Welcome to the website of Agy Tanoda, the Hungarian-English Bi-lingual Elementary
School. You can find a lot of valuable information here, which I myself found
useful while preparing for my role as a director of the institution from 1 July,
2009. I discovered this school while I was browsing the internet. Its rich tradition,
pragmatism, and location, at the meeting of the Stream Bükkös and the Danube
in the town of Szentendre, makes it really special.
In my dreams, I have always pictured an institution where children are safe
both physically and mentally. The school has a good, stress-free atmosphere,
where children go to gain knowledge. The children who graduated from this school
do well in their further education. As adults, they will think of their elementary
school as the place where they took their first steps towards adulthood, where
they learnt the basics, and where they learnt to sread their wings.
What do we need to establish a school that fulfils all these expectations? We
need (to):
goals
work
persistence
well-prepared teachers who love their profession and are committed to the
school
expectations from the students and from ourselves
consistency
attention
teach the material of the school curriculum as well as educate the children
community
and tolerance.
What is probably most important is success.
Success to the students, to the parents, and to the teachers as well.
But what do we consider to be success?
Success is when one achieves an outstanding result in a competition.
Success is when one moves up from grade 2 (D) to 3 (C).
Success is when one goes home and tells their family what interesting facts
they have learnt that day at school.
Success is when a pupil does not only wait for the bell to ring.
Success is when a pupil does not go into class with butterflies in their stomach.
However, the biggest success is when children actually do something to avoid
this bad feeling.
Success has always been the driving force for me in my duty as a subject teacher
and a headmistress as well. I am not only pleased when my pupils do well in
competitions, but also when a child with more modest abilities gets a little
closer to understanding. Contrary to common belief, obtaining knowledge does
not have to go hand in hand with anxiety, it can be full of a sense of achievement.
In my experience, I know this is achievable.
I firmly believe that doing one's best to meet the requirements and expectations
does not contrast with harmony, a good school environment, or being well-balanced,
but is, in fact, a necessary condition to this. Making the maximum effort to
do one's best must be a child's inner need, as we teachers can only accompany
them on this road.
Bearing this in mind, I ask you, kind reader to come and get to know our school.
I encourage you to visit us to have a taste of the life in the Tanoda School
so as to understand what it really means to live in the shelter of our symbol,
the pencil snail shell, to feel what it is like to be an "Agyas" pupil, and
to see the sparkle in the eyes and the smile on the faces of our children.
