BURGOS, Spain.
St. Mary and St. Joseph the Worker School, managed by the Teresian Association, will celebrate its 50th anniversary throughout 2016.
During the year 2016 we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of a major educational project that the Church of Burgos, through Caritas, started in this city, to meet the educational needs of Gamonal.
In the early 60s, the Spanish government located in Burgos one of the centers of Development and Industrial Promotion. This, coupled with the development of the countryside, brought a great flood of immigrants from different parts of the province and other neighboring regions. Most of them settled in the neighborhood of Gamonal, next to a factory complex.
To respond to these changes, the Archbishop, in collaboration with Caritas, and within the social action plan that they had been developing in the city, an educational project was conceived to provide cultural, technical and religious formation for this new population. In short, the idea was to train young people in the area as good citizens and good Christians.
The Archbishop of Burgos, Msgr. Segundo Garcia de Sierra and Mendez led this great educational project which developed in two phases: First, a school called Santa María la Mayor and, later, Santa Maria la Nueva began as a school for girls and women. It housed a nursery, a primary school, a high school, night school, and female professional schools. The pedagogical direction of this great teaching complex was entrusted to Caritas and the Teresian Association (International Association of lay people who seek the promotion of human advancement through education and culture), which had already started teaching in Gamonal in 1963 with twenty students who completed elementary school.
Soon after, Caritas entrusted a school for boys and men to the Marianist Fathers. Within a few years a large complex, called Our Lady of the Assumption, had ample space for the development of schools and later a Vocational Training school, called St. Joseph the Worker.
These two schools of the Church were accredited by the Minister of Education and Science from the very beginning, and received high praise from all Burgos’ citizens, whose generosity made this project possible.
Some of the characteristics of the School, present since its inception, are a family-like environment, a comprehensive education with values, and a wide range of cultural activities (conferences, plays, literary events, retreats ...)
Three years ago, at the initiative of the Archbishop of Burgos, these two initial educational complexes merged into what is now one school, Saint Mary and St. Joseph the Worker, with about 1,700 students, more than 1,250 families and 130 professionals dedicated to promote this project with one of the most comprehensive educational offerings of the city that encompasses all levels of education: Elementary and Secondary Education, Basic Training, and Vocational Training.
In these 50 years, thousands of men and women have been trained in its classrooms. They are professionals who make up the social, political, economic, legal, medical, technological, humanitarian fabric of the city who bring their identity and values to their professional practice.
Today, after half a century, St. Mary and St. Joseph Worker School is still committed to:
- A comprehensive education
- Participation of the entire educational community
- Attention to diversity at all stages
- A team of professionals involved in education
- Participation in European Programs
- Training of competent and qualified professionals
- Ongoing collaboration with businesses
- Commitment to industrial innovation.
- Commitment to the improvement of our neighborhood.
To celebrate fifty years of a long and successful presence in Burgos, there will be a series of events that will take place throughout 2016.
TA Information, Burgos