Compulsory schooling in Italy starts in the year during which the pupil has his or her 6th birthday, and continues to 16. Following recent legislation, however, it is now possible for children to start school earlier, at 5 1/2. There are five years of Primary School (Scuola Elementare), three years of Middle School (Scuola Media), and five years of Senior School (Scuola Superiore), of which three are compulsory.

24 September 2008 Five of Livorno's schools - one from each circoscrizione - have been chosen to take part in this year's local Clean Up the World campaign, locally known as Puliamo il Mondo.

The classes involved will be briefed about their tasks tomorrow morning (25 Sep), and on Friday will be out and about to take stock of the state of their environment. They will be asked to take photos of urban decay around their schools, including illegal dumps, abandoned motorcycles, dangerous road crossings and holes in the roads and pavements.

15th October 2008 Considering the alarming local newspaper headlines regarding teenage road accidents - especially involving mopeds - over the past few weeks, I welcome the news that the local council, the Comune di Livorno, is continuing its efforts to educate Livornese school children about road safety.

Three separate campaigns are being launched by the local Polizia Municipale aimed at pre-school, primary and secondary school pupils. The campaign for pre-school and primary schools is entitled "A Spasso Sicuri in Città con la Polizia Municipale" (Safety Around Town with the Municipal Police).

Virzì auditions school pupils for his new film

Auditions at Banditella Primary School, 4th DecemberLocal film director Paolo Virzì is currently causing a stir in Livorno by holding auditions in local schools for his new film.

Pupils at many of Livorno's primary and middle schools have been invited by Virzì's film production company, Motorino Amaranto to take part in auditions to find the right faces for the forthcoming film entitled (provisionally) La Prima Cosa Bella ('the first good thing'?).

The film, which will be set in Livorno, will follow the life stories of the main characters, so the production team needs to find children who look like young versions of the adult actors. Filming will begin in March 2009 and the film will be released on an international scale by Medusa, and by Mediaset and Sky for television.

Protect our Schools8th October 2008 During the summer Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini pushed through a new law (decreto legge 137, 1 September 2008) regarding the Italian education system. It seems it is time for more reforms. The main reason for this is to make cuts in education spending. How? By returning to a primary school system abandoned 60 years ago which would effectively lead to the redundancy of more than 70,000 teachers and 44,000 non-teaching school staff throughout the country.