Getting There On Your Own Erasmus Project

Project Title

Getting There On Your Own

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

This was a project between 5 schools across Europe focusing on raising attainment in basic skills in literacy, maths and science in pupils between the ages of 3 and 13. It also aimed to promote the exchange of good practice across the schools and develop a new approach to teaching which was cross-curricular and took as its core a book from each of the partner countries.
We worked together to explore and develop pedagogical skills allowing children to facilitate and explore their own ideas. An entrepreneurial approach to learning was developed through providing children with opportunities for creative thinking, allowing them to develop their independent thinking skills and their ability to communicate. Children were encouraged to develop their own learning pathways and explore ways of solving problems and completing tasks both as individuals and in small groups. The transnational approach taken was to encourage children and staff to explore the nature of learning in different cultures and to appreciate the similarities and differences between us as learners, educators and citizens.
The schools involved were:
Pilton Bluecoat Academy, England – a junior school of 250 pupils, aged 7-11.
CEIP El Penascal, Spain – a primary school of 450 pupils, aged 3-12.
Istituto comprensivo XX Seppembre, Italy – primary/secondary school of 700 pupils, aged 3-13.
Skonsomns School, Sweden – a primary school of 400 pupils, aged 6-13.
Kuloinen School, Finland – a primary school of 220 pupils, aged 7-12.
Through the two years of the project, work was undertaken in five units. Each unit took as its core a book chosen by one of the partner countries. The book was read in both mother tongue and English. From each book a number of different activities were planned which differed across partner schools. We also planned one or two core pieces of work for each book which was then shared or worked on collaboratively with all partners. These were:
Unit 1 ‘The Happy Prince’ (UK): a script of the story written, acted and filmed by pupils.
Unit 2 ‘Pippi Longstocking’ (Sweden): a story about a modern day Pippi character Ella-Bella, written and illustrated by pupils, and all pupils learned, sang and recorded the Pippi Longstocking theme song.
Unit 3 ‘The Rainbow Fish’ (Spain): illustrations of the story for the digital book.
Unit 4 ‘The Moomins’ (Finland): maths problems using Moomin characters, written by pupils and solved in partner schools; a board game with the theme of their country; and a joint study of daily weather patterns in their locality.
Unit 5 ‘Pinocchio’ (Italy): a chapter of a story about a modern day Pinocchio character, Pinuccio, set in their own country, written and illustrated by pupils.
For each unit pupils also wrote book reviews. Ten words from each book were translated into all partner languages. These were recorded and made into a multilingual dictionary. For each book a mascot of one character was purchased which traveled, along with a diary, to all partner countries. This mascot and diary was taken home each night by a pupil of the school, who recorded what the mascot had done with their friend that evening. After one week the mascot was posted to the next country.
Skype video conferences were held between the partner schools, 4 per project year. This allowed us to learn about life in our partner schools, to discuss the pupils thoughts about project activities and the books being studied and was used as a context for learning about the other countries in our project, as well as providing valuable real-time contact with our partners.
Two main additional activities were also planned. In October 2017 we held a Friendship Day, linked to our work on ‘The Rainbow Fish’. All pupils in all schools were involved in learning a dance to the song ‘El Mismo Sol’, choreographed by the Spanish school. This was performed and recorded on the same day in all schools and the video exchanged. Pupils also made friendship cards with messages in both English and one of the partner languages, sent via post to our partners.
In summer 2018 we held a Business Enterprise. Pupils made products in groups which were exchanged with partners and sold in a European Market to families and friends.
All planned activities had an impact in raising attainment in basic skills across all partner schools. The experiences increased children’s motivation to learn, enabled them to become more independent in their learning and increased their confidence and ability to communicate successfully. Teachers were able to benefit from collaboration across Europe and have developed more successful teaching methods and strategies as a result of working on the project. Life long friendships have been made and further collaboration between schools is planned for. The entrepreneurial approach to teaching and working in a cross-curricular way through literature is one which is continuing to be developed within partner schools.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 86730 Eur

Project Coordinator

Pilton Bluecoat C of E Junior School & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Kuloisten koulu Raision kaupunki
• Istituto comprensivo ” XX Settembre”
• Sundsvalls kommun
• CEIP EL PEÑASCAL