Comenius

The partnership plans to enable students to become aware of their responsibilities with regard to energy usage, through exchanging information with their European partner schools
It aims to enable the students to consider their personal energy consumption and discover ways in which their carbon footprint may be reduced by comparing and learning from our partners’ results
They will cooperate to plan activities and through the exchange of information and meetings learn to appreciate and respect other cultures.
The activities we plan are:

Building a website/blog
The production of a termly project newsletter
An initial survey of perceived national characteristics
A booklet containing survival phrases of all the partner languages.
Photographs of where energy is wasted in the community
A food diary. Calculation of food miles and fuel usage
Collecting, sorting and weighing rubbish
Creating posters to reduce rubbish production
Creating sculptures from rubbish
Measuring air pollution
Calculating water usage
Building an energy efficient Euro home
Getting fit in the environment
Designing an activity that uses only human energy
Surveying school-home transport and calculating energy usage
Setting up an exhibition of all work
Producing a silent video to show how energy use can be reduced
Production of a scientific –style paper which shows what we set out to do, what we did and what we achieved and an evaluation of our overall project
A glossary of technical terms

Schools

POLAND

Spoleczne Gimnazjum Doliny Strugu
Is a very small Roman Catholic school in a village in an isolated area of East Poland. The families of the students are not economically wealthy. The project will give them the opportunity to mix with students of other nationalities and learn to appreciate their cultures. We hope this experience will raise their expectations. We also wish our students to take part in the project so that they may see that they can work together with other nationalities, in spite of the fact that they come from different cultures.

Zespol Szkol nr 10 im. Prof.J.Groszkowskiego Technikum nr 7-Zabrze
The school is located in a district where there is much unemployment. It was an industrial area with many coal mines. These have shut down and many of our students’ families are experiencing financial problems and difficulties supporting their families. The city itself is very polluted, we want to learn how other countries deal with these problems. This project will give our students the opportunity to communicate and exchange information about their language and culture with other students. We believe this will encourage them to learn other languages and see that through this they will be able to facilitate relationships beyond their community. In this way we hope they will begin to develop a true European consciousness

ITALY

Istituto Istruzione Superiore-Gallarate This school is a selective secondary school in an urban and industrial area, which has a number of immigrant students. The school also has physically handicapped students. We believe that this project can help to increase the motivation of some of our students, especially through the use of ICT and making the learning of English more meaningful. In addition the use of innovative methodology, creativity and team work will make the learning of new concepts more lasting. The project will also enable our students to develop respect for other cultures and linguistic differences

Istituto Istruzione Superiore “A.Zoli”e Liceo Classico, Scientifico e Linguistico “L.Illuminati”
The school is in a tourist area but due to its location suffers from being economically disadvantaged and many of the students come from families that are non-EU. The project will give the opportunity for students to broaden their horizons and through the use of ICT and improved language skills they will be better prepared for choosing their future career both in their mother country and in United Europe

LATVIA

Limbazi Secondary School number 3
This secondary school has many students that come from low income families. This project will give them an opportunity to widen their horizons and raise their aspirations. This particularly important as the language of the project is English and it will promote the acquisition of the language. We also believe that by different cultures working together the world outlook of these individuals changes. The project will not only have an impact on our students but their families and communities

Carnivakis Primary School- Riga
A school with students from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. Their aim in joining the project is to enable their students to share their knowledge and experiences with others from different languages and cultures. Through this to work towards becoming more energy efficient in their own lives and helping the community to do the same

LITHUANIA

Kaun RajonoZapyskio Pagrindine Mokykla-Zapyskio Sen
Is a school where 30% of students are socially disadvantaged. The area of Zapyskis is an area of economic depression. This project is important so that the students learn about other cultures and life styles. The students will also have the opportunity to travel, which currently they are unlikely to be able to do.

MALTA

Ninu Cremona Lyceum Complex-Junior Lyceum (Gozo College)
- A single sex secondary school on the island of Gozo. This school is isolated from both mainland Malta and from Europe. The project offers the opportunity to meet and work with students of similar age but having different cultures and lifestyles

St Joseph’s Primary School.-Blata I-Bajda
Seeks to involve the entire school community. The socio-economic range of pupils in very wide. The school also has students with physical and educational special needs. The project is important to broaden students horizons and is particularly relevant as it will extend our knowledge on how other European cultures deal with environmental issues, which particularly concern us as an Eco-School

UNITED KINGDOM

Sandown High School
Is a large urban comprehensive and middle school with students who are economically and socially disadvantaged where unemployment is higher than the national average and academic achievement is below the national average in some areas. 14% of the students are entitled to free school meals. The school catchment area contains 3 “wards” which are identified as being severely deprived. In fact the entire Island is classed as an area of deprivation (according to the Carstairs definition). The project is important because it builds on our International school status and we are committed to European partnerships. We want to join the project because we believe that through the exchange of information and experience of other cultures that aspirations are raised and cultural and language barriers are lowered. We hope that through the project we will be able to engage in more e-twinning projects.

Lake Middle School
Wishes to participate so that their pupils may be involved in new experiences that are denied them because of the geographical isolation and socio economic problems that are shared by Lake Middle and Sandown High School. It is important because it will enable the pupils, through working together, to see themselves as part of the European community. The theme of the project to be of great importance and relevance to our students and our communities We also believe it is important for our isolated students to be exposed to the richness and variety of European languages and cultures.

We as the teachers in these institutions want to take part;
Because we want our students to see that energy usage is not merely a personal issue
We wish them to suggest solutions to problems and issues as European citizens
We firmly believe that participating in Comenius projects erodes preconceptions of national stereotypes and that by working together on a common theme, language barriers are eroded and participants form friendships that are the essence of peaceful co existence and mutual support. It enables us to learn from each other.
We also believe that there is no teacher who is involved in European partnerships who does not undergo a paradigm shift as a result of the interchange of teaching ideologies and methodologies

Objectives of the partnership

• The theme of energy has been taken because it is of global importance and it has been chosen by the participating schools because of its relevance to our students
• The project will introduce participants to Europe and European people
• students to see themselves as European citizens, with a responsibility regarding energy usage
• That students will appreciate that energy consumption is not just a personal issue but has global consequences
• To work together exchanging information and learning about other cultures
• That the project has no; physical, social, academic, racial, ethnic, gender, geographical or age barrier

The problems that we intend to address are those of;
Energy usage
- The consequences of continued high energy consumption, in terms of food consumption, purified water usage and fuel expenditure and the pollution created.
- Ways in which we as individuals and we as Europeans can modify our life styles so that they may become more sustainable.
- We hope that through our work that we will be able to identify improvements in student’s energy usage at the end of the two years.
- The approach we will take will not be didactic, but one in which there will be an exchange of ideas between students in the partner countries and the methodology as far as possible will be student directed. In this way we hope that by inter-cultural dialogue that students will come to respect each others diversity, yet strive for a common goal.

Partnership and distribution of tasks

• OUTLINE PLAN OF TASKS TO BE COMPLETED
• Preparing a booklet of survival phrases in all the partner languages
• Photographs of energy wastage in the community
• Keeping a food diary
• Calculation of food miles and fuel usage
• Collecting, sorting, weighing rubbish
• Creating posters to reduce rubbish production
• Creating sculptures from rubbish
• Measuring air pollution
• Calculating water usage using the C.I.E.S.E. protocol
• Building an energy efficient Euro home
• Getting fit in the environment
• Designing an activity which uses only human energy
• Surveying school-home transport and calculating energy usage.
• Setting up an exhibition of work
• Producing a silent video
• Writing a “scientific “ paper on our work

TASK ALLOCATION
• Tasks have been allocated to partners on the basis of choice and the skills of the partners in that particular area. However in every case each partner has demonstrated a willingness to assist other partners should they experience any difficulties.
• The co-ordinator’s role is to ensure the overall working of the project.
To ensure that each school is a fully participating member of the project, to assist when necessary.
To make sure that deadlines are met, that assistance is given to those who are experiencing difficulty meeting
deadliness
• The tasks outlined below are the topic activity titles, apart from the first activity (which takes place before the first meeting) the method of delivery will be decided by the students at the meetings and will not be dictated by the teachers, although of course they will have to advise with regards to health and safety and what is actually possible within institutions. Pupils will e-mail their findings to the relevant partner school and the results will be published in the newspaper, this will enable individual schools to analyse and evaluate the findings
• UK- overall coordination . The delivery of the activities on Air pollution
• Lake Middle School Water usage e.g. using the C.I.E.S.E protocol
• Latvia Limbazi. Collecting and analysing rubbish
• Latvia -Carnikava The construction of sculptures out of rubbish and the construction of the Euro-rubbish Man.
• Lithuania - Getting fit using the environment
• Poland -Zabrze The compilation of a Phrase book of survival phrases in each of the partner languages
• Poland S.G.D.S. The building of an eco home
• Italy -Atri Work on energy wastage, compilation of the glossary which will appear in the final paper
• Italy-Gallarate Food diary and food miles
• Malta St Joseph’s and Ninu Cremona -production of a termly newspaper and setting up and maintaining the web site/blog
• All partners will be involved in the final exhibition, the scientific paper and the video
• All students in the partner schools will undertake the same activities, but they will be adapted to suit the needs of the age range of the students involved.
• Work will be collated by the partner responsible for the activity or by students at the project meeting. The findings will be published in the Newsletter.
• The co-ordinator will be informed by the partner responsible for the activity of any partner who has not submitted “work” and contact them and urge partners to meet deadlines in order to keep the project ‘on track’

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Cooperation and communication

Teachers will mail co-ordinator on the last day of the month and UK will summarise and forward to partners. It is envisaged that this will be information on how the work is going. If there are problems, then these can be dealt with by the co-operation of the other teachers in the partnership who have the relevant expertise. An e-mail contact list is on-going.

We are going to set up a travelling display. This will contain information about the partner school, evidence of work already completed and the next themes. This will then be sent “snail mail” to the next institution hosting meeting. This will only involve 4 schools UK(Isle of Wight), Malta +Gozo, Lithuania and Italy(Gallarate) Therefore a termly “newspaper” will be produced which will contain all the news from the partners and can be downloaded and used in any manner by the partners. The project newspaper will keep all the partners in touch and also can be used to advertise the activities to a larger school/community audience.

The blog will also be used for us to upload information e.g the photographs of where energy is wasted.

The pupils will be encouraged to form e-mail friendships with other students within the partnership and we will try to facilitate school e-mailing and pod casting to encourage communication.

The project meetings will also form valuable opportunities for inter-cultural dialogue, where students will have the opportunity and form a significant part of the evaluative process. These meetings will also be opportunities to ensure that everyone is on track

The website which will be set up will inform a wider audience of what we are doing and what we have achieved.

European added value

The impact on teachers cannot be under estimated. The formal and informal dialogue that occurs enriches all teachers that are involved at both a personal and professional level.

The benefit for students is also tremendous. With special reference to the Isle of Wight schools, these schools both suffer from geographical isolation and projects such as these are vital in enabling the students to identify with their European contemporaries. Some students will never have visited the partner countries and the impact it makes is considerable, although many of the impacts cannot be measured and may not necessarily be apparent immediately. For many students the impacts are life lasting. Students who visit the partner countries will generally, if they have visited, have only visited as tourists. Whilst this can be valuable it is the actual experience of living and working together produces profound impacts on students. They also begin to see that European students have the same hopes and dreams as themselves. Through their exchange of information and ideas the students will learn from each other about environmental and energy issues. This will give them the opportunity to consider energy consumption from a different perspective.

For those students who come from schools that are economically and socially deprived this project is a superb opportunity to raise aspirations through their own involvement and interaction with students of other nationalities. Contributing at partner meetings, feeding back to individual schools, doing presentations, being creative, trying and succeeding in being understood in a foreign language are all examples where an individuals self esteem has been shown to increase, as is working in a co-operative but non-competitive environment