I’ve been studying in IES 9 Valles for six years now. I came here initially because in my school, all students were moved here, so it was not a personal choice. I’ve been taught by many teachers, and I’ve learnt a lot since I started. IES 9 Valles is placed in Reocín, and teenagers from different villages study here. It is also known that this is one of the high schools with higher level in Cantabria, and it is probably because many teachers are very demanding, but also good educators.
Talking about installations, it is not so good. The gym is very small, and many times, if two groups have physical education at the same time, one group in sent to a class, or, if the weather allows it, they take their lesson outside.
On the other side, we have two ICT rooms with computers enough for each group.
Our technology classes are very well equipped and we have many materials to work with. Besides, many classrooms are now digital classrooms, with a video projector and an interactive blackboard, but, they are not usually used… We also have an auditorium, but it is not big enough, and it is not good enough either.
We are very proud about our cafeteria, because only a few high schools have it; it can provide us with coffee, coke, all kind of sweets and sandwiches. There is also a library, where you can find the compulsory books for every year.
Now let’s talk about teachers. In IES 9 Valles you can find many “species” of teachers. It is true that it happens the same in every high school, but the contrast is peculiar.
You can find a university teacher in a class, and a schoolteacher in the other, working in the same conditions but with different methods. As I have said before, there are very good educators, but only a few of them are active enough. Only a selected group of them try to develop the school and make something for it, the others just go there for working, and don’t want to hear anything about “activities”.
On the other side, but with a point in common, we have the school rules. We, students, are supposed not to do many things, and to do others, but real life is very different.
Rules are not always followed, and we are not usually punished for that. And in other cases we are unfairly punished, and we can’t do anything.
Anyway, if you are a normal student, you won’t have any problem, but if your behaviour is not correct, you’ll pay for that, sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly.
Finally, I have to say that students here are usually well-behaved, the level is higher than other schools, but we have good teachers to make it accessible, and we may not have a good gym, but we can compensate it with our ICT rooms and our digital classrooms, and also our cafeteria.
Normally you can have a great experience here, but get ready to study!


by Jaime Herrero