IE Business School Works with Splash Projects to Build Covid-era Outdoor Classroom at Public School

The school, CEIP Josefina Carabias in Mataelpino, is part of the Sustainable Schools Network and prides itself on innovative teaching methodologies that take advantage of its natural setting in the pristine mountains north of Madrid. It was also the first public school in Madrid ordered to suspend classes because of the Covid-19 pandemic in the 2020-2021 academic year due to an outbreak of the virus.

Working in eight separate teams, the Master in Management (MIM) students from IE Business School participated in the 10-day event, designed to merge a team-building exercise with an act of social responsibility.

Master in Management Vice-Dean Stephanie Villemagne said CEIP Josefina Carabias was particularly hard-hit by last year’s COVID-19 outbreak.

“The need to apply COVID measures in a strict way in a limited space affected the well-being of the boys and girls,” Villamagne said. “This project is an opportunity to take advantage of the space in a safe way.”

School director Azucena Mª Zahonero Rovira said, “The pandemic has notoriously changed our relationships, social and even teaching model so, spaces like these, have become extremely important in the school. We truly believe this is an amazing opportunity to heal emotions and generate new ones.”

Parents, teachers and the town council sought to create an ambitious space for playing and interacting from a meaningful and sustainable perspective—that also respected Covid regulations for a small school of 157 children.

“The whole community had been contributing with creativity and human resources,” said Nadia Brunet Hidalgo, representing the school’s families. “But the dimension of this project goes totally beyond our reach, as we are a small school and the budget is quite limited. That’s the reason this project is so big. We didn’t even imagine that we could have something like this.”

According to the dean, the exercise helps teach students to create the future.

“In line with the SDGs and the years left to reach the goals set for 2030, at IE we believe that each of us and all of us together can help change the way we understand and do business so that doing good becomes a norm.”
Stephanie Villemagne, Master in Management Vice-Dean

Splash Projects Limited works with companies to get them involved in volunteer work on a local community scale. The activities they organize encourage collaboration in both the learning and working environment.

Desire Lopez Martin-Lara, Master in Management Program Coordinator, said the experience of taking part in a project that directly affects a community and leaves a lasting legacy impresses upon students their role in building the future.

This specific project consisted in literally building-- using their hands, tools, wood and other materials to create an open classroom and a themed play environment for children at the school. 

For many MIM students, this activity was the first time they had volunteered their services requiring physical labor. Belgian student Frédérique Teuwen said she was impressed by the faith the Splash workers had in the inexperienced MIM students who had never built anything previously.

“Our group was the first section to arrive at the construction site, so we had to start from scratch and needed to establish the base on which other sections must build further. Although this was an important job, the Splash workers didn't impose any of their methods on us. We were therefore allowed to work fully autonomous because Splash trusted and believed in our capabilities,” she said.

The master students praised the unusual teaching method that allowed them to participate in a community-building activity in Spain.

“The Splash project was an eye-opening experience for me, it showed me how much people can accomplish together working in teams even if they don’t know each other and have never worked together before.”
Irene Tasso

“These kinds of community experiences firstly help us understand the culture we are moving into and give us the opportunity to give back to a society that is going to adopt us,” said Irene Tasso.

More importantly, they applauded the chance to make a difference in children’s lives.

“It's a wonderful feeling to know that the children will make life-lasting memories at the playground that we constructed as a team.”
Frédérique Teuwen, student