Celebrating Success Erasmus Project

Project Title

Celebrating Success

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: Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

The longevity of our successful school exchange partnership is an achievement of which the Mallinckrodt-Gymnasium and Wellington School are very proud. Since 1990, hundreds of pupils and families and scores of teachers have been involved in our partnership and joint activities. Now, the children and even grandchildren of the first participants are following in the footsteps of the early pioneers, such is the strength of this partnership. The objectives of this project were to examine what makes a strong partnership, to look at the historical links between our communities, to exchange good practice in teaching and learning and to celebrate the success of our partnership through two joint concerts. Unfortunately, the final months of the project were disrupted by Covid.

The project included a wide range of activities designed to appeal to participants of all ages. These encompassed music, sport, history, language proficiency and literacy. Pupil participants studied the historical context of German-UK relationships from 1871 to the present day by examining source materials in German and English and interpreting them from both the context of the times in which they were written and the modern context. Pupils made a film to illustrate the activities undertaken during the mobility in Germany. A time capsule was made by younger pupils in both schools and this will be opened at the 50th Anniversary celebrations in 2039-40. The Travelling Ted project (eTwinning) also allowed younger pupils to communicate and to participate in the project. Two bears, identical apart from their hats, had adventures in Dortmund and in Ayr. This encouraged a widening of the impact of the project as the bears were invited to visit businesses and services in the local communities. Pupils worked together to write a handbook about successful exchanges although this was a casualty of Covid and is more limited in scope than intended. The schools planned, rehearsed and performed two concerts together and produced recordings of the highlights. There were five transnational meetings: four Scottish teachers met subject colleagues in Germany where they observed and took part in lessons. Meetings to exchange materials and good practice followed. (The reciprocal visit planned for Scotland had to be cancelled due to Covid.) A small group of German pupils visited Ayr where they worked on the exchange handbook and learned about celebrating success in historical and environmental conservation through workshops led by National Trust for Scotland rangers. In Germany, a small group of Scottish pupils developed an understanding of the historical context through collaborating with their peers. Large-scale mobilities in both directions included many musicians who performed in our two celebratory concerts.

The project’s results are both tangible and intangible. There is a project website and an eTwinning project dedicated to Celebrating Success as well as the Travelling Ted project. We have a film, recordings of highlights of our concert, Erasmus boards were on display in our schools, we have developed a range of worksheets and our handbook exists in a truncated form. Intangible results include greater understanding of the historical context of German-UK relations, improved language and literacy skills in English and German, greater cooperation between more staff in both schools, an exchange of good practice. The sheer numbers of young people involved through project-related projects has been a positive result of this project and so has the involvement of parents and school management teams. Parents provided homestay accommodation and were involved with the organisation of the catering for our concerts. They enjoy bringing added value to our schools’ international programmes and the enriching experience of hosting young people in their homes.

The expected long-term benefits include a greater awareness of German-UK relationships, especially post-Brexit when there is a fear of fracture. The loss of the Erasmus programme in the UK is of great concern but this is a robust partnership which will survive. Already a longer-term benefit has been observed, German students involved in this project have started their university careers in the UK. We hope that the younger Scottish pupils who were involved in this project will have the opportunity to visit Germany post-Covid and that they will chose to study German. Some pupils are participating in a new Erasmus+ project and are bringing experience gained during Celebrate Success to this. The contacts and friendships forged will bring long-lasting benefits on a personal level to many participants. This is the real success of our partnership – contacts and friendships made over the past thirty+ years are still flourishing and we wish the same for all those involved in Celebrating Success.

Project Website

https://twinspace.etwinning.net/87426/home

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 65740 Eur

Project Coordinator

Mallinckrodt-Gymnasium & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Wellington School (Ayr) Ltd