POPPY BEST is the educational institution in Turin that offers a bilingual educational path in Italian and English for children aged 0 to 13.

Great attention is paid to teaching: we have developed a POPPY-BEST method for bilingual education. In this regard, we have also started to produce some texts and teaching materials independently, in order to have effective tools.

The Nursery operates according to pedagogically oriented criteria to ensure attention to the child, their development, and their potential, respecting personal developmental rhythms.
We rely on the Functional Model of developmental growth. This model adopts a spherical view, where all functional processes contribute equally to the organization and structuring of the Self. The Functional Model of developmental growth is attentive to the overall progress of all psycho-physical planes as all functions are congruent with each other and it conceives the child as a competent being from birth.
The approach to English is gradual, focusing on sounds and sonorities, visual stimuli, and the natural evolution of the child in response to external stimuli.

At the Kindergarten, in the morning, activities are conducted only in English (native-speaking educators), while in the afternoon, it continues with qualified Italian educators.
Children are ensured constant care and attention with the aim of promoting their growth, security, self-esteem, and bilingual learning in the areas of language skills - (with a detailed English pedagogical and linguistic project that allows for easy and natural language learning), and logical skills.
In particular, during the last year of Kindergarten, a teaching and training path is initiated that utilizes many strategies from the Bortolato analogical method.

“It is the most natural way to learn through metaphors and analogies, as children do in their genius when they learn to play, speak, or use a computer even before adults. It is the method of the heart, that is, of intuition in all its forms, exercised in 360 degrees, to embrace everything, in trust and acceptance, without fear, and without the need for control that blocks everything.
It is called the “Analogical Method” because analogy, not logic, is the tool for knowing new things. Because the whole world is built on an analogical basis, that is, as a replication of the same atom or the same cell.(…)
The epistemological question, that is, how we derive knowledge, is posed in these terms: we detect our knowledge by venturing into the uncertain, the provisional, the fantastic, as children always do.
Then, a posteriori, we analyze what we have thought to define whether it is more or less logical, or better said, coherent.”

The PRIMARY School BEST offers children constant care and attention with the aim of promoting their growth, security, self-esteem, and learning.
We carefully adopt various educational and pedagogical techniques, both established and more cutting-edge. In particular, in the first grade, we use, alongside other methods, some strategies from the Bortolato analogical method, which accelerates the processes of reading-writing and calculation through targeted and fun activities.
All our programming is studied and planned by the teaching staff, the educational and pedagogical coordinator, and external consultants to be implemented with care and constantly verify its effectiveness.
The student is at the center of the educational path. Every student is different, every child has specific needs and talents to develop.
BEST pursues with attention, innovation, and effectiveness a special and specific educational project characterized by:

• attention to the Italian language and the development of language skills and the culture of our country, central to our project;
• on the other hand, we emphasize the fundamental importance of ensuring the development of English language competence at a native level;
• we care for the development of skills and learning in other areas (History, Geography, Mathematics, Science, Logic, Art, Physical Education) that allows for a culturally complete and balanced growth;
• the development of French language competence starting from the third year.

Class lessons include more traditional teaching methods (front lesson) alongside methodologies that support group work, autonomy, and student-teacher interaction.
There are also moments of reinforcement in small teacher-student groups, sometimes one-to-one sessions and interventions according to innovative methodologies such as role-playing, flip education, peer training.
Laboratories and dedicated classrooms are available.
Each classroom is equipped with a PC and a projector to aid teaching; the School has a well-equipped computer lab with various PC stations, printers, and 3D printers to introduce children to computing and its conscious and creative use.
 

At BEST MIDDLE SCHOOL, the educational project continues, supporting our students to grow balanced, curious, lively, respectful, and passionate about learning.
The teaching/education methods are structured to use the best and most appropriate methodologies depending on the occasions and specific objectives pursued.
Each student has their own personal computer, which they use for all written assignments in different subjects and for online work.
As in Primary School, class lessons include more traditional teaching methods (front lesson) alongside methods that support group work, autonomy, and student-teacher interaction.
There are also moments of work in small teacher-student groups, sometimes one-to-one sessions and interventions according to innovative methodologies to help students in transversal learning processes (role-playing, flip education, peer training).
The multidisciplinary approach is true, concrete, and constant.
The programs are designed in their weekly evolution to reinforce each other and to highlight connections and complementary “points of view”.
The development of the various study topics will follow, for each area, differentiated rhythms, cadences, and intensities in the various periods of the year according to educational needs.
Part of the activities are carried out in laboratories and dedicated classrooms.
During the year, during school hours, special activities are planned, a series of short lesson cycles that address specific themes/topics on which specific work is appropriate.
The School also hosts meetings and experiences with realities and figures from the outside world, educators, artists, witnesses, and writers, who help our students broaden their horizons and nurture their curiosity and initiative.
Our students also have numerous external experiences outside the School, always in a strictly connected and coherent perspective with teaching and deepening.
There are also planned stays in England during the school year, in structures with proven experience and in line with inclusion objectives.
Our School often hosts visiting scholars, students of all nationalities who stay in Italy for a few weeks/months and for whom parents desire a quality bilingual educational experience.

This is always a fantastic opportunity that helps our students establish new wonderful friendships and open up to the world.