The School for Dialogue is a private school, located in Anderlecht, which welcomes 100 students from 3 to 18 years old.
The school’s ambition is to give access to a full contributive citizenship. The mission of the School for Dialogue is to show that every motivated child naturally surpasses himself or herself both in academic results and in emotional, relational and social intelligence. It allows the child to be the actor of its own learning from the earliest age, while using kindness and mutual aid.
Today the school is runned by John Rizzo and has a board of directors of 7 people. In addition, contributors and volunteers help the school throughout the year. In 2019, the Alcuin Fund gave them financial support to purchase furniture and sports equipment and to offer free school fees to a child in need.
The approach of the School for Dialogue is based on a minimum of collective explanations, but it is the pupils who explain the subject to each other and thus develop their relational skills. They naturally become autonomous and empathetic.
All children are encouraged to help each other in one way or another. By allowing the child to be an actor in his own learning from an early age, he has the tools for the rest of his life, to become more autonomous and increase his potential to the maximum. If the child is happy to come to school and has self-confidence, he will learn faster.
The essential values of the school are : excellence (surpassing oneself, valuing the effort to reach a desirable goal), instructive error (one must accept an error as feedback allowing one to improve rather than as a mistake, which implies willingly acknowledging one’s mistakes rather than victimizing oneself) and autonomy (learning independently, being able to mobilize, getting out of infantilization and assistance), self-help (collaborative learning, helping others to achieve their goal) and caring (caring for others in a selfless and understanding way). Pupils feel creative in making decisions in their school.
Every “type” of learner profiles is welcomed in the school, and the school practices HP friendly pedagogy due to a pedagogical model based on cognitive neuroscience.
Here, everyone learns at his or her own pace, with the freedom to dig and explore according to his or her motivation, enthusiasm, need for challenge and surpassing oneself. Each student is free to learn in the way that is most effective for him or her. Children are encouraged to engage their creativity in the development of a personal and group project.
The daily practice of traditional martial arts is part of the curriculum of the School for Dialogue. Martial arts has an effect on concentration, posture, self-esteem and self-respect, stress, self-control, autonomy and inspiration, all leading to better academic results.
The school is also the coordinator of the School Transformation Lab Project, which links different successful and innovative schools to help traditional schools to transform themselves. This European project proposes a pedagogical transformation in 52 steps over 3 months to adapt to a level of heterogeneity of pupils : help them to pilot their learning, encourage them to help each other, learn faster, provide accessible activities to surpass themselves, and to cope with large classes.
News :
- In September 2018, opening of the Ecole du Dialogue for 8-18 year olds.
- Takeover of the 1st grade of the Don Bosco Institute (public school) with a larger team involved.
More information is available on the website.