CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVESThe topic of the project, Healthy Lifestyle, comes as a result of data collected in the 5 partner schools involved. As such, the rates of obesity problems (OP) and lack of regular physical activities (RPA) in our schools are:PL Partner School pupils has 25%OP, 40% RSIT Partner School has 20% OP, 45% RS LT Partner School has 25% OP, 50% RS ES Partner School has 27% OP, 35% RS TR Partner School has 20% OP, 35% RSWith this worrying data in mind, we have established as the main objective of the project to raise students’ awareness of the causes and effects of obesity in relation to the sedentarism that characterizes the current generations of students. At the same time, in order to measure the actual impact of the school we have proposed to decrease these rates by the end of the 2-year project.Another aim of this project is to get in contact with schools from other European countries in order to observe the situation in each of them and exchange good practices related to ways of combating such problems.METHODOLOGYWith all these in mind, we have divided our topic into several sub-topics which will constitute the theme of each meeting and exchange envisaged in the project:1. PL-M1- REQUIREMENTS FOR A HEALTHY LIFE2. IT-C1- HEALTHY EATING HABITS3. LT-C2- EFFECTIVE WAYS TO PREVENT OBESITY 4. ES-C3 DEVELOPING LONG-TERM HEALTHY EATING HABITS5. TR-C4- SPORTING ACTIVITIES IN SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTDuring these meetings students will be in the centre of all activities, as we believe that by involving them directly and supervising their work, the project will have a stronger impact on them.The project activities will result in the elaboration of 2 IOs – 1) Nutritional information and healthy foods for School Canteens, 2) Recommendation Book for improving regular sports in schools. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIESDuring the exchanges, students will join classes in the morning and, in the afternoons, they will work towards the achievement of specific goals within each activity:C1- IT The project teams will join the canteen and observe the dishes prepared regularly there. Then, each school cooks presents traditional healthy dishes from their own countries and will actually cook 1 meal that will be tasted by the other participants. C2 –LT The activities will be organized in a forum presented by the students and which includes sub-topics such as - What is obesity?/ Causes / Effects on Health and social image/ The current rates of Obesity C3 – ES students put together the information and statistical data collected and compile a brochure which contains a set of DOs and DON'Ts that every person should follow in order to live a healthy lifeC4 – TR students and teachers run workshops in which all kinds of easy-to-do exercises and games/sports will be presented and performed.NUMBER AND PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTSStudents/teenagers: Each exchange involves the participation of 4 students/ country, which means an overall number of 16 students/country who will participate directly in the exchanges. These students will be selected prior to each mobility, based on transparent criteria, which will involve command of English, ICT skills, voluntary work, involvement in the school-based activities and motivation. The number of indirect beneficiaries is a lot larger, as every school will involve at least 10 other students before each mobility in the school-based pre-exchange activities.Teachers/Adults: There will be teams of 7 teachers in each partner organisation so 35 in total who will manage the project implementation. Each of them will be assigned clear tasks from the beginning. This team will involve managerial staff and at least 1 English teacher, 1 PE teacher, 1 Biology Teacher, 1 Medical worker, 1 ICT teacher. They will be chosen by the person in charge of the project, based on previous initiatives, motivation, CV and experience in handling projects. Based on the importance and relevance of their contribution before each exchange the 2 participating teachers/country/exchange will be selected from this team. RESULTS AND IMPACTSWe have assumed the publication of two IOs and 3 other intermediate products which will result from the activities performed during the exchanges. All these will be made available to larger audiences on the project website and through all the dissemination activities included in the dissemination plan.Therefore, we hope that there will be a positive, measurable impact at the level of participants (with a clear reduction of obesity rates among the target group members), of the local school communities and wider communities, at the level of the institutions involved and other related institutions, at local, regional, national and international levels.We have also initiated a sustainability plan which involves the implementation of the project results and the programme in at least 25 other schools/year in the three years following the end of the project.
The project was implemented by schools from PL, IT, LT, ES and TR. It aims was to promote students’ awareness of a healthier lifestyle in connection with healthy eating habits and sports activities. The basic idea was to establish a partnership based on developing and applying the transfer of good practices between schools. It also has an innovative character, which consists of actively involving schools in the long-term process of decreasing obesity and increasing an active lifestyle by implementing the results of the projects in our regions. 2 outputs, "Healthy foods and nourishment information for School Canteens", "Recommendations for improving participation in sports at school" were produced. We have started the process of research and each partner school has found the following rates of OBESITY PROBLEM (OP) and LACK OF REGULAR SPORTS (RS) PL Partner School - 25% of pupils OP, 40% RS IT Partner School - 20% OP, 45% RS LT Partner School - 25% OP, 50% RS ES Partner School - 27% OP, 35% RS TR Partner School - 20% OP, 35% RS Therefore, the problems stemming from unhealthy lifestyle are indeed pressing. Another interesting finding was that most of these students come from families with fewer opportunities. All these physically and financially challenged teenagers thanks to project implememtation were placed at the center of all stages of project implementation. OBJECTIVES The main objective of the project was to inform students on rules of a safe and correct nutrition and suggest healthy dishes that can combat the desire to eat fast-food. Also, at institutional level, we have intend to impose a change in the menus of school canteens. Students themselves created an info-book containing photos, descriptions and nutritional values of their favourite dishes in line with their traditional cuisine. Other objectives included: - to promote sports as a strategy for being healthy, thus developing a lifelong active lifestyle - to impose a long-term policy of schools in dealing with the problem of obesity and unhealthy eating habits - to support social inclusion and prevention of discrimination - to encourage the learning of modern foreign languages - to develop knowledge among students and teachers of the diversity of European cultures - to improve pupils' sport and social skills. This project were implemented transnationally because we developed a strong synergy among partners. ACTIVITIES We have organised 3 LLT acivities for students: C1- IT The project teams joined the canteen and observe the dishes prepared regularly there. Then, each school cooked presents traditional healthy dishes from their own countries and cooked 1 meal that werentasted by the other participants. C2 –LT The activities were organized in a forum presented by the students and which includes sub-topics such as - What is obesity?/ Causes / Effects on Health and social image/ The current rates of Obesity C3 – ES students put together the information and statistical data collected and compile a brochure which contains a set of DOs and DON'Ts that every person should follow in order to live a healthy life, students and teachers run workshops in which all kinds of easy-to-do exercises and games/sports will be presented and performed. PARTICIPANTS Students/teenagers: Each exchange involved the participation of 4 students/ country, which means an overall number of 16 students/country who were participated directly in the exchanges. These students were be selected prior to each mobility, based on transparent criteria, which involved command of English, ICT skills, voluntary work, involvement in the school-based activities and motivation. The number of indirect beneficiaries is a lot larger, as every school were involved at least 10 other students before each mobility in the school-based pre-exchange activities. Teachers/Adults: There were teams of 7 teachers in each partner school so 35 in total who were managed the project implementation. Each of them were assigned clear tasks from the beginning. This team were involved managerial staff: 1 English teacher, 1 PE teacher, 1 Biology Teacher, 1 Medical worker, 1 ICT teacher. They were choosen by the person in charge of the project, based on previous initiatives, motivation, CV and experience in handling projects. RESULTS AND IMPACTS We have assumed the publication of two IOs and 3 other intermediate products which are result from the activities performed during the exchanges which were publicted on website and through all the dissemination activities included in the dissemination plan. Therefore, we hope that there will be a positive, measurable impact at the level of participants (with a clear reduction of obesity rates among the target group members), of the local school communities and wider communities, at the level of the institutions involved and other related institutions, at local, regional, national and international levels.