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ORT "Mishpahteinu" Secondary School # 12, Kazan

ORT "Mishpahteinu" Secondary School # 12 is situated in the centre of Kazan, the capital of the Tatarstan Republic in Russia. It is the result of cooperation between World ORT and the Tatarstan educational authorities. The school caters for students from the 1st through to the 11th grade and operates out of two buildings - one for elementary grades, the other for middle and senior grades. It has official status as a municipality-subsidised educational institution.

Name of School ORT "Mishpahteinu" Secondary School # 12
Location Kazan/Tatarstan Republic/Russia
Age range Elementary, Junior High, High School
Students 632
Teachers 64

General education

Alongside the general education provided in accordance with the Russian Federation National Curriculum and Curriculum of Tatarstan Republic, the school also specializes in two advanced tracks of study supported by ORT: Jewish education and technology education.  Curricula for these tracks make use of modern computer technology, interdisciplinary study and project-based learning.

Jewish Education

Informal Jewish education

Secondary School # 12, ORT “Mishpahteinu” is an integral part of Kazan’s Jewish community. All Jewish holidays are celebrated by the community with the active participation of school students, teachers, parents and graduates. A group of school alumni is one of the most active organizers of Jewish events in the city.   

Looking to the future, the main strategic direction for the school is to improve the provision of its informal Jewish education: making use of music, drama, video and even closer liaison with other community organizations.

Jewish Education Projects

Multimedia equipment and Internet allow the active use of distance technology in the educational activity. School is a member of several distance projects. One of them is a Teumim project aimed at communication of "ORT-Mishpahteinu" School students with students from twin-schools in Israel, Rishon. The purpose of the project is to increase the level of Hebrew language through direct contact with native speakers in Israel, familiarity with the life of an Israeli school.  

Technology Education

Contributions to the national education system

  • In 2015 and in 2017, Secondary School # 12, ORT “Mishpahteinu” topped the rating of the best secondary schools of Kazan.  
  • Kazan ORT organizes and conducts workshops for managers in the education system. In particular, the Kazan ORT Technology Centre – opened in 2000 – has attracted the attention of educational leaders across the region. 
  • Kazan ORT has participated in the development of an "Educational Portal" for schools in the Republic of Tatarstan (https://edu.tatar.ru/logon), and provided expertise on how to make this into a user-friendly resource. 
  • Secondary School # 12, ORT “Mishpahteinu” was the first school in Kazan to implement “Net-School” – a school-wide management information system. In 2008 the school received permission to use this electronic system as its official recording system, rather than needing to maintain paper records. Experts from the school now train colleagues at other schools in the Tatarstan Republic on using electronic information management systems. 
  • Given its status as the only school in the Tatarstan Republic with a Jewish character, the school organizes a teacher training course on the Holocaust, in cooperation with the Yad Vashem Institute. After successfully completing the course, teachers attend a two week traineeship at Yad Vashem. 
  • In 2013, the school was recognised as a vanguard school in the region for the use of ICT in pedagogical practice and management, and received a diploma award from the organization committee of the All-Russia project, "School of the Digital Era".