School Communications

Since 2003, our institution created the School Communication Department (SCD), with the main objective of satisfying the different communicational needs of the organization. Considering this goal, we use pedagogical, technical and technological resources to develop informative pieces in print, digital and audiovisual media. Our purpose is to offer school members the experience of school communications and the tools needed to give each one – from their different perspectives, roles or activities – the opportunity of drawing upon these resources and also benefitting others.

Hence, the SCD coordinates events for the practices of communications like the School Radio (GN 94.5) and the motion picture productions of the Diploma Program students.

Gimnasio del Norte is the main headquarters of Asociación Internacional de Radios Educativas (AIRE) – International Association of Pedagogical Radio Stations-, in Colombia. It also plans and carries out the School Communications Gathering: an annual event that meets not only Colombian schools’ students and teachers, but also worldwide school members to share topics related to media and communication activities.

In the context of this event, we have a 24-HOUR ONLINE LIVE RADIO STREAMING. This unites students and teachers from different countries: Chile, Argentina, Perú, México, etc. In international scenarios, this gathering has been acknowledged several times by its highly formative and collaborative contribution.

Students, teachers or any member of our community can take part in the different projects of school communications. Some ways in which our people participate are:

– Sending their articles or contributions to the Hello News online newspaper

– Participating in the production of school radio programs

– Being a member of the video production team for news, magazines and different audiovisual projects

– Proposing projects of school communications with pedagogical goals

Students from fifth to eleventh grade participate permanently in other processes of production in the school media, especially as a practice and extension of the Film and Communication classes. The students of other grades participate in different projects related to their units of inquiry.

Students at Gimnasio del Norte participate in activities of media and communications production, as a part of ICT and Design subjects; these fields of study are integrated in IB programs such as the PYP (Pre-K to fifth grade) and the MYP (sixth to ninth grade). Thanks to these areas of study, our students get in contact with content creation for print media (newspapers, posters, advertising images, etc.), audio pieces (podcasts, live and pre-recorded radio programs) and audiovisual material (news, magazines, chronicles, reports and short films).

During the last years of Secondary Education (Diploma Program: tenth and eleventh grades), our students can emphasize their artistic and communicative skills related to the Film Industry. This academic field not only teaches students about the seventh art history and theory, but also allows them to perform critical analysis and audiovisual productions. As a result of this really interesting process students produce short films. Through the years, many of our short films have obtained important awards in national and international festivals.