Information and Library Center, created in Satka school No. 4 named after V.G. Nekrasov with the support of Magnezit Group and Sobranie Fund is a completely different world. Modern, bright, open space has already been called “a wonderful island of happiness” and “the center of attraction of new events”. It was created thanks to the Design School project of the National Research University “Higher School of Economics”.

If you go up to the second floor of the school and look into the left wing of the building, you will find yourself in a different place and understand why the students are not coming, but running here on a break. They want to be the first ones to occupy a cozy place in the birdhouse niches, on bright poufs that look like turtle shell, or on a sofa-transformer. In this student lounge you can not only relax and chat with friends, but also study using a screen (one of the walls of the foyer plays its role along with the role of a magnetic board) and a projector.

Down the hall behind the transparent walls and doors there are three ultra-modern and very cool (both in form and content) audiences: a reading room-library, a computer science room and an IT polygon. Each space arouses admiration: it surprises, inspires, cheers you up, attracts and does not let go... It will be absolutely comfortable here and interesting not only for students and teachers, but also parents, guests, partners of the school on a variety of projects and events.

The initiators and creators of the project, as well as the representatives of partner organizations who helped to implement the idea, and the parent committee came to congratulate the school on the opening of the modern space.

- We would like each school of Satkinsky district to have similar educational spaces opened. All conditions for comfortable classes of students at every age are created here, – Alexander Glazkov, the head of the municipality pointed out and handed Recognition letters for the implementation of the project to the heads of the Sobranie Fund, Magnezit Group, Satkinsky District Development Assistance Fund, the National Research University “Higher School of Economics” and CityPartner Company.

- I am sure that today's event will be further developed, and young people who study here will acquire new professions and will come to work at advanced production, – Vasily Verzakov, the Deputy General Director of Magnezit Group said. He pointed out that the company actively invests not only in the development of the most advanced technologies, but also in the development and education of the younger generation.

- We do it from the heart, – Vasily Aleksandrovich noted, – the main thing is that this development will have no gap between school and vocational education. And a new, modern platform for educational activities will be fully provided with everything necessary, Magnezit Group gives the school a certificate for expansion of library collection, as well as a symbol of the future “Magnezit” – periclase is our most upscale product from the line of the new brand “Russian Magnezit”.

There were many gifts on this day – certificates, books, magnetic marker boards, decoration items, souvenirs and others. There were also gifts of a completely different kind: a seminar was organized for teachers and school administrators on Designing Programs for the Development of Educational Institutions Based on the Data, and ideas for development of the Center and forms of cooperation with cultural and educational institutions were born at a School Information and Library Center as a Modern Information and Educational Environment round table.

- We see how quickly today the environment is changing especially in the business sector, where everything is created to embrace and lure us, to be friendly, and cultural and educational institutions begin to fall critically behind in this regard. When the child is about to enter, he faces the fact that, when you enter an apartment, where everything is created for your comfort, you get into an environment, which has not actually changed since your parents' school days, – said Natalya Logunova, the Deputy Head of the Design School of the National Research University “Higher School of Economics”. – Thanks to the design of the environment, the path of development becomes clear and the development itself becomes possible. Good form never interfered with good content. If you remember the traditional school (for example, in the times of the Russian Empire), it has been always cooler than the environment where children lived. And if we create spaces to which children and adults would like to aspire to, the area becomes the center of the community. Here you start to feel completely different, new projects and networking begin to appear. And when our students were working on the project, they thought about how it could go beyond school and, in particular, influence the urban environment. It can be transformed not only in similar models in other schools, but also push to completely new projects.

The theme of development was further developed in other proposals. So, Elena Kacheva, the Head of the Regional Information and Methodology Center of Chelyabinsk Institute of Retraining and Advanced Training of Education Personnel, noted that the center can become a place for the accumulation of various directions, with the most important ones – upbringing, education and culture. “Here technologies acquire a human face, she pointed out, – the goal is not in the forefront, but the content — why we do it — is. And when business, administration, culture and science perform such wonders, you develop both yourself and others.” Natalya Nikiforova, the Director of the Sobranie Fund, wished the Center to have as many events as possible, which will open new names, create new meanings and forms of cooperation. It will help the school interaction with other institutions — libraries, museums, palaces of culture. Magnezit Group and the company museum can expand library collection with interesting publications and help in organizing all kinds of events for audience of different age.

Photo by Anna Filippova and Vasily Maksimov. 

The source is the Magnezitovets.