Asti Leku Ikastola is a Basque private school, created in 1963, located in Portugalete (Biscay). It currently has 1,800 students (approx.) and is one of the largest private schools in the Basque Autonomous Community and in the whole Basque Country.

Asti Leku Ikastola
Address
Map
Grumete Diego, 19


Basque Country

Spain
, ,
48910
Coordinates43°18′58″N 3°01′47″W / 43.3162°N 3.0296°W / 43.3162; -3.0296
Information
School typeprivate school, private school
MottoIt is modified annually
Established1963
FoundersSabin Ipiña, Juantxu Beitia, Alejandro Echevarría, Félix Arambarri and others
PrincipalJesús Bilbao
Age2 to 18
LanguageBasque, Spanish, English, French
Websitehttps://astileku.eus
In Basque, the official name of the educational center is "Asti Leku" (which means literally "leisure place"). The term "ikastola" means "school" in Basque. The equivalent in English would be "Asti Leku School" or "Asti Leku College". In addition, in Spain there is a difference between "college" (private/independent education) and "school" (public/state education). So it could be translated with both terms.

The school contains both primary and secondary school (high school), and it offers kindergarten, primary education, secondary education, Spanish Baccalaureate education and Selectividad,[1] from 2 to 18 years. It is one of the private schools most known and prominent in the Basque Country.[2][3]

The school has been the alma mater of a President of the Basque Government, deputies, mayors of different cities and other politicians and notable alumni. In addition, its teaching team has included a President of the Basque Government, a Leader of the Opposition in the Basque Parliament, deputies and other notables.

The school was created in the Francoist Spain and its objective was to instill the Basque language, the Basque culture and the historical and cultural values of Basque Country.[4]

The owner of the school is the enterprise "Asti Leku Cooperative Society"[5] (teaching cooperative enterprise), and it is associated in Ikastolen Elkartea, association of all the Basque Country's cooperative owned private schools. As of 31 December 2020, the cooperative "Asti Leku S. Coop." had a total of 2,409 cooperativist member families (the families are the owner members of both the cooperative and the school).[6]

History

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The school arose in a complex process, through which several private schools of the territory were incorporated until arriving at the great school that is nowadays, a reference in Biscay. Everything arose from the initiative of a group of families, who undertook a long journey in the teaching of Basque by their own private homes. These families wanted to build an innovative educational project, which includes the cultural, social and linguistic values of the Basque Country. Among the promoters of Basque culture, like Sabin Ipiña, Juantxu Beitia, Alejandro Echevarría, Pablo Escudero, José Miguel de Barandiaran ...[7][8]

It began in 1963 with the creation of the Elai-Alai school in Portugalete. The priest and promoter of Basque folklore and culture, José Miguel de Barandiarán, and Sabin Ipiña were some of the many people involved in the project, they took their first steps in the Francoist Spain, and they have to look for a student in their homes.[9] Soon after, the Bihotz Gaztea school in Santurtzi, the Umeen Etxea children's school in Sestao (in 1968), the Itxaropena school in Trapagaran and the Alkartu school in Barakaldo were created, which were integrated into Asti Leku in the following years and in 1971, the children's schools were unified in the Patronato de Sestao in Sestao.[10]

In 1975 the enterprise Asti Leku S. Coop.[5] (consumers' co-operative business) was created, as holder of the school, at whose first Annual general meeting the first outline of what would be the new school was presented and the land was bought. That design responded to the intention of combining sport, culture, leisure and education and once approved, the advertising campaign was launched throughout Biscay: "Let's see if we can / Denon artean egiten badogu, danona izango da".

In 1978 the school moved to Portugalete and the current Primary Education building was inaugurated. That same year, the first general director of the company and the director of the ikastola were hired. In 1980 the schools Elai-Alai, Repélega (Urepelaga) and Lora-Barri (Portugalete) and Umeen-Etxea (Sestao) entered the Asti-Leku school. In 1982 the school celebrated its first Ibilaldia, and the following year, in 1983, Asti Leku Club became a Sports Society.

In 2006, the school receives the "Quality Silver Q" prize awarded by Euskalit. In 2013, it celebrates the second Ibilaldia, and in addition, its 50th anniversary.[11][12][13] In 2014, the Town Planning Agreement was signed with the Municipality of Portugalete, for the expansion of Asti-Leku, and the project "Batxilergo Berria / Nuevo bachillerato" was launched.[14]

Nowadays

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The school has four classes per course (A, B, D, E), with about 100–120 students per course and has, around, 1,900 students in total. The school has kindergarten building, pre-school education building, primary education building, secondary education building, Baccalaureate education building, four football fields, three basketball courts, a pediment, an athletics track, indoor and outdoor parking, three dining rooms, four gyms ...

The school is also the official exam centre of Trinity College London ESOL and Cambridge, as well as numerous other projects. With regard to the dining service, the school hires the services of the business Auzo-Lagun S. Coop. (belonging to the Ausolan Group, part of the Erkop Group).

The school is a reference in Biscay[15] and it is known for its good results and qualifications in Selectividad (similar to the A Level, required for university entrance).[16][17][18] The school has also been criticized for being considered "elitist and posh" and for expelling bad students from the school.

In July 2019 there was a fire in the Primary Education building.[19][20]

Agenda 21 / Agenda 2030 School Council

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Asti Leku has had a school council for several years related to "Agenda 21"[21] / "Agenda 2030"[22] (currently), on environmentalism and climate change. The school council carries out projects related to ecology, including going to the City Council of Portugalete to present their projects to municipal representatives and to the Mayor of Portugalete.[23][24][25][26][27][28] The group is framed within the Local Agenda 21 (LA21) / Local Agenda 2030, on local initiatives for sustainable development goals, global citinzenship and climate change. The group coordinator is Román Beristain. Thanks to this Agenda 2030 Local initiative, in 2023 Portugalete became the first European municipality to achieve Zero Waste in its school cafeterias.[27]

Emaiok Group

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The school created the "Emaiok Group" ("Emaiok Taldea") a few years ago.[29][30] The group's objective is to promote Basque and work in the world of Basque, for which it carries out various works related to Basque, on the International Day of the Basque Language (December 3), Basque music and dance, etc.[29] The group coordinator is Miren Matanzas. Among the former members of the Emaiok Group are, among others, Asier Alcedo, Ibabe Beristain or Iholdi Beristain, who were part of the group while studying at the ikastola, during their time as students.[29]

Notable teachers

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Notable teachers:

 
Iñigo Urkullu, President of the Basque Government

Notable alumni

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Notable students:

Awards

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  • 2006, "Q de plata de Calidad" otorgada por EUSKALIT[41]

References

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  1. ^ Similar to the A Level, required for university entrance.
  2. ^ PORTUGALETE, J. P. / (17 January 2022). "Asti Leku Ikastola, formando personas para el futuro". Deia (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Asti Leku, pertsonak hezten". Deia (in Spanish). 18 January 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Asti Leku, pertsonak hezten". El Correo (in Spanish). 12 January 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Asti Leku Sociedad Coop". Empresite España – Buscador de Empresas y Negocios de España (in Spanish).
  6. ^ "Asti Leku Cooperative Society. Annual report. 2020" (PDF). es. 2020. p. 13.
  7. ^ Deia. "Sabin Ipiña, sinónimo de compromiso social por las personas y por Euskadi". www.deia.eus (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  8. ^ "Ikastola "Asti-Leku" Portugalete. – La expansión de las ikastolas de Bizkaia". 1library.co (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  9. ^ "Íbamos de casa en casa para buscar alumnos". El Correo (in European Spanish). 24 September 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Patronato de Sestao".
  11. ^ "La ikastola Asti-Leku subraya 'el ambiente perfecto' del Ibilaldia". eitb.eus (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  12. ^ "IBILALDIA 2013: Aldapa Leunduz". Trupp Publicidad (in European Spanish). 16 October 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  13. ^ "La ikastola Asti-Leku de Portugalete destaca la participación de "miles de euskaltzales"". El Correo (in European Spanish). 27 May 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Portugalete asume el derribo de 54 casas para ampliar Asti Leku". El Correo (in European Spanish). 27 September 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Claves para el comienzo del nuevo curso". El Correo (in Spanish). 7 September 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  16. ^ "Los mejores vascos de la Selectividad se quedan en casa". El Correo (in Spanish). 2 July 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  17. ^ "Asti Leku hace "pleno" en Selectividad 2018". Asti Leku ikastola (in European Spanish). 15 June 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  18. ^ "La alumna de Asti Leku Miren Cuesta, 2º de Euskadi en Selectividad". Asti Leku ikastola (in European Spanish). 22 June 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  19. ^ "Un incendio provoca daños en la fachada y el hall de entrada de la ikastola Asti Leku de Portugalete". El Correo (in Spanish). 16 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  20. ^ "Un incendio provoca daños en la ikastola Asti-Leku. Deia, Noticias de Bizkaia". Deia (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  21. ^ "agenda 21". Asti Leku ikastola (in Basque). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  22. ^ "El blog EA 2030 de Asti Leku está en marcha de nuevo". Asti Leku ikastola (in European Spanish). 10 June 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  23. ^ "Alumnos de Agenda 21 de Asti Leku en el Ayuntamiento de Portugalete". Asti Leku ikastola (in European Spanish). 18 May 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  24. ^ enPortugalete.com (8 May 2019). "Celebrada en Portugalete una nueva edición de Agenda 21 Escolar". enPortugalete.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  25. ^ enPortugalete.com (19 January 2024). "Elegidos los nuevos temas para trabajar en la Agenda 2030 Escolar de Portugalete". enPortugalete.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  26. ^ Tele7 (18 January 2024). "Escolares portugalujos hacen propuestas al concejal de Medio Ambiente". Tele7 (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ a b "Portugalete primer municipio europeo en conseguir Residuo Cero en sus comedores escolares". Onda Vasca (in Spanish). 12 December 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  28. ^ Martínez, Diana (13 December 2023). "Portugalete da una segunda vida a la comida sobrante para ofrecerla gratis a personas sin recursos". El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  29. ^ a b c "Euskara eguna y el final de Euskaraldia en Asti Leku". Asti Leku ikastola (in European Spanish). 12 May 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  30. ^ "Asti Leku Cooperative Society. Annual report. 2011" (PDF). 2011.
  31. ^ COPE (26 June 2020). "Iñigo Urkullu, el profesor de ikastola que busca su tercera legislatura con el PNV". COPE (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  32. ^ "Euskal Literaturaren Hiztegia (ELH)" (in Basque). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  33. ^ a b "Mesedeen katean oinarrituta, balioei erreparatuz | Aldizkaria". aldizkaria.ikastola.eus. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  34. ^ "Portugaleteko Asti Leku ikastoleak 'Aldapa leunduz' lemapean antolatuko dau 2013ko Ibilaldia". bizkaie.biz (in Basque). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  35. ^ rosa, Tamara de la (17 May 2013). "Un Ibilaldia de 7,5 kilómetros allanará las cuestas del euskera en Ezkerraldea". Deia (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  36. ^ Llamas, Sergio (29 May 2023). "Ainhoa Basabe, una vida ligada al comercio local". El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  37. ^ Ormazabal, Mikel (25 November 2023). "Imanol Pradales, de alumno de Urkullu en la 'ikastola' a sucederle como candidato". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  38. ^ "Miami disfruta con las notas de un pianista de Ortuella". Deia (in Spanish). 24 February 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  39. ^ pereda, aida m (7 March 2016). "Con alma de thriller". El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  40. ^ Portugalete, Miguel A. Pardo | (3 April 2022). "Eva Martín y el triunfo de salir al escenario". Deia (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  41. ^ EUSKALIT, EUSKALIT. "List of organizations that have achieved the Q Silver and Q Gold recognitions from the Basque Government. Asti-Leku S. Coop" (PDF). p. 7.
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