Last Friday 27th, a student group from “Gudewill Schule OBS mit
gymnasialem Angebot” school in Thedinghausen visited us.
Thedinghausen is a municipality of Verden district, in Lover Saxony,
Germany. It is located on the left border of Weser, about 15 km to the
west of Verden, and 20 km southeast of Bremen.
The school students are doing a foreign exchange program with
Santpedor school, and connoisseurs of Quintanes’ path regarding the stay
and exchanges. They requested to visit our school.
They have received an explanation of the alternative education system
that is one of EFA Quintanes' identity features since the beginning.
Afterward, they were able to walk around its facilities and through the
forest of Quintanes.
The year starts with a lot of activity since the first day. The students of
1st “Grau superior de Paisatgisme i Medi rural” visited the botanical
garden Marimurtra located in Blanes.
An intriguing visit for the more than four thousand plant species, most of
them exotic, as well as the different extraordinary specimens for its age
or dimensions.
Marimurtra is the work of a passionated man towards nature. Carl Faust
(Hadamar, Germany 1874 - Blanes 1952), an entrepreneur established in
Catalonia, he dedicated his illusion, effort and all his heritage to the
realization of his dreams.https://www.marimurtra.cat/
+ info: https://www.marimurtra.cat/
+ info: https://www.marimurtra.cat/
With the aim of responding to the needs of the work market, the vocational training dual bet to increase the collaboration among professional educational centers and companies, in the student's formative process. In this school year 2018 -2019 we have started to teach in the dual modality the medium-grade cycle of agricultural production. The agreements of collaboration between the company and the school have been formalized to be able to carry out the FCT in the modality dual. After educating the company tutor, the individual agreement is implemented where the conditions are established in order to develop a dual training. After some time, when the student is in a company, the monitoring visits begin which will determinate how will be the following of the practices and the objectives are defined for the student who will have to achieve them during summer.
+ info: http://queestudiar.gencat.cat/ca/estudis/fp/mesures-flexib/fp-dual/index.html
The technic journey of fruit growing has provided the quality improvements of the second medium-grade students of agriculture and livestock holding, in the discovery of new varieties and crop techniques. They visited Mas Badia, a center that works together with IRTA. It's about an experimental farming season which has as objective conduct the activities of agricultural experimentation that allow the improvement and orient the province of Gerona's farming.
+ info: http://www.irta.cat/ca/centre/mas-badia/
Friday, May 24th the students of first medium -grade of agriculture and livestock went to visit Can Bartomeu. This company has as activities, for example, the extensive crops (it has 500 hectares: some of them are Can Bartomeu's property and the others are leased), works to third parties, fatten up porcine and expand agrotourism. The house son, Marc Fitó, has taught us the activities in which the company is engaged, remarking the plagues and crops illness and the way to confront them. Besides, he has taught us and explained the machines they use, their characteristics and functioning. Whereas in the agrotourism, Marc has told they have a rural independent lodging modality. To conclude, it has been a visit in which the students have had the opportunity to see the different activities focused on the same field, and thanks to these varieties of activities, the company is able to work.
Sunday, 2nd of June we celebrated the Festa del Camp, 2019. Four hundred people assisted and this year the sun shined all day. Like every year, ex-students of old promotions were invited to the celebration; this year they accompany us the 33rd and 36th promotions. The party started with the usual final of the football championship where the blue team took the victory, with representatives of Forestal with a score in favor of 8 goals to 6. ¡It was a very close ending! In parallel began the gymkhana of tractors, organized by the school's teacher Josep Bagaria. This game tests in the ability and driving of tractors. The winner was Ferran Faig of 2GM of Gardening, in the second position Jaume Roquet of 2GM of Forest and the last place was for Mr. Xavier Capdevila, Arnau Capdevila's father, student of the school. The academic event was lead by Mr. Francesc Javier Vela, JARC's president, Mr. Toni Martorell, Director of Quintanes, Mr. Miquel Torrents, Presidento of the Fundació Antiga Caixa Manlleu, Mr. Joan Roca, President of Consell Comarcal d'Osona and Mr. Sergi Vilamala, Mayor of Les Masies de Voltregà.The parliaments of the authorities defined us as integrative school, active and open to the environment and who looks after the development of the students. During the academic event, the awards "Q" were given, that each year are given in recognition of the companies and people who contribute to the school. This year, the award was for the company Juscafresa S.A and Codina Maquinària and Mr. José Santaella. A great dinner was prepared by our cooks, which consisted of rice salad and meat to the ember. After having lunch, as every year, we had the chainsaw competition. The winners were Santi Hidalgo, Eduard Jou, Xavi Corominas and Pau Davesa. ¡It was a great party! As usual thanks to all the students, ex- students, teachers, non-teaching staff, friends and EFA Quintanes's collaborators. We are grateful for all their dedication and participation, without which couldn't have been done La Festa.
Thursday, 16 of May, the first CFGM students of d'aprofitament i conservació del medi visited the Camprodon volunteer fire station. There, they explained to them the differences between volunteer firefighters and professional firefighters. Besides, they could visit all the installation of the fire station, know first-hand and how to act in an emergency and see all the fire truck equipment. After all these lines, we want to thanks Francesc and Pere, as well as GRAE who attended to us with their explanations
The biologist Josep Maria Riba was in a professional get-together with the second CFGS students of Gestión Forestal (Forest Management). The theme was about factors that predispose and trigger plagues and illness in forest areas mass and how to manage these elements to minimise the cost and problems.We could analyse the Maresme's forest situation mass and the different Pirineo's forest areas.Also, they discussed the problem between natural parks of USA and Canada. Once the meeting ended, he shared with all of us his experiences and his big insect collection (with adult and larva size), insect galleries and symptoms that throughout his professional life he has been collecting. In this way, we ended up knowing clearly how are the main plagues of perforators and defoliators of Catalonia.
On May 23, the second students of GM of gardening had a working day with little excavators, machines very used in the gardening sector. The working day started by doing all the theoric part, about the excavator's functioning, the controls, the maintenance, the purchase and rent price, the efficiency and, especially, the precaution and security required when we work with them. When the theoric part was done, we switched to the practice part. The students, all and each of them, could practice either with the little excavator or the little rotating machine. It was a very good experience that will help them in professional life because they will be able to rent and work these machines with security and knowledge. At this point, we would like to express our gratitude towards the implication of Mr Carles Viladecans during the day.
Student visit of the second GMF group. The students visited Camadoca's wild fauna centre. It's a centre managed by the Asociación de Defensa y Estudio de la Fauna y la Flora Autóctona (ADEFFA) which works in different Berguedà's native fauna conservation projects, like naiads and native crabs. With the visit, it was expected to raise awareness among the students about the invader species problem and the importance of native species breeding programmes. Environmental education and awareness is a key line of work at the centre because through education the ecologic value of these species can be published and put in motion the importance of biodiversity and the key role that people execute when it comes to preserving the environment.
Quick visit but very intense by the school's teacher, Jordi González in Argentina from April 28th to May 5th. Among the scheduled activities, he assisted to the "Encuentro del Consejo de Administración de la Asociación Internacional de Movimientos Familiares de Formación Rural " (AIMFR), of whic he is the coordinator. Also, he was intervened as a guest from the "Ministerio de Eduación" to the 3º "Congreso Internacional de Escuelas de Alternancia" in Posadas city. Mr González visited three EFA and four ex-students to exchange impressions about their professional projects, know more about the rural environment situation of the country and its pedagogical aspects teaching in the EFA.
This month March has ended the “Herramientas de Interpretación” classes, “Comunicación y Gestión” of the first edition of the course. We leave behind the sessions of “Análisis del Paisaje y de las Actuaciones Paisajistas”, in relation with the new interventions like the ones that are related with the maintenance aspects and environmental reality conservation of the forest and gardening sector. The sessions have been in a class combined with some interesting and varied countryside trips, lead them by numerous landscapists, technicians of the sector and Universidad de Vic’s teachers.
+ info: http://www.quintanes.com/curs-paisatge-rural
Quintanes increase the machinery park for the “Jardinería” students with a battery lawnmower of the ECHO brand. Thanks to the collaboration we’ve done with Garriga’s Honda-Echo and Manresa’s Aldimak, we have managed to get this latest generation lawnmower. Battery machines, past and future, are the students' tools that use to test, to see and verify its efficiency and the results they offer. Therefore, we want to express our gratitude for the collaboration and involvement of these company in the traineeship of our students.
Student visit in Terrassa’s Vallparadís parks with the 2º GM students of “Jardinería”. We have explained aspects related to the management and the maintenance of public parks. Vallparadís park is made by three torrents: “Vallparadís”, “Monner” and “Ànimes”. Through the years the farmers distinguished the different areas of this green lung with the following names: “Torrent de les Bruixes”, “Torrent de Sant Pere”, “Torrent de Santa María”, “Hortes dels Frares”, “Hortes velles” y “Hortes de la Font de Sagrera.” The Vallparadís’s project period was adjudicated to Manuel Ribas Piera’s studio, an urbanist architect. The park was opened on February 8th, 1995 and made accessible to the citizens the first part of the actual park. In the subsequent stages that developed until its finalization. More than 395.000 m2 of green zone turn into one of the biggest urban parks of Catalonia. Vallparadís is Terrassa's green lung with a 3’9 km of length.
+ info: https://www.terrassa.cat/vallparadis
On Tuesday, 19 March Mr Jorge Heras, boss of the “Sección de Planificación del Departamento of Generalitat de Catalunya” gave us a professional get together. He has different functions. On the one hand, he is in charge of projects development and public investment programs in forestry hydrology area, hydrology restoration of basins, defence against erosion and avalanches and, preservation of forestry lands. On the other hand, he informs about the suggestions of urgent interventions zones. Also, Mr Jorge Heras is responsible for studying preventatives structures against forests fires in projects about reforestation and natural regeneration. And, he is in charge of elaborating programmes about forestry production, of improvement and pasture ordering. So, the get together definitely has been very interesting and rewarding.
