Colegio Padre Apolinar: natural light and fresh air

500 days have passed since the construction of the Padre Apolinar School for children and young people between 4 to 21 years old with special needs was completed. It is a building to which the entry of natural light and fresh air was given great importance, with a total of 193 VELUX flat roof windows.

This is so because the management team has always been clear about “the positive impact on educational action” that natural light and fresh air have on students. In this regard, VELUX highlights in its 2020 Healthy Housing Barometer that good air quality and natural light in classrooms improves the learning and concentration capacity of students by up to 15% and the speed of solving tasks in a 17%: “It is essential that in this new reality, schools have an indoor climate that is as healthy as possible to protect the well-being of children and teachers and to be able to make the most of their capacities. And we cannot let today pass, International Day of Natural Light, without emphasizing how important natural light is for our body and our performance and the need for optimal ventilation in classrooms through the proper location of windows. We are aware that it is an investment, but in the long term it will improve the performance and well-being of students throughout the life of the school, and will continue to be valued by parents and teachers long after the pandemic. We are verifying this among the teaching staff and the students of the Colegio Padre Apolinar ”, indicated Yolanda Coello, Marketing Coordinator of VELUX Iberia.

Regarding this, Juan Fernández Armenteros, director of the Obra San Martín Foundation, to which the Padre Apolinar center belongs, has commented: “Only seven months after the inauguration of the new Padre Apolinar School, the confinement arrived and we faced a totally unknown. A complex situation to which we have had to adapt, minute by minute. In a school year determined by Covid-19, natural light in the wide spaces we have and continuous ventilation have favored our physical well-being, especially because light reduces the possibility of contagion, and our psychological well-being, because it also has a positive influence in our state of mind, enhancing a positive and relaxing emotional tone ”.

In this sense, Esther Ruiz González, director of the Padre Apolinar Special Education Center and specialist teacher in Therapeutic Pedagogy, has detailed: “During these two school years we are verifying the positive effects of natural light and continuous ventilation that VELUX windows make possible. in the learning process of our students, since natural light is helping to enhance their attention and concentration, it is positively influencing their mood and preventing visual fatigue. Without a doubt, fundamental requirements to advance in the process of development and learning through educational activities and therapies ”.

“500 days to repeat”

In the words of Armenteros, the Colegio Padre Apolinar stands out for being a building with natural light “as a fundamental property in all its construction” and having a single fully functional floor, without architectural barriers and with great prominence in green areas. it has allowed students and teachers to live 500 days “to repeat”: “It has been 500 wonderful days. 500 days of joy, growth and evolution, innovation, improvement, teamwork, specialized educational activities, personalized therapies, extraordinary moments in our classrooms and in our therapeutic rooms, of being together in the face of harshness and the adversity of the Covid-19 pandemic, to strengthen our leadership in Special Education, to share the path of Education in capital letters for our students, for our families and with our team of professionals ”, summarized Armenteros.