We had four main objectives. 1. We hoped to increase the attendance of non native English speaking parents to parent teacher meetings and improve communication with all our families. 2. We aimed to reduce litter around the campus and waste less paper through photocopying. 3. We wanted to improve the democratic process of both staff and students, to empower students and allow staff to feel more heard. 4. We hoped to digitalise the classroom using creative IT skills. We began a process of teacher observation and team teaching collaboration with colleagues within our own school to share positive experiences with working alongside our colleagues in Austria, Germany, France and Bulgaria. to improve student engagement, to encourage continuous professional development in all areas but with a particular emphasis in digital learning and creativity and finally to improve our schools capacity to work internationally by creating ties of communication and cooperation with international schools in Europe.
This project was carried out in a boys’ secondary school in Midleton, Co.Cork, Ireland. We wanted to introduce more staff and students to the idea of working internationally with schools and students within the Erasmus network. We hoped to promote a wider use of IT in the school and classroom. We wanted to expose the students to several concepts using fun and creative methodologies. The project used their school subjects and various activities as a vehicle through which pupils were encouraged to be more creative and collaborative. Teachers collaborated with each other through team teaching in order to share expertise and reach more pupils. Students explored our 4 objectives through Etwinning, group activities and projects. To date our school had been involved in several Etwinning projects and only one Erasmus mobility, but this had been curbed by Covid. We aimed at reaching a wider audience through this project. Our aims reflected the needs of our school at the time. The project was carried out over an 18 month period.