Los Montes secondary school puts Colmenar on the national reading promotion map

The award was presented on 18 May at the Ateneo de Madrid, in an institutional event in which the Ministry recognised outstanding projects in three areas: Reading Plans, Coexistence and Well-being Projects and Sustainable Education Centres.

The award to the school from Colmenar corresponds to Category 1, reserved for schools in towns with up to 5,000 inhabitants, in Category B, for secondary schools. IES Los Montes was also the only Andalusian school to receive an award in the specific Reading Plan category.

The Colmenar Town Hall has highlighted on its social networks that this is a recognition "of enormous importance" for the entire educational community and for the municipality of Alta Axarquía, as it projects the name of the town throughout the Spanish educational system.

"This award not only highlights the work of the school, but also projects the name of Colmenar as a municipality committed to education, culture and reading," said the Colmenar Council, which congratulated the teachers, students, families and staff of the school.

The award was collected by José María Torreblanca Perles, teacher of Spanish Language and Literature at IES Los Montes, head of the school library and coordinator of the main lines of the school's Reading Promotion Plan.

The event was chaired by the Secretary of State for Education, Abelardo de la Rosa, accompanied by the Director General for Evaluation and Territorial Cooperation of the Ministry, Mónica Domínguez. Almudena García Rosado, Director General for Educational Participation and Inclusion, represented the Andalusian Regional Government.

During his speech, the Secretary of State stressed that reading "not only contributes to improving academic skills, but also broadens personal, cultural and social horizons", an idea that fits in with the philosophy of the project developed in Colmenar.

The winning proposal from IES Los Montes is based on an integrated model that articulates the Reading Plan, the Planned Reading Plan and the reading promotion activities from the school library. The aim is that reading is not an isolated activity, but a transversal line of work shared by the whole school.

The project includes coordinated actions from different subjects, reading monitoring through Moodle Centres, literary recommendations, autonomous and guided reading, as well as cultural and creative activities that seek to turn reading into a learning, participation and enjoyment experience.

The school library plays a central role in this model. It coordinates reading, cultural and dynamic proposals that involve pupils, teachers and families. The centre claims that reading is a tool for learning, living together, imagining and looking at the world with a critical spirit.

The national recognition also highlights the school's ability to open up to the social and cultural environment of Colmenar. In this sense, the Town Council has valued the collaboration with different entities of the municipality, especially with the Municipal Public Library, which has strengthened the link between school and community.

The national award adds to an already consolidated track record. IES Los Montes had previously received the Second Prize in the VII Awards for the recognition of public centres in Andalusia with good teaching practices in school libraries and the promotion of reading, organised by the Regional Ministry of Educational Development and Vocational Training.

In addition, the school has been distinguished on two occasions with the XV and XVII editions of the Paraíso Prize for the Promotion of Reading, awarded by the Territorial Delegation of Educational Development and Vocational Training in Malaga. The school itself has recently celebrated the XVII Paraíso Prize as a further endorsement of the work carried out by its school library.

Andalusia was represented by two other schools recognised by the Ministry: CEIP Adriano del Valle, in Seville, awarded in the Coexistence and Wellbeing Projects category, and CEIP Nuestra Señora del Rosario, in Guazamara, Almeria, distinguished in the Sustainable Education Centres category.

These awards are part of the Ministry's strategy to promote educational policies linked to positive coexistence, student well-being, sustainability, educational innovation and the promotion of reading. In the case of Colmenar, the award confirms that a school in a small municipality, with only 3,700 registered inhabitants , can become a national example when there is a sustained, coordinated project shared by the entire educational community.

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