loss of over 100 dB All of the pupils have parents. They are boarders, half boarders and day pupils Children come to school in the 1st Grade when aged 7 to 9, having / not having gone to a special education Kindergarten and attend the courses of this school for 8 years, following the adapted version of the mainstream school syllabus. Each class of pupils is heterogeneous, with children of different ages, different hearing losses and often with double or triple deficiencies.

Specifics of Our Activity

The guidelines are found in the Special Syllabus and Textbooks, correlated with those in mainstream education.

The methods and techniques of approaching the learning contents are specific, so as to make knolwedge more accessible to acquire.

The teaching learning schedule, as well as the recovery compensatory time table is from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

 From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. : teaching - learning activities with the whole classes of pupils

From 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. : lunch

From 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. : individual recovery compensatory activities in sound proof rooms; complex and integrated therapy activities with whole classes of pupils

 The most specific objectives are: - stimulating permanently any form of communication (verbal /nonverbal) - developing the skill of acquiring the phono-articulatory model by means of lip reading in various communication media.

Curriculum (Schools Option)

Decorative Art
-Grades 1- 4 : The World of Colours -Grades 5 8: Arts and Crafts

Computer Study
- Grades 1 4 Computer Secrets - Grades 5 8 The World inside Computers

Results of Our Work

- Very good results in the Middle School Certificate examination (8th Grade); 90% graduation rate of the deaf pupils with normal intellect, in conditions equal to those in mainstream education;

Our pupils are admitted to the special high schools for the hearing impaired, according to their average marks;
Other pupils are oriented towards the special vocational schools where they get trained for various crafts; Participations in the quiz contests and cultural sporting contests organized by the National Deaf Association in Romania, as well as mainstream schools, winning prizes and distinctions; Participations, along with the normal children, in the painting, decorative arts and sculpture courses and competitions, their works being given prizes at every exhibition.

~ We feel

We think

Far more than we can speak~

Music: Gheorghe Zamfir pan flute - Doina Presentation: Florica Stoica