Three small rural primary schools in Normandy and three Greek primary schools, two of which are located in Eastern Macedonia Thrace and one in Athens, have decided to build together the Erasmus project - ICARE3 - Integration, Culture, Friendship, Respect and Excellence in European Schools. This project was born out of the desire of French schools to be part of the normandy academy's policy, which promotes greater mobility of pupils from primary school level, and the desire of the three Greek schools in which French is taught, to forge lasting links with schools in France. Social inclusion and European citizenship are at the heart of the project, which targets both young people from disadvantaged rural areas and sensitive urban areas welcoming migrant children, and young people living in city centers with more opportunities and openness. The six schools are different, and yet, they agreed on the need to fight against geographical, social or identitarian closure ; thus, they have set the following goals for the project: - to create social, cultural and geographical diversity and to enable every student, regardless of his social, geographical, cultural situation or academic difficulties, to participate in a European project and meet different european classmates. - to enable students to acquire the skills necessary to live together and to succeed in a school path adapted to each of them. - to create situations in which students will develop civic attitudes and a sense of belonging to the same community beyond their differences. The teams have chosen a subject that is attractive for young people and in relation to the contextual and local ressources of the partners: the values of Olympism and sport will be the guiding thread of the project with History - Greece cradle of Olympism - and current events - the 2024 Olympic Games in France and the 18th School Olympics in Normandy in 2022. 200 school children, aged 8 to 10, all very different, will work together for 2 years thanks to the e-twinning platform and the european mobilities . They will be supported by 30 teaching and educational staff from the schools. The pupils wil discover themselves, the others, the others' schools, environment, region and country thanks to educational activities and facilitating media (video capsules, drawings, songs, poems, dances); they will also discover the local cultural heritage of each of the partners when travelling to France or Greece. This will be the time to open up to the others and to another culture while exploring European history and space. The cooperative work between the classes on information gathering, historical research, interviews with sportsmen on the theme of Olympism and its fundamental values (Friendship, Respect, Excellence) will enable students to confront abstract notions to concrete situations in sport but also to common situations in their lives ; these activities will contribute to make them aware of the importance of living together in harmony across borders and differences. Mobilities and sport activities will be a time when students will put these values into action and develop civic and responsible attitudes. The practice exchange times between the teams will be an opportunity to question the pedagogical practices and social inclusion policies of each school to progress in both areas by enriching themselves with the experience of each partner. By the end of the project, students will have developed new skills and self-confidence that will be measured by the way they will use them in their learning activities and how these skills will help them to better succeed . The positive attitudes the students will adopt in the classrom (more initiative , more cooperation, more help, respect for differences) as well as their better adaptation when entering secondary school, will also be an Indicator of the project results. The civic attitudes of students in the school and in the territory will also be observed: creation of a club Europe, integrative reception organised by students for new students, exhibition of the project in public places, testimonies at local events. The 6 schools will have created lasting links and will be able to consider wider partnerships and new projects: job short period exchanges, individual mobility for students, eTwinning projects etc. The dynamics created will give the schools a new visibility that will enable them to become resource poles thanks to the new skills of the teams concerning European opening. In the long term, they will contribute to the popularity of European programmes in the territories and in first-degree schools. Finally, because families and local actors are closely associated, their view of Europe will also evolve.
Six primary schools: 3 rural schools from Normandy and 3 schools from Eastern Macedonia, Thrace and Athens have decided to participate in the Erasmus+-ICARE3 project (Integration, Culture, Friendship, Respect and Excellence in European Schools). This project is part of a much larger project which concerned several primary schools of the Normandy Academy (Calvados) which wanted to promote greater mobility of primary school pupils on a European scale and of the French Institute of Athens who wanted to promote the French language on Greek territory. This project has enabled the 6 schools to forge links that last beyond the initial project. The original idea was to allow young students from all backgrounds (advantaged, disadvantaged, immigrant, living in the city, in the countryside, schooled in priority education or in city or peri-urban centers) to meet and share learning around the same project, to allow them to have a look at the outside world in order to forge a unique experience as European citizens. Our 6 schools are all different but we all had the same objectives, namely to open up to the outside, to allow our students to meet other students from different backgrounds in order to create a social, cultural and geographical mix that made it possible to acquire an open mind on a European scale and to make new friends. This objective proved to be decisive with the COVID 19 pandemic during which our students were forced to withdraw into themselves and had great difficulty in returning to others with confidence. We not only wanted to allow our students to experience living together without their respective families because we know that this can be reinvested in their school career and will give them the keys to their future academic success, but also help them to forge a feeling of belonging to the same community, namely that of a European citizen, whatever their origins. The theme of the Olympic Games, its history and its values seemed obvious to us with the granting of the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024 and the organization of the School Olympic Games by the Normandy Academy in 2022. More than 240 students aged 8 to 12 worked remotely during the first year due to the pandemic. Greece was confined for almost the entire 2020-2021 school year and French schools had to adapt to many very restrictive health protocols during the same period. The training sessions planned for using the Etwinning exchange platforms could not take place and the one on project management had to be reviewed remotely for a very limited time. We have used other communication platforms such as email, skype or padlets and the sending of video capsules in order to get to know each other and introduce our students, our schools, our regions and our country. Each school was thus able to introduce the other to its cultural and sporting heritage. We sent and received folk dance videos from our partners. The students were thus able to try out the culture of the other, first in their own country and then with partners during mobility. We also learned from common songs, plays... The cooperative work has allowed the collection of information on the Greek myths which for some are at the origin of sports that have since become Olympic like the story of Marathon. We met several Olympic and Paralympic athletes either by videoconference during the Olympic weeks or in our classes. Our students were able to talk with them about the fundamental values of sport and Olympism (Respect, Excellence, Friendship) but also discover the practice of new sports (rugby, fencing, basketball, football, athletics, etc.) Despite uncertainty almost until the start due to mobility restrictions in Europe due to the pandemic, the mobility was able to be carried out in its entirety and we succeeded, thanks to very good budget management, in having 40 more students leave than planned. for all the partners and we are very proud of it. The sports meetings involving students from both countries were a great success, the integration of the different students was total, all found ways to communicate and enrich themselves with each other. We are very happy because the project has been a great human success for all involved: the 43 guides and the students. We noticed many changes in the attitude of our students who were more united and no longer hesitated to reach out to others. For sure, this experience will allow them to enter college and their future life more serenely.