SEPS + EPIE
SEPS about Sustainability for European Primary Schools – SEPS is a child friendly project about sustainability for European primary schools and EPIE is an European project for Primary schools about Inclusive Education.
New partners and new documents.
Europass.
For this school year/project year there are new documents in the so called “Learning agreements”.
Dear friends and colleagues,
Change of partners.
In the last month, unfortunately we had some partner schools that told us that they unfortunately could not take part in our project for all kind of reasons. Most of these reasons are because they did not get any budget anymore and sometimes they had not enough teachers in school. Some schools are too busy and did not have time for all the admiration pressure in school. They wish us good luck; some of them will follow us, and will try to take part later on.
On the other hand there are also “new” partner schools that want to join us. Most of them have many difficulties by finding new partners.
Because of the “new” partners, we give some of our agreements in this Bulletin 10. It is also helpful for partners that cooperate the last school year with us. It is also good to look at the former Bulletins to be better informed. You can find them on our website.
For these reasons, there is an extra-long Bulletin 10. If you have questions, do not hesitate and just contact us.
Sustainability is more than only Energy problems….
The school year only started a few months ago. One school a little earlier than the other. This does not alter the fact that the first exchanges are already taking place or will soon be on the activity list. This also applies to job shadowing visits.
Additional suggestions related to Sustainability.
Regarding the theme of Sustainability for the students, a number of additional suggestions were received. Currently, many aspects of sustainability are mainly focused on energy savings and setting up energy transitions.
Naturally, this aspect of sustainability can also be viewed more broadly. Much can also be placed in a historical perspective. During exchanges with Braga, attention was paid to the provision of drinking water, looking at the first drinking water supply in the Roman period in Portugal. From this point of view, relationships were drawn with the current problem of permanently achieving clean drinking water. On the other hand, the current design of obtaining wind power was examined in Houten in the Netherlands. The history of windmills also plays a major role in our country. Windmills are and were not only in the Netherlands but also everywhere in Europe. From this historical perspective, several sustainable aspects can be viewed and lessons and can be learned. In the field of food care, with the students you can pay attention of the history of these things. Some schools pay attention to growing new, but also old crops. Rediscovering old dietary habits can create awareness for better dietary patterns. Such as sharing and promoting old local recipes which are getting diminished by our modern fast way of living. Traditional recipes which we find in all different countries should be sustained through teaching and putting our young students hands on.
Another theme of sustainability could also be better highlighted, such as the re-use and repair of used equipment. There are currently so-called repair cafés in several countries. They are often volunteers who repair small household appliances and give them a new life. For pupils it can be nice to visit those repair cafes or you can invite the volunteers in school. At European level, legislation is being considered to make it easier to repair devices. This reduces the rapid disposal of devices and the premature purchase of a new device. It would be nice if this sustainability aspect also played a role in our partner schools during teacher and student exchanges.
We also got the suggestion of recycling of materials and re-using tools and machines by repairing them instead of throwing away things and just by new devaices.
Current agreements with partners for exchanges.
A number of agreements for student exchanges have been laid down in previous Bulletins. Because there are many new partners, it is necessary to repeat some of these agreements for clarification. We have agreed that:
In future, students must also have a completed Europass. This must be signed by the host school.
It is appreciated for the children who visit if they still receive a so-called Certificate of Attention from the host school.
The agreement that the visiting numbers of students are 6 to 8 children, in pairs of two, boys or girls. Of course, additional agreements can be made with the host schools.
The agreement for compensation for the host families has not changed. The host school will provide a receipt.
Sunday is usually a travel day (arrival), the children are at school from Monday to Friday and Saturday is the return journey (departure).
It is expected that the child of the host parents, buddy, will take care of the two guest students at school. If there is an excursion, the costs of participation of the buddies are borne by the visiting school.
The visiting children write a message to the host parents in advance, containing some information about themselves and their family and school. They also provide details of their parents, telephone numbers and email addresses. The host parents are asked to contact the parents of the visiting school. The host school receives the messages for the host parents and passes them on to them.
The guest students give a presentation in English at the visiting school about themselves, their school, their own region or country and Sustainability in their school or place of residence.
A number of agreements for student job shadowing have been laid down in previous Bulletins. Because there are many new partners, it is necessary to repeat some of these agreements for clarification. We have agreed that:
The teachers contact the receiving school in advance. It is requested that a colleague function as a “Buddy”. The visiting teacher sends a Europass to the visiting school in a timely manner. In general, the travel and accommodation days are the same as those for the student exchange.
According to European Erasmus, the visiting school provides assistance with the visitors’ arrival journey and further provides assistance in finding suitable accommodation and the safety of the visitors.
Website.
A separate website has been created for our collaboration: www.seps-project.eu. It contains the details of all participating partner schools and a photo of the partner school. It also contains reports of visits and activities. In addition to the Bulletins, there are also contributions of teaching examples of projects and lessons.
This website is intended to inform all participants about the project. The Website is also intended for the dissemination of activities. Each participating school must indicate, especially at the end of the project, how the dissemination was structured and took place. Reference to the website can be used very well. Each Partner School is expected to update the information on the site regularly. Documents for the website must be sent separately as a Word document and photos in JPEG to Diana Brouwer or Anton Verwey. These ensure placement on the website.
Diana Brouwer directie.plantage@oo-h.nl
Anton Verwey afc.verwey@planet.nl
Visitor schedule.
In recent years, Gunter Wild, Diana Brouwer and Anton Verwey have been asked to act as coordinators. German colleague Gunter took a well-deserved retirement last school year. An earlier agreement regarding the visits is that a visit for Job Shadowing or student exchanges will be made to the partner schools in separate weeks. This is to limit crowds and inconvenience at the host schools. It is also easier for visiting schools to arrange replacements. In March, all schools will receive an invitation to register as many weeks as possible for Job Shadowing and separate Student Exchanges for the coming school year. The coordination of the school in Houten creates a draft schedule based on the timely suggestions provided for visiting weeks of the participating schools. Based on responses and a discussion (possibly via Meet), a final visit schedule is drawn up. Of course, you must always contact the host school in a timely manner.
New Year’s wishes.
Some colleagues tried to exchange Christmas cards last year. Given the number of schools and students, this proved to be a difficult task during an already busy period. Some colleagues suggested making a few posters in A3 format. Make a copy of these few posters and send these copies to the partner schools. In this way, the receiving school can hang up many posters with good wishes clearly visible in the school.
It will be a good promotion to see all the posters in our partner schools.
We will return to these proposals in a subsequent Bulletin. We would like to receive a response as to whether this idea is supported.
Wishing you success in this new Erasmus plus project period.
Diana Brouwer, Director of de Plantage in Houten and Anton Verwey, Extern coordinator of de Plantage.
As usual, stay safe and keep in touch, Anton Verwey.
Questions or remarks do not hesitate and contact Anton Verwey.
+31613698777 Whats App, call or mail afc.verwey@planet.nl