The competition takes place in the National College of Informatics, Piatra Neamţ.
The National College of Informatics, Piatra Neamţ, having a theoretical profile and specializing in mathematics-computer science, with intensive computer science classes, is of one of the eight such schools in the country, being the only one in Neamţ county. Due to the uniqueness of its profile, the college includes students from the whole county, 40% of whom come from the rural environment.
- National College of Informatics
The National College of Informatics has the mission of educating youths in the spirit of democratic citizenship respecting the equality of chances in their training to become citizens of a united Europe. Its mission is also to encourage students and teachers to accomplish their knowledge and individual development potential in view of adapting to a new dynamic society. The college is preparing its students for university entrances (the annual insertion rate being of 95%) and for acquiring IT competences, which are required in every field of activity.
The college benefits from high quality human resources, i.e. a total of 45 teachers, out of whom 83% have the 1st and 2nd degree in teaching and Ph.D., as well as 13 auxiliary teaching staff. The 911 students of the school are distributed in 24 high school classes and 8 secondary education classes, being selected after exams and competitions. They are involved in promoting the cultural and artistic values, in national and European projects seeking to improve the education quality in the school, intercultural education, entrepreneurial education, environmental education, education against violence and drugs, moral education, education for health etc.
This year we have celebrated 25 years of education in computer science. For 25 years, this high school has been preparing its students for a future. A future in which digital revolutions take place, in which a man travels the Earth in a day from the antipodes, in which the man learns to handle a tablet, before learning how to talk, in which we communicate more often with our friend from America rather than with our own neighbor. The teachers prepared them to have access to the job market, helped them develop their creativity, their initiative and innovative spirit through competitions and projects. The value of all these has been recognized in the three European School Certificates and in the IT field by the access in the education leaders’ network – Microsoft Showcase School.
One of the advantages of this college is that it is equipped with the latest IT means. We use four computer science laboratories equipped with 120 PCs, a multimedia laboratory equipped with a video projector, a smart board, 25 Surface Microsoft tablets and 15 laptops, a multimedia laboratory used for the study of foreign languages with phonetic equipment, 20 PCs, a video projector and a smart board. All the three science laboratories have their own computerized laboratory and data acquisition devices.
The College is a Testing Centre for the Cambridge exam, a centre of Excellency for Computer Science and an organiser of two national competitions, one of mathematics-informatics, and the other one of entrepreneurship. The theatre troupe in French has been appreciated at national and international festivals since 2005.
Using the STEAM concept, our college’s teams have been winning prizes at the CANSAT and ZEROROBOTICS international robotics competitions organised by ESA, NASA and MIT for three years.
The science and computer science teachers have an initial experience in promoting the STEM concept, awarded with prizes at international competitions which are promoting the STEM concept, organized by the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA and MIT or other stakeholders from the field:
Prizes at the Zero Robotics competition (the Netherlands, Belgium)-2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016; the CanSat competition (the Netherlands, Norway) – 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015; the second prize at the IRISS Space Robotics competition (the Netherlands); prizes for making media products and implementing European projects, organized at the Scientia Unescamus International Conference (Moscow), 2013, 2014, 2015 editions; development at the Galileo Teacher Training Programme Workshop – European Space Agency, Spain 2012 and Space Camp for teachers USA 2015, involving in the National Nicolaus Copernicus Contest – the Evolution of the Universe since the Big Bang until Now.
The teachers and auxiliary staff of our school have digital and managerial competences gained after participating in different commissions organized in our college as a Regional Centre of Computerised Admission in High Schools; as a Baccalaureate Exam Centre; as a Local and Regional Olympiad Organizing Centre in collaboration with the County School Inspectorate; as a Training and Testing Centre for ECDL, as a Centre of Excellency in Computer Science; as Microsoft IT Academy; as a MICROSOFT CERTIPORT Certified Test Centre, as a Cambridge Test Centre. Similarly, we gained expertise in IT by participating with projects in partnership with Microsoft: Pathfinder Mentor School – partners in learning with Microsoft; Microsoft Showcase School.
Our College is the promoter and organiser of two competitions approved by the Ministry of Education: The International Multidisciplinary PROSOFT@NT Competition and The National “Today’s Teenagers, Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs” Competition.
The teachers and auxiliary staff of our school have skills and competencies in the field of the internationalization of education acquired as a coordinating school or a partner of numerous projects rewarded with the certificate of European School in 2005, 2010, 2013. Among the international cooperation projects we can distinguish:
Erasmus+KA2 – “Creative Path of Learning” in partnership with Greece, Latvia, Spain, Turkey 2015-2017, guest in the program ERASMUS+ VET Learning Mobility, partner Turkey-April 2015, Comenius Bilateral “Building a Better World for Us to Live in” in partnership with Turkey 2013-2015; SES Project RO – PNSCIENCE training network with a German expert, January 2014; Comenius Bilateral “Young Journalists, Heralds of Tradition”, in partnership with an Italian school, 2011-2013; Comenius Multilateral “SOS Water”, in partnership in learning with Microsoft, 2011-2014; Comenius Bilateral “Promoting a Corner of Europe”, in partnership with a Lithuanian school, 2009-2011, Comenius Multilateral “F.L.O.R.A.” in partnership with schools form Poland, Spain, Sweden, 2009-2011; Guest school for Comenius assistant – French language, 2010-2011; Guest school for Comenius assistant – German language, 2011-2012, Guest school Comenius – individual activities by students 2013-2014; LDV – Improving Professional Competencies in PC Networks – Germany 2013.
Linguistic competencies and European values are promoted in projects that have been rewarded at competitions which promote multilingualism and multiculturalism: the first prize at the International School Festival, Italy 2013 – Alterbit -the pop-rock band, participation in the International Francophone Drama Festival, Belgrade 2013 and the International “Theatralisons Ensemble”- Florence, 2014 and 2015.