Centro Educativo Ponce De Leon

The Centro Educativo Ponce de León is a semi-private educational center in Madrid, located in the Usera district, with over fifty years dedicated to the comprehensive education of children, young people, and adults, with special attention to the deaf community. Its educational project is inclusive and seeks the maximum personal development and capabilities of its students, and it has specialists in students with hearing disabilities. Spanish Sign Language is part of its identity, and the center has resources for its learning and use.

In the stage of Compulsory Secondary Education, the center works with a single group per course and a maximum ratio of twenty students per classroom, which allows for close support of the students. All classes have Sign Language interpreters, and the specialized support teachers for deaf students work alongside the main teacher of each subject. Among the methodologies applied are flexible groupings, splitting classes, small group explanations, practical and area-based work, and content adaptation, in addition to the use of Chromebook devices, which students begin to use in Primary as individual work tools. The teaching staff and the teachers in Therapeutic Pedagogy for Secondary are continuously trained. The center also promotes coexistence and understanding among students through Erasmus mobility experiences, for which it is authorized until 2027 and from which more than thirty students benefit each year.

Among its services and initiatives are the school cafeteria, with a published menu, resources in Spanish Sign Language, Erasmus+, environmental commitment through Ecoambiente, its status as a UNICEF Friendly School, and its participation in the Regional Drug Plan of the Community of Madrid. The center also provides information to families and an admission process, and it has a reporting channel and a space for those who wish to work there.