The context to developing this project is that both partner schools acknowledged that the development of teaching and learning is a key focus in their own setting. As there is already a good relationship between both schools, it was a natural fit to work together to learn and support one another in order to focus on our priorities; promoting the acquisition of skills and competences and strengthening the profiles of the teaching profession. By having a partnership across two schools, it allows for a deeper understanding and stronger bond between both schools as there is a focus school and country to learn from and to share good practice with. It was decided that the specific objectives of the project, in order to raise the profile of teaching and to acquire new skills, will be to improve the teaching and learning of Geography and Languages. They are both compulsory subjects and have a clear and strong connection with this type of project. Through pupil and staff exchanges, teaching and learning will be improved through hands on, real life experiences and will provide exposure to a language and a country that cannot solely by experienced through virtual platforms. Both teachers and pupils will take part in exchanges. Across the project, for each school, it is planned for approximately 10 teachers to take part in the exchanges and 30 pupils. There will be a whole school approach for both schools, so even those pupils and teachers who do not go on exchanges will be able to benefit from skills and resources that will be acquired and will take part in class based activities directly linked to the project. Through meetings and assemblies, staff will share their skills and will demonstrate teaching techniques in their own schools and pupils will share what they have learned. The main activities will be pupil and staff exchanges, joint long term projects carried out by the pupils on Geography and Languages (Spanish and English), exhibitions in both schools, staff training, and completing a book and a blog to showcase all the work achieved across the project. These activities will provide concrete results, alongside a survey for parents, pupils and teachers to measure the impact the project will have. This project will result in a deeper understanding of compulsory curriculum subjects for pupils, which will result in motivated and engaged pupils who are willing to become life-long learners across different subjects. For teachers, acquiring new skills and raising the profile of their profession will result in more confident and inspired practitioners who have a more efficient teaching practice. Furthermore it will create a successful curriculum that can be sustained for future cohorts of pupils. We wish this to be a sustainable project in order to help other teachers. Through virtual learning platforms such as eTwinning and a blog, we will share our new skills and resources with fellow teachers, families and the wider community.
The context and background to this project is primarily that both partner schools wanted to work together again, as we both saw an opportunity to continue learning from each other. We valued the importance of continuing our already established positive partnership, especially due to the political climate in the UK at the time. We had already formed a good relationship from a previous Erasmus+ project with five schools so this gave us a different type of partnership, to have more of a direct focus. It was decided that the specific objectives of the project would be to improve the teaching and learning of Geography and Languages, both pupils and teachers gaining new skills. We wanted a clear objective with achievable goals. Both schools involved the whole school with a clear action plan, in order to raise the profile and the teaching and learning of Geography and Languages (Spanish for the UK and English for Spain). As every pupil took part in many Geography activities, whole school activities, language activities across the whole project, lessons became more embedded with links to the project, teachers and staff and pupils acquired new skills, we managed to achieve our objectives. The project was implemented through many different activities, which were mapped out on our action plan. Even though these had to be adapted in the second year due to the global pandemic, we still managed to complete activities throughout the entirety of the project. The main activities were staff visits, which allowed information to be disseminated across schools and within each internal setting, a very successful pupil exchange in the first year, Geography projects in each year group, exhibitions and displays, art projects, language displays, school trips (with a Geography focus) assemblies, meetings, whole school celebration parades involving parents and the wider community, research projects, themed tasks and video sharing throughout lock-down, and a shared blog used by both schools. This blog allowed both partners to share and upload work and acted as a dissemination tool to pupils, staff and parents to see what had been completed throughout the course of the project. We saw really positive results from this project in both schools. From the point of view of the teachers, having this focus, especially in Geography improved confidence and engagement in teaching. Staff said due to whole school training, new targeted resources for each year group, they were more motivated to teach and had a deeper subject knowledge. For example one UK teacher said,‘It also helped to focus on Spain in a wider context than just their Spanish lessons which was a benefit. The geography INSET in particular really helped us to begin planning our South America unit with better focus on geography skills.' During the staff visits we looked at pupil’s books and Geography projects and it was clear pupils had a deeper knowledge of the subject. This was also noted by senior management through formal planning checks and ‘book looks’. The training (staff INSETs and meetings) and resources are an investment and will be used in the long-term to ensure that quality lessons continue to be planned and carried out. As staff from each year group have participated in staff meetings and training in their own school setting, there is consistency throughout the school and new members of staff can develop new skills from those involved in the project. We also saw really positive results in the engagement of Languages. Teachers reported that languages are now more visible and pupils are more willing to try out their foreign language, for example when answering the register. In Wilbury, Spanish has become a lot more visible across the school, not just in key stage 2, through the use of displays, new resources and more teaching. As Los Campanales had many good teaching practices in place, they were able to share their skills. Furthermore, the pupils who took part in the school exchange learned so much, which we could measure, not only from the pre and post questionnaires we conducted for the activity, but also from pupil voice and reactions from parents. These pupils developed a deeper appreciation for the language which they have now taken to Secondary school. A further positive result and long-term benefit is the increased involvement from parents. Both Wilbury and Los Campanales had parents take an active role, for example through the celebration days, meetings, organising activities, home research projects through lockdown and participating in pupil exchange activities. Both partners felt this was an important achievement and has been a great way to communicate with parents. Finally, the two schools have also embedded a supportive, long term partnership. Even though the project has ended, we plan to continue this positive, sharing type of relationship, through exchanging letters and cards. This has only been made possible due to our Erasmus+ projects together.