The IES Santa Catalina de Alejandría is a public school (High School) placed in Jaen,

Andalucía. It is located in the north of the city, an area of current commercial

expansion and services, and close to other secondary and primary schools.

Therefore, it is integrated in the social and urban structure of the city and in a

mostly school zone.
Jaén is a city with just over 120,000 inhabitants, in which the Service Sector predominates (civil service, trade, etc.). In a second place would be placed the Agriculture Sector, what is very important for the development of the project and for the achievement of the objectives (we can not forget that our province is the most important olive oil producer in the world), and the Industry in third place. We can not ignore the existence of unemployment and precarious and short-term jobs, which especially affect women and young people. The population is therefore quite heterogeneous and has a medium economic level.
In the family structure of the students, the diversity of family models and of provenance is increasing.
The academic and cultural level of the educational community is very heterogeneous and varied, although most of the group is of medium level.
During the last school years, all the levels of ESO, the four Bachillerato modalities (Technological, Biological, Humanities and Social Sciences) and the Higher Education Cycles of Communicative Mediation and Social Integration have been given in our school. In the current school year there are at about one thousand students enrolled and distributed in thirty-two groups: 17 of ESO, 9 of Bachillerato and 6 of Higher Education. Likewise, different programs, work groups, teacher training courses, etc. are developed. The school welcomes to the university students who are doing the Practicum phase of the Master in Secondary Education. Many cultural and extracurricular activities are organized.
The school days are from Monday to Friday, from 8:15 to 14:45 hours, with a break of 30 minutes. Wednesdays afternoons are dedicated to meetings and attention to families or legal representatives of students. Furthermore, in the afternoon, cultural and sport activities are carried out and the reinforcement projects are developed to help families.
Families are integrated into the life of the School through their participation in the School Council, the Parents Representatives and the AMPA (Families Association).
On the other hand, the school keeps a fluid relationship with all the institutions of its surroundings, public and private, trying to integrate them in the activities of the school and encouraging their participation in the activities that they program.

For several years, the IES Santa Catalina has opted for the internationalization of the center. The school has been involved in the European exchange programs Comenius and Erasmus + with countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Italy and Sweden. These exchanges and projects have led to an improvement of the English language level and new languages such as German and Italian, as well as an increase in the number of applications to study at this school.
The school, through the different projects in which it is involved, is trying to rise the educational community awareness about different aspects that are producing a certain social alarm during the last times and that deserve to be carefully addressed: overweight and obesity and the distance of the guidelines of the healthy Mediterranean Diet; diseases associated to negative health habits; Globalization and Industrialization and its influence on trade and our daily consumption habits, as well as awareness of the need of protecting our environment.
There are multiple subjects that have contents that address all these issues and from which we are trying to encourage the creation of integral and committed citizen awareness to the values promoted by the different administrations. These include: Natural Sciences, Biology, Physical Education, Technology, Industrial Technology, Economics, etc. There are many activities organized for this purpose from the different Departments: workshops, talks, visits, etc.
On the other hand, and as we have mentioned in the previous section, there are many projects and activities that are contributing to such aims: Forma Joven y Prevenir para Vivir (youth health habits), Eco-Schools (encourage an eco-friendly school), School Garden, Healthy breakfasts (Andalusian day celebration) and a Program for the promotion of after-school sports practice.
To conclude, say that the school has a fully qualified staff and equally committed to these aspects previously mentioned.