Rosa Velayos

Head of School and Elementary Mentor

I have been interested in the educational arena since I was a teenager. During those years, I worked as a recreational monitor, accompanying children and enjoying Nature, games and activities where the focus was on every kid. I also spent much time on my other great passions: dancing and theatre, which became a useful tool for my personal growth, as well as for the classroom later on.

When I finished High School, I went to London and stayed for a long time so I could speak the language. I worked as a Spanish language assistant in a little project-oriented School, where children, as little as they were, decided what to do at class and freely moved around on their slippers.

Then I decided I wanted to be a schoolteacher. So I got my degree.

During my 18 years as a schoolteacher, I have always felt there was something left to be discovered and learned, other ways of doing my job to be reached. That’s why I like taking part of discussions, seminars and workshops.

From a personal point of view, my interest and curiosity on other ways of education and learning undoubtedly grew with my motherhood eleven years ago. I knew what I wanted for my little daughter, and as a teacher in a conventional school I felt I had little time to satisfy the actual children needs. I began to explore and learn about more holistic approaches of education which were more respectful with childhood. I took part as a speaker in different training courses for teachers where the process of education and learning was based on playing, theatre, movement, improvisation, artistic expression, etc. And I also participated in the organization and coordination of a parenthood school and in conversations about new models of education and child raising.

I searched for a school project where my daughter could find what I was longing for her, and I ended up being part of it both as a mother and a teacher.

Being a teacher at Mayrit Escuela Activa is a joy. I feel this setting and our approach allows the space to develop the kind of relationship with the children that needs to be there for deep level learning to happen. I see my role as being to support the children on their individual journeys to becoming lifelong learners, who both question and celebrate the world they live in.