A picture tells a thousand words Erasmus Project

Project Title

A picture tells a thousand words

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 : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

Our project was only possible due to our will to continue to develop our international school links and enable teachers, children and local communities to broaden their understanding of the importance of diversity and widen their knowledge of European educational systems.

The grant provided an opportunity for staff and pupils to be immersed in a completely different environment, culture, educational system, language and lifestyle which enabled them to become better developed citizens and to understand more deeply their role in the world, especially in the light of Brexit and, of course, the Covid-19 pandemic. We believed that seeing and experiencing differences and similarities allowed a profound sense of equality to shine through. We showed pupils at primary age in both countries that we can all learn from each other and work harmoniously, proving that pupils understand the importance of international projects and collaboration.

Our project equipped teachers with confidence and resources to teach Art through languages and vice-versa. We believe that our project has enabled our children to become lifelong learners by creating a safe learning environment that nurtured individuality and embraced possibilities.

Our project’s objectives were :

To establish a multi-cultural and language-rich environment where pupils and staff are exposed to teaching in an authentic life setting.

To work together to gain an understanding and appreciation of different languages, cultures and ways of life, using the medium of art

To open doors to possibilities, understand our place in the wider world as well as developing a thirst for learning through arts and language.

To enable pupils and staff to leave their comfort zone and experience “real life” situations

To see what teaching and pedagogy looks like in a different country.

To develop an appreciation and a critical eye for arts in many different forms

To understand how environments can be influenced by many different factors including culture, religion, socio-economic factors, geography and individual perceptions.

We engaged in the following activities:

Transnational meeting at our partner school in Tavira Portugal
Transnational meeting at Reay Primary School in London – UK
Workshops in both schools about Portuguese art and tiles
Portuguese Language and cultural sessions

Each school organised guided visits to their local area, looking at local art, buildings and tiles.
There were guided visit to Town halls and local education departments, providing information about local art, in particular tiles in local buildings in Lambeth and in Tavira

Our project had excellent results, particularly because of the visiting aspects – travel to Portugal was essential for this and the memorable experiences and excellent feedback received from parents and children vindicated this. Please see below:

Most significant outcomes:
• A feeling of increased independence as none of the children had been on such a trip without parents before.
• Parents commented on the importance of the development of organisational skills as children had to prepare for the trip and also organise themselves on a daily basis whilst away.
• Increased confidence and willingness in trying new things including food, new creative activities, trying to communicate in a different language and budgeting for family gifts.
• Children greatly developed their creative skills throughout the whole project and enjoyed
exposure to a completely new area of art and design.
• Children also gained confidence in themselves as artists due to being chosen to take part in the trip and spending a week around like-minded and equally enthusiastic people.
• Children really benefited from spending time in a less urban environment where it was quieter, less polluted and there was more space to explore and play.
• Children enjoyed mixing with children from another culture. They developed skills in
communicating and socialising with them despite the language barrier. They were so impressed with the Portuguese children’s ability to speak English and this helped them to realise the importance of learning another language.

Our teachers and our school partner were completely involved and supportive of the project. allowing longer -term benefits to go beyond what we expected. Participants have learned new skills and developed their knowledge related to local art, culture and history, which can be applied in the delivery of our curriculum and they established long term relationships with our partner school. A new Erasmus project was developed based on the relationships created by the current project and we are also expecting to continue our job shadowing visits to continue in the next few years. Participants have a better understanding of what is to live, work and study in another country developing the international dimension and global citizenship at both schools. As a result of the Covid 19 pandemic we decided that the only sensible way to conclude the project was by a virtual exhibition,. We still hope to offer the opportunity to view this Art Work at a later date.

For more information please check our eTwinning account; our school Twitter account as well as @MrsAndrewsReay, @misshallreay; @misscurranreay; @rachhedges for early March. Or @ReayPrimary retweeted everything.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 32334 Eur

Project Coordinator

Reay Primary School & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Agrupamento Vertical de Escolas D. Manuel I – Tavira