Comenius

You can now download some informative flyers about Comenius opportunities by clicking on the following links:

Comenius is part of the European Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP). It provides opportunities for schools and colleges to introduce or strengthen the European dimension in their curriculum. eTwinning is part of Comenius and supports online partnership links. Visit www.britishcouncil.org/etwinning to get involved.

Comenius surgeries and seminars are held to give information and support to schools interested in Comenius.

Comenius partnerships for schools and colleges provide a great opportunity for creative and collaborative work between staff and students from across Europe. Working with partners in other parts of Europe can invigorate teaching and learning and enrich your local community. Partnerships can focus on any theme related to the curriculum, management issues, or language learning. Comenius partnerships last for two years with a lump sum grant to cover administration, activity costs and travel. The size of the grant depends on the number of pupils and teachers that will travel to visit partner countries throughout the duration of the partnership.

Comenius preparatory visits and contact seminars You can apply for preparatory visit funding to visit your partners before you apply for funding in order to prepare your partnership application. Alternatively, you can apply for funding to attend a contact seminar in the UK or abroad.

Comenius In-service Training provides European in-service training for staff involved in school education and opportunities for trainee teachers. It also provides the opportunity to develop teaching resources.

Comenius Assistants are intending and trainee teachers who are placed in schools and colleges across Europe. They can help to enhance the European and cultural dimension across the curriculum, as well as offer classes in their native language. Placements may be from three to ten months.

For more information visit Comenius.

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COMENIUS - Multi-Lateral Partnership

Yealmpstone Farm - European Day of Languages

The children at Yealmpstone Farm Primary School have been celebrating the European Day of Languages on September 25th. Parents, carers and the school community were invited to an open afternoon where the children had prepared interactive activities based on their Comenius partner countries (Spain, Romania, Slovenia, Greece, Poland, Italy and Portugal)

The visitors were invited to eat Slovenian biscuits in the infant role-play area and were treated to italian olives and pasta dishes by the Year 4 pupils. Language taster sessions were awaiting them in the Key Stage 2classe, matching captions and building words in the languages spoken in the partner countries. A European quiz was distributed to the pupils, staff and to the visitors. The children and adults had to visit each class to answer all questions about the seven partner countries.

Later in the week the Year 6 pupils liaised with their Portugese partner school via web-conferencing. The children discussed the activities which took place in both schools on the Eurpean Day of Languages. Two months later, Jack and Tia went to Clovenia, accompanied by their teachers Mr Calvert and Mrs McKenna. They stayed in host families and took part in a Eurovision song contest organised by the Slovenian host school. The children kept a diary of their trip to Slovenia, which is available on the school website. www.yealmpstoneprimary.co.uk

Patrica Kernevez - Yealmpstone Farm Primary School

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COMENIUS Multi-Lateral Partnership

Estover Community College - Project on Energy

Energy - is a simple word but, it would be difficult to imagine our lives without it. Energy is the focus of our Comenius Project and has enabled us to create successful partnerships with France Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Our application with the British Council has enabled our students to build some great relationships with students from our partner schools that will hopefully continue to be built upon long into their adult lifes.

Trip to Germany

At the end of October two members of staff, along with three pupils travelled to Hausach in the Black Forest. We recieved the content rich programme of events in plenty of time before our visit. This gave us the opportunity to prepare our students for their visit. With such a busy schedule there was doubt amongst us whether there would be a time to sleep. Our trip began with an overnight stay in Longdon before flying out to Stuttgart early the following day. This was followed by a short train journey to the Hausach where we were eagerly greeted by our partners and students and taken to our hotel for a good night's sleep.

On the second day we were greeted by two students who showed us the way to their school. The morning was spent getting familiar with students and staff from our partner countries - Spain, Denmark, Czech Republic and of course Germany. This was complimented with an afternoon of fun and games. The following two days were filled with vaious excursions to landmarks within the Black Forest. One visit took us to a museum that showed how waterwheels, windmills etc were used to produce energy in the past before the invention of electricity. Next we went on an hour long bus journey to visit a water turbine factory. Here the students were shown how the turbines were manufactured, followed by a trip to a water plant to see them in use. Our entire stay with our host school was made very enjoyable and some great ideas were exchanged between our students about how they would like to continue their work within the project.

What we expect in the near future?

In the middle of January, students had another opportunity to go to one of our partner countries. This time the visit took them to the Loire Valley in France.

Paul Elliott - Estover Community College

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COMENIUS Bi-Lateral Partnership

Sustaining the Environment from Plymouth to the Artic Circle

Pupils from Devonport High School for Girls have just spent two years working with their partners from Laanilan Koulu, Finaland on Student Solutions to Maintaining Future Sustainable Development. This partnership stemmed from the work of DHSG with Comenius.

Bexy Dew writes:

The Comenius bilateral project with our partner school in Oulu, Finland, has given me an excellent insight into how to achieve a future of sustainable development and has allowed me to get to know people from another culture and country. Our aspect of the project was based on - why energy conervation in the home was important for a sustainable future. We then compared the sustainability of our homes in England to that of our partners in Finland, working in a group of six.

Before we started, we all presumed that Finland would be a more energy efficient country than England, as we felt we did not do very much, as a country, to conserve energy. However our research revealed that our pre-conceptions were incorrect, for example, England came 2nd whereas Finland came 36th in the climate change performace index of 2007. At our final presentation in Oulu, we spoke half in Finnish and half in English. Before the Comenius project I had not experienced speaking to an audience; therefore I personally felt that the presentations improved my public speaking and this has given me confidence to speak out in the future.

I enjoyed all the day trips that we attended, but I felt that the two most enjoyable trips were to Paignton Zoo and Ranua Wildlife Park in Finland, where we saw animals native to Finland and England, thererfore giving us the opportunity to see how animals live in contrasting climates. However the most remarkable experience that I gained from this project was the simple luxury of living in the Finnish climate. Before this trip I had never experienced more than a sprinkling of snow on the ground, so to be able to step out form front doors of buildings for ten whole days and to stand up to knee deep in snow was simply extrodinary.

A significant difference that really stood out to me between the students in Plymouth and those in Oulu was that the majority of students in Oulu travel to school by bike or public transport, even in the demanding cold of Oulu. I feel that we should make a greater effort to walk or cycle to school to reduce our carbon footprints and help reduce pollution. Over all I enjoyed every minute of this exchange, I learned a great deal about sustainability and feel that this information has affected my life personally; it has forced me to consider everything I do, and how much my life is contributing to climate change ans other world dilemmas.

Andrea Greenacre writes:

I gained a lot personally from this project. Not only did I learn a lot and was able to use my knowledge, I was able to improve my people skills as I had to communicate with people from two completely different nationalities. These skills were required a lot with my partner who was very shy in England, but when i saw her in her home environment we had a lot of fun and made a lasting friendship. One of the main things that attracted me to the trip, was the fact that it combined two subjects, languages and science. This meant that it was a lot more interesting and was also a lot more challenging, which made it all the more fun. I also gained several new experinces on the visit and enjoyed all of the trips we went on immensley. I think my favourite experience was the two-day coach tour to the northern parts of the country as we got to see a lot in a short amount of time. We also went up to the Artic Circle which was really amazing. If I had to choose one individual experience, I would have to choose the snow castle as it was an awe-inspiring place and it was also a very interesting building - with the themes and the carvings it was a feast for the eyes and mind. It was amazing that such a structure could be built so magnificently out of just ice.

Overall it was a magnificent trip and I would love the opportunity to go again. I think that everyone gained a lot from it and that it was a really fun way to learn things as well as make new foreign friends.

Elspeth Wiltshire

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