Our mission is to promote the European opening to our students. Thanks to our many projects, including Erasmus+, we obtained the Euroscol label. Our students sit the Euromobility test (an optional test which counts towards their final exam’s grade) during which they present their experience in Ireland, and where they use English as much as possible. Since we offered them the opportunity to take it, all students got ahead on points in their European option exam. Indeed, they all follow European option classes and take the exam for the vocational baccalaureate. Once they secured the European option, it is forever written on their diploma and it gives them a clear advantage when presenting their CV or registering to BTEC studies or any other higher education training. These projects allow academic and vocational teachers to work together on common projects. Thus everyone learns how to work together, to better know the students in school as well as during out-of-school actions. The students also get to know the teachers and staff involved in the project in a different way. We work as much as possible with external partners and keep a close relationship with the students’ families in order to build a trust capital with the ones letting their child go abroad to become more independent.
We’ve been organising work placements in Athlone, Ireland (Châteaubriant twin city) for our senior year vocational students for more than 12 years. Our students have the option to attend European section courses taught by both and EFL teacher and a vocational subject CLIL teacher. We understand how important it is for our students to study the English language as many of them follow up with a BTEC diploma after the baccalaureate and will need to master it in a professional and personal capacity. Furthermore, a work placement abroad is always an asset on a CV. We work with Irish companies we now know very well and which provide work placements for our students on a regular basis. The students are given positions and tutors that suit their needs and vice versa. By opening our students to a new culture, we help them better understand the various changes and mutations they will be confronted to in their professional life. We’ve always welcomed innovative and formative projects for European citizens. Observing and exchanging with Irish and European colleagues in Athlone foster their curiosity. Professional mobility will likely be an asset but also an obligation for them. These projects are also very formative for the teaching and non- teaching team involved. It is significant for the team to communicate well in order to have an efficient follow-up of the files. Communication on the project and its budgetization can only be done by the school’s accountant, manager, and communication manager. It is indeed important to publish our projects and actions on the school’s website and social medias. Throughout the years, we’ve noticed the students’ families’ increasing diligence in attending information meetings, which in turn increased their involvement in the projects and allowed us to work together. We all get to know each other better and it necessarily has a positive impact on the tracking on the student’s progress throughout his/her training years in our vocational high school. The students’ families are not always comfortable with the idea of going abroad and they do appreciate the opportunity given to their child to do so.