From Symbols to Symphonies Erasmus Project

Project Title

From Symbols to Symphonies

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: Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Creativity and culture; Access for disadvantaged

Project Summary

From Symbols to Symphonies (S2S) was a multi-lateral project based on the theme of “Sharing Heritage” as part of the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018. As the programme focus for the 2018 European Year was “Society in Transition”, the project reflected the ongoing and diverse social change in Europe by studying the theme of immigration on a European, national and local level. This fitted perfectly with the profile of QKA which is very ethnically diverse with constant new arrival immigrant students, from Europe and beyond. This project allowed us to explore the reasons for this and raise awareness and the profile of diversity in a really positive way. During the project students researched the history and reasons for immigration in each of the participating countries as well as focusing on a particular strand of immigration which specifically applied to each participating school:- The Syrian refugee crisis in Germany – the town of Viersen has received a number of refugees and the school is helping to support their integration into German society. – North African immigrants in Spain – Badajoz is an inland, agricultural part of Spain with a number of North African guest-workers. – European Immigrants in the UK – QKA is a school in Peterborough with very high levels of immigrants (approx. 70%), mainly from Eastern Europe and Portugal.
During the project students developed a balanced understanding of immigration and mobility patterns within Europe today as well as developing an understanding of the reasons for increased mobility. They then created and used music, poetry and dance to interpret the challenges and successes of migrants and they wrote and performed a musical theatre production depicting the plight of migrants.The project worked directly with 84 students (28 from each participating school), although the activities of the project incorporated contact and activities with a much wider group: Immigrants from within the local and wider community, teachers, students, charities and individuals with experience of immigration, the whole school through assemblies showcasing the project activities, the local community through the musical theatre performance and performance of the composed songs at other events, such as European Day of Languages assemblies, Mother Tongue Other Tongue Poetry Event, Peterborough Young Musicians Competition and the production of a CD of songs from the project which was shared with the student and staff body.
In addition to this, participants carried out on-line research on the issues surrounding immigration and increased mobility in each of the participating countries and they learnt about each other’s direct experiences as immigrants and the plight of certain demographic groups (such as Roma) in Britain (in Germany Syrian refugee students participated and in the UK european immigrants participated). Students created and populated an on-line project blog-site with research findings, presentations and resources created during the project and shared it through e-twinning. They met with charity organisations, refugees, migrants and people working with migrants to interview them and hear their stories to learn about the experiences and reasons for increased mobility and the support and activities that are offered. They carried out interviews with migrants about their own experiences and journeys and wrote a series of poems, choreographed dances and composed music which they then used the poems as lyrics for. These pieces, together with artwork, photography and some transcript extracts from interviews were collated together to produce a script and background for a piece of musical theatre (all written and composed by the students) which exemplified the experiences and emotions expressed by migrants in the interviews.
Finally, they performed their musical drama performance as a multi-national cast to a public audience in Peterborough, promoting the idea of music and dance as a common language to break down barriers.
The project raised awareness of the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018 by focusing on individual stories set within the wider context of ‘Society in Transition’. It gave participants a broader understanding of the topic of immigration and to support understanding and community cohesion within the participating schools and their communities – it gave them a forum to tell their own stories as well as to learn about their peers and people living in their community. In the long-term it has provided resources and information about the topic of human mobility which have already been used in PSHE, Literacy and language lessons, and has helped to build closer links with local community organisations to promote community cohesion, mutual respect and the sharing of culture and experiences.
Resources from the project have gained acclaim at the Peterborough Young People’s Music Competition as well as the Mother Tongue Other Tongue poetry event in Cambridge.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 88541,58 Eur

Project Coordinator

Thomas Deacon Education Trust T/A Queen Katharine Academy & Country: UK

Project Partners

• I.E.S.ENRIQUE DÍEZ-CANEDO
• Bischöfliches Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium