Our story
The history of Kinder International School Bologna has many examples of individuals who had a strong belief in education and innovation.
The thirties, the forties and the fifties (The Foundation)
The school was founded by Dolores Amadei Giraldi (b. 1919 – d. 2022), a South Tyrolean by birth and a Bolognese by adoption. She had several teaching experiences in many schools in South Tyrol starting from the 1940s. She has also taught in the Art Institute of Ortisei and in one of the first schools of Cortina d’Ampezzo, in the Pocol area.
The sixties (1960-1967)
Kinder International School was born as a nursery school in Bologna in 1967.
Kinder Haus-today Kinder Haus International School-was born on the first hill of Bologna between Porta Saragozza and Porta San Mamolo and it is still there now.
In 1967 Dolores Amedei Giraldi, together with her daughter Federica Marianti, founds a day care centre and a nursery school (Kinder Nest and Kinder Haus), which will later become Kinder Haus, a kindergarten based on the Swiss model, where German, French and English were taught.
After the foundation of Kinder Haus, which she leaves to her daughter Federica Giraldi Marianti (the current director , who will be later supported by her sister Antonella Giraldi Pelliccioni), Dolores Amadei Giraldi for fifteen years becomes director of the “Vilfredo Pareto” high school in Lausanne (liceo-pareto.ch), which today is still the only private Swiss school allowed to award two different kinds of diplomas at the same time (the European diploma and the Baccalauréat).
During the sixties Kinder International School starts organizing study holidays abroad, taking its students to many different international destinations, such as North America, California, the Great Lakes Region between Illinois and Michigan (Chicago and Detroit), New York, Florida, the United Kingdom (London), the Netherlands (Amsterdam) and France (Paris). The school also organizes ski trips in Switzerland, Austria and in different resorts close to the Italian Alps.
The seventies
In the early seventies Kinder Haus International School became a primary school.
Between 1971 and 1981 Dolores Amadei Giraldi wrote important guides about children’s education. These guides are focused on the method founded and adopted by our school.
These guides were awarded numerous prizes and became a point of reference for the Italian school system:
- 1971/73 “Insegno in I Elementare”(«I teach in First Elementary»), “Insegno in II Elementare” («I Teach in Second Elementary»), “Insegno in III Elementare” («I Teach in Third Elementary») ,“Insegno in IV Elementare” («I Teach in Fourth Elementary») and “Insegno in V Elementare” (« I Teach in Fifth Elementary « ). 8 volumes for a total of 5.700 pages, Atlas Publishing House.
- 1975 “A Practical Guide to the Educational Activities of the Kindergarten.” 360 pages, La Scuola Publishing House
- 1981 “Un nido per bambini”. («A Nest for Children» 150 pages, Armando Publishing House.
In the schools that she runs Dolores adopts the Guides about education written by her. These Guides are so successful that they are republished more than ten times. The Guides will become the point of reference for Italian education. Thanks to this huge success the Savoy Royal Family in Geneva asks Dolores to become the instructor of the young members of the royal family. Dolores happily accepts this offer and definitively leaves the direction of the school to her daughter Federica Giraldi Marianti.
The eighties
In 1989 Dolores Amadei Giraldi is awarded the «International Golden Valentine Award» for her literary activity. In 1991 she is conferred the title of «Meritorious Academic», «in recognition of the egregious proofs of your ingenuity and in reward of the work done for social progress.»
It is during these years that our students represent the region of Emilia Romagna in cultural exchanges with the families of the students who go to Berkeley University (berkeley.edu), near San Francisco.
During these years Drama, Cooking, Mime and Dance classes have been added to our curriculum offers.
The nineties (1992 – Kinder College International School is born)
Ever since 1992 the headquarters of Kinder College International School are located in the prestigious «Convent of Osservanza» in Bologna, which dates back to 1407.
Children from all over the world come here to study. Middle School Kinder College International School was created by the need of expanding our students’ course of studies, with the aim of helping them to achieve a more complete education.
During these years judo, football, basketball and many different kinds of classical and modern dance have been added to the school activities.
The years two thousand
Kinder College International School is the first Italian Primary School that introduced the study of Chinese in its curriculum ever since the early two thousands. Today it is recognized by the Ministry of Chinese Education as one of the few schools in Italy and in the world with a « Confucius Classroom Programme » inside its facility.
During these years the study of chess has been added to our curriculum, together with fencing, robotics, creative writing, cinema and « tactile » geography (studied on maps printed in 3D). Other new subjects are the experimentation of new Apps that our students use with their own tablets while supervised by our teachers.
The years two thousand are also important for our English Summer Camps, where students can practise horse riding, tennis, swimming and many more outdoor activities. During these summer camps children have always the possibility of being helped by our teacher staff in their study and summer homework.
Today
Today our school is a well established and international reality with more than 200 students from all over the world.
Over time we have introduced new subjects and new teaching formulas in order to respond to an ever changing society.
We have extended the school day turning it to full time by increasing the choice of afternoon activities that our students will be able to practise until late in the afternoon (6:30 PM).
We keep growing generations of young individuals who will be given great responsibilities in the future. That’s why we are willing to extend our course of study to include secondary education: a project that has already started in the mid- nineties, resumed before COVID and became real in the spring of 2020, when we started working with great dedication in order to achieve our goal: offering our students an upper secondary school education with the added bonus of international programmes such as IB Baccalaureate. Kinder College International School is now an authorized school for the International Baccalaureate PYP and a candidate for the IB MYP. We also want to offer the Cambridge Schools exams which will allow us to teach the IGCSE and the A Levels , which belong to the Anglo-saxon system. We are now a candidate school. We also added Spain as a study holiday in May.
In September 2022 our eighth graders will have the possibility to decide to stay with us for four more years, by choosing a four year international high school programme. This high school programme will offer many subjects taught in English plus the numerous programmes that have been our trademark for many years.
