French visit - May 2014 + minutes

Agenda for Comenius meeting in France from 21st to 25th of May 2014

May 21st
All partners are arriving in Vannes. 

May 22th
Morning (9.15). Welcome in our school. Explanations about our Unit. Discussion about our Comenius program, and exchange works. Lunch provided in our school’s restaurant.
Afternoon:
4 different groups will :
- visit our school
- watch lessons for pupils with special needs, and lessons in ordinary class with pupils with special needs
Evening (7 pm). Introduction to crêpes (Breton speciality) making and eating what we cooked (23 euros)

May 23th
Morning (9.15). Visit from a company which is working with people with special needs (physical and mental disabilities). We could have a reception of the city hall. Lunch provided in our school’s canteen.
Afternoon. Vannes’s visit with our pupills
Evening (7 pm). Picnic with few colleagues, depending on the weather : wether near to the beach, wether at our school…

May 24th
Morning (you can choose when you want to wake up). Discovering our typical market in Vannes, buying souvenirs. Lunch on your own.
Afternoon (2.00 pm – 7 pm). Cruise on Golfe du Morbihan (23 euros)
Evening. Dinner in a restaurant in Vannes (about 20 euros)

May 25th
All partners are going back.

Agenda for 3^rd meeting, 21^st – 25^th May 2014

Meeting held in French School – Unite Localisee d'Inclusion Scolaire

Staff in attendance:

Norway –

U.K. –

Denmark-

France-

Poland-

Germany-

Turkey –

Minutes will be taken by the staff from the Turkish school at each meeting and distributed to all partners within 1 week of return.

All partners would like to thank the Head and staff from the French school for their early internal travel details and for the planned programme / hospitality during the stay.

Review the how the plans for Year 1 have progressed so far. Discuss work undertaken in schools so far. Discuss areas for recording on the interim report for National Agencies.

·         Activities

·         Problems / obstacles

Activity for the forthcoming term – growing plants / flowers

·         Looking forward to Autumn activity

·         Recording results of flower growing

·         Issues

Discuss and confirm dates for next meetings

·         Germany: 26^th – 30^th November 2014

·         Turkey: 18^th – 22^nd March 2015

·         Denmark: 6^th – 10^th May 2015

5. Update on Skype / blog / websites etc.

6. Exchange the posters produced (and any gifts brought).

7. All partners will be issued with a certificate of attendance, including those from        Poland.

8. AOB - any other business that partners would like to discuss.

Minutes from Comenius project meeting

Unite Localisee d'Inclusion Scolaire

Thursday 22^nd May 2014

Present

All partner schools

·         Sian introduced the meeting.

·         Sian extended thanks to Anne and her staff team for their hospitality during our stay and visit to the school.

·         We discussed completing the interim report for our National Agencies that have been received by some partners. This is a report for Year 1 of the project – what has been successful and what obstacles we have faced, if any.

§         All agreed that the project has been successful and there have been no major problems

§         Communication between the partners has been constant and open.

§         We are all lucky we have bonded well as a cohesive group and have formed some lasting relationships – both personal and professional.

§         There have been some slight technical hitches regarding SKYPE but these have been minimal.

§         All agreed to Sian producing a basic final report for all school. This can then be translated and amended as schools feel necessary for their National Agencies.

·         We discussed the next activity in the project – growing. We all agreed there would be issues on each school regarding the planting and care of growing vegetables due to the long Summer holidays and the time of year not being right to plant some varieties.

·         Sian suggested that the vegetables needed for the soup making in the Autumn Term could be made into a group shopping activity. As long as this is documented – photographed etc. and involved the pupils, this wouldn’t be a problem.

·         With regards to the flower growing competition, it was decided that there would be no end date for the competition this term. There was again issue surrounding the early finish of some partner schools. Anne suggested that her pupils could take the flowers home and care for them during the Summer? In Wales, we are able to do it in school so will complete the activity during the next few weeks.

·         In any case, please post results, photos, graphs etc. onto the blog.

·         Dates were confirmed for visits 2014/15:

o       Germany: 26^th – 30^th November 2014

o       Turkey: 18^th – 22^nd March 2015

o       Denmark: 6^th – 10^th May 2015

o       Wales further extended an invitation to all schools to visit our new school next year – all are welcome.

o       Would all partners also consider beginning a new project together from September 2015? Please bring your thoughts on this to the next meeting and Sian will investigate how this can work.

·         The discussion moved on to the sharing of work between schools. As there may be issue with uploading documents and files onto the blogs, please feel free to email out anything you feel would be of interest or use to the group. This could be, for example, the mascot books, or photos that have been taken etc. Please ensure these are in Word docs or PDF format for ease of access.

·         Skype sessions – as discussed, have been really successful. Some countries still to fulfil this terms conferences. All schools agreed there have been some connection issues but in general, all have been successful in the end!

·         Sian is still investigating video conferencing through the E-Twinning website.

·         A reminder to continue to post photos and information onto the shared blog and your school websites – especially those from your European Day celebrations.

·         All partner schools exchanged posters and gifts.

·         Certificates of attendance were given out – including those outstanding from Poland

·         AOB – France will email all partner schools with a certificate that can be given out to any pupils leaving the schools this term – or that can be presented to all pupils who have participated in Comenius work this year. Please could this be done by Friday 20^th June so it arrives at all school before the Summer finish?

Thanks to all partners for a very successful year, we look forward to meeting up again in Frankfurt in November – shame we must wait so long for another meeting!