This project, entitled HEALTHY MIND, HEALTHY LEARNERS, was created by four partner schools from different parts and realities (rural/urban) of the European Union (Spain [Catalonia], France [Reunion Island], Italy and Lithuania). The selected partners represent the diversity of school education sectors and the countries having different educational traditions, and different kinds of contexts. All the partners have a lot of experience of teaching healthy habits and sportive activities working with their national issues. All partners have a common goal: help our students at school and outside to feel good in their mind and their body. In fact, today's young generations are faced more or less with the same difficulties or bad habits. And that's why we want to focus on three main topics: Mental Health (and Emotional Education), Nutrition, and Exercise (Physical or Sportive activities). To achieve the aims of this project, it is necessary: -to develop good practises regarding emotions and feelings. Tips to feel more self-confident and easy exercises to relax. -to learn more about the importance of having good eating habits. It is the recipe for longevity and to keep the doctor away as much as possible. -to move and exercise regularly, as a way to relieve the pressure felt during the day and increase a feeling of well-being. If these three goals are reached, a great number of people will feel the difference and we will be able to say that we have contributed to the well-being of these Erasmus participants Considering this questions objectives of project will be: 1. To increase the number of students practicing physical activity in all partners schools . 2. To participate in almost 3 sport events or healthy activities organised all over Europe (in their school, or local community or sport European events) in order to be aware of how important is to keep students healthy and well. 3. To promote psychosocial well-being of students through sport and physical activity (increase students levels of self-esteem, or the ability to feel positive about oneself, one’s body and physical abilities) 4. To improve healthy food habits, and reduce obesity in our school 5. To improve inclusion and create new opportunities to integrate those from under-privileged or marginalized groups in society 6. To learn using correctly ICT tools / , mobile with educational intention We can see that either one sport experience or healthy activity is a great opportunity for students to improve their healthy habits. This activty helps them to overcome other situations in daily life.Throughout the project different healthy activities and sports experiences will be proposed by teachers in order to practice them. Students must prepare themselves in order to practice this experience or challenge (healthy habits, training, nutrition…) and create also products, such as a presentation, a multimedia show, or some other form of alternative assessment, or other products (this helps students have a better understanding, and this information will be shared with the other members of the classroom and partners). Other skills will be mastered thanks to this project: ICT tools, oral presentation in front of an international audience, sociability, organisation, planning. The mission of the participants will also be to share what they have discovered or learnt with their peers back at school. The project website will be linked to the school website so that the school communities and anyone interested can easily follow the project. As the official language is English, our students will definitely improve their linguistic skills as they will need to communicate throughout the two years of the project and they will also learn easy expressions in other languages. They will then receive a Europass to attest their participation in an Erasmus mobility as well as a Passport of language for their level reached in the target language (here English). This will be very useful for their further studies or even job application. As the main objective of the project is an exchange of good practises, we will all learn from each other, at different levels. Indeed, as we come from different European countries, the school organisation and management may differ from one country to another. As we have already experienced in former projects, we try to deal with student inclusion, truancy, special need students as well as we can, and it is always worthwhile to know about other ways of managing these issues. If we promote healthy habits from different points of view (physically, mentally and emotionally) our students will be able to face everyday situations in a proper manner an be better European citizens.
At the origin of the project, we all wanted to give keys to our students to become healthier and more confident both in their personal life and at school. Indeed, when we exchange with our colleagues, in our school or with European partners, we come to the same conclusion : lack of motivation, reluctant to make effort, no or not much self-confidence. So the question was “How can we help them and make things change?” This is also for true for adults, parents or teachers, we all have to face obstacles in our personal or professional life. So the objectives were clear, and we all did our best to achieve them. The first mobility took place in Reunion Island, in December 2019. We had all selected our participants according to definite criteria. We wanted to give the opportunity to all our students to get to know other cultures and meet new people. At the same time it was a chance for them to use English as a real means of communication, not in a classroom as usual. This was a great success. Indeed some students were quite weak at English, for most of them they were shy in class and didn’t want to talk. Then, when they were abroad, they had no choice and they realized that it was possible to make them understood, even with some mistakes. The first obstacle was overcome! In our selection of students, we all agreed to have motivated students and also those who had less opportunities because of their social background. It was really rewarding for us to see stars in their eyes when they said that it was the first time that they took the plane, the first time they went to the sea or the Indian Ocean. They were all thankful for this Erasmus experience and already looking forward to study abroad when they are older. The aims of the project were ambitious but we managed to achieve most of them. Now we hope that the participants can convey the good message to their peers and their family. Indeed all the activities of the project aimed at making the participants feel better at school and outside in their mind and their body. So mental health, nutrition and sport have been the 3 main orientations of our project. During each mobility, the participants have practiced and discovered different physical activities. For example, in Reunion Island, they did orienteering in a forest, hiking in the mountain, paddle in the Ocean. In Italy, they did trekking in San Marco in Lamis Faiarama’s wood, aquagym, water gymnastic in the swimming pool, teams games, football matches and skating. In Barcelona, they went hiking to Montserrat, and also did an adapted version of Triathlon with running in a park, cycling in the gym and zumba with the Catalan PE teachers. In each mobility we wanted to find a balance between culture visits and sport activities. It is essential to show our students that both are important. In Lithuania they went hiking in the swamp, tried new sport activities: kangoo jumps and i'dance system. The Lithuanian team had prepared some mini olympic games in collaboration with the European partners. As if we were all part of an « Erasmus Olympic Committee », we decided together on the different options, the sport activities to be done, etc. Unfortunately, not all partners could travel to Lithuania because of the War in Ukraine. So we had to adapt our programme. The Spanish and Lithuanian students really had great fun competing together. They could really share great moments together, help each other in case of difficulty, surpass themselves. Sport is also a way to learn about oneself, and that’s what the participants could really understand throughout the project. Some of them didn’t even know how to practise certain activities, and so it is often thanks to their new European friends that they learned about them and sometimes even became good at them. It was really essential for us to make our students aware of the importance to feel self-confident even if sometimes they had obstacles to face, be it at school or in their personal life. We all agree that the sanitary crisis has been very hard to face. The lockdown period(s) was a ordeal. They had to stay at home, and the only way to have some sort of social life was through the social networks. Of course, this had quite a bad impact. They couldn’t go to school, practise their activities (sport and / or cultural). We all tried to develop good practises in order to help them deal with their emotions and feelings : breathing exercises such as cardiac coherence and yoga were presented as very good tips to overcome difficulties and feel more self-confident. We also insisted on the importance of having good eating habits from the very beginning of the project. They had two interventions of dieticians, first in Reunion Island and then in Italy, San Severo.