This plan came from a common wish, from our four schools, to work together after a first project very exciting : to go further in our cooperation, to deepen and enlarge our European ambition, we opened our project to other schools, and for a longer period (two-years project). The main objective is still the same : open culturally our pupils, offering them an european point of view on their teaching. Some of our pupils have a strictly local reading of their (urban and natural) environment : broadening to european stakes is a token of intellectual opening, maintained curiosity and future wishes. We are four secondary education schools, with pupils from 11 to 15 (a few of 16). A French school, coordinating, located in Noisy-le-Grand, in Parisian area ; an Italian school, in Grantorto, close to Venice ; a Finland school, in Lahti ; a Greek school, in Larissa ; and, finally, an international school located in Stockholm, Sweden. We are already working together in order to organize transnational activities, between our different classes and disciplines. European Weeks will be organized in each school to present ambassadors pupils, exposing the projects'advances in their school. The results we expect by means of this activities will be important at the level of the local liveliness, for each school. It will raise awareness among several hundreds of pupils per school, about European and environmental themes. Thereby, it is all the families related to, and the localities around, who will hear about practical progresses ensuing these exchanges. Pupils, families, urban network, but also teachers' team, this project will highlight positively, locally and pragmatically what European cooperation means into everyday life. It will higlight as well a necessary awareness from all of us about our ways of life : how to preserve our environment through sustainable cities, respectful or its inhabitants and its immediate natural and living neighbourhood, that is to say biodiversity. In the long-terme, and in collaboration with cultural, teaching and social associations, this project will present some benefices that will go over immediat interests, entering into a more substantial scale: sens of reponsabilities development, opening to others, that will no more be a simple concept but an obviousness, a reflex, environmental and civic sense development, and more particularly a local, national and European civism. At last, development, beyond civism, of interpersonal friendships, cement of a proper European collective project.
This project came from a common desire to work together once again, following a first project, and to extend our partnership to new countries. The objective was to go further in our European cooperation, over a longer period of two years. The main objective remains the cultural openness offered to our pupils (and colleagues), by proposing a European point of view on the lessons. Continuing to talk about ecology, a subject for which the European scale is fully justified, was the guarantee of a teaching that was both present and future-oriented, ensuring that the issues within each country were crossed. Some of our pupils have a strictly local reading of their urban and natural environment: broadening their horizons to include European stakes is a guarantee of intellectual openness, sustained curiosity and future desires. We are five secondary schools, with pupils aged between 11 and 15 (16 for some). A French school, coordinator, located in Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris; an Italian school, in Grantorto, near Venice; a Finnish school, in Lahti; a Greek school, in Larissa; and finally an international school, located in Stockholm, Sweden, which had to leave the project after one year, as the sanitary conditions did not allow them to commit further. A New York school joined us informally, after contacting our Italian colleagues, adopting an observer position, in order to participate in some activities. We developed transnational activities, between our different classes and subjects, revolving around what we called "European Weeks". The European Weeks were, by turns, an opportunity to host the mobilities induced by our partnership. Prior to each European Week, a theme had been worked on : our works were then unveiled during the following European Week. Then, each Europe Week was an opportunity for transnational activities to conclude the previous working theme. During these weeks, each school sent 'ambassador' pupils and teachers to present their productions. For example, a national logo competition was held, each country proposing a logo to represent it: the other countries then voted to select the winners, which became the national symbol. Finally, during the following Europe Week, a competition was held through transnational teams to propose a common, transnational logo for our project; again, a vote was held. The logos had, of course, to highlight the European dimension of the project and visually represent the ecological issues addressed. Finally, a cuddly toy was chosen to travel around the different countries, in connection with our local biodiversity. Theses toys were the stars of our Twinspace. The results were, in our opinion, more than satisfactory. Our pupils were made aware of ecological themes, about the preservation of a sustainable urban living environment, they have develop concerns about environmental issues revolving around the challenges of biodiversity. Above all, real European friendships were born. The pupils discovered common cultural reflexes, a shared identity. At the level of the teachers, we had a fruitful exchange on other ways of teaching, which some of us have used in our practices. All the families and the surrounding localities have heard about the tangible progress brought about by these exchanges: some families have already had the opportunity to visit each other following the reception of a European correspondent, extending the partnership on their personal holidays! European cooperation has been concretely implemented in everyday life. In the long term, this partnership will continue in various forms. Our schools are ready to work together again; our communication campaigns have enabled the French school to receive the Euroscol label, making Saint-Exupéry the first school in Seine-Saint-Denis to receive this label. On the scale of this department and the neighbouring department of Val-de-Marne, Saint-Exupéry has become the only Euroscol school for a total population of over three million. Our use of social networks and our appearances in various media, our national rewards (as in Italy) have led families who did not participate in the project to hear about it, and to want to be a part of it in the future. In terms of values, our partnership has enabled our pupils to become more independent, thanks to the fact that openness to others is no longer a concept but a given. European friendship is a reality. Some knowledge on ecology will have an impact on the future development of the pupils' civic awareness, on a local, national or European scale