Objectives and expected results

1.  To raise standards of achievement, allowing pupils in all partner schools to develop skills of communication and gain in confidence. During Year 1, pupils will visit places in their locality to gain resources, information and develop an empathy with visitors to our region. They will learn much about their own surroundings and heritage to see how we fit geographically into the European Jigsaw.
2.  Using this theme, it will be possible for all involved to extend their knowledge and skills with particular emphasis on creativity and technology.  Through research and visits, pupils will take ownership for the planning of the content of their tourist leaflets together with learning how to make best use of new technologies to enhance the final products.
3.  Pupils will develop social, life and communication skills through working together to implement ideas whilst in the local community. They will learn the importance of collaborative work to produce high quality tourist leaflets for exchange. The production of a joint recipe book will develop pupils' life skills as these will be reproduced and sold as part of an enterprise project.
4.  We aim to enrich the cultural ethos and learning environment of each partner school. Pupils will develop a greater understanding of how we all fit culturally into the European Jigsaw.
5.  Staff professional development will be enhanced by visits to each partner school to be able to share good practice in educating pupils with a range of special educational needs. Staff will view another education system, look at pedagogical methods together with similarities and differences of how educating special needs pupils varies across the partner countries. Staff mobilities (including senior management, teachers and support staff) will provide opportunities for lesson observations, team teaching, sharing good practice and comparison of planning, delivery, support, evaluation and assessment methods specific to special needs pupils. It is expected that, by visiting each partner school, staff will return with new ideas to enhance their own classroom practice.

We will expect the impact on the pupils will be:
-an increased interest in other countries and cultures.
-an enhancement in pupils knowledge about their own cultural heritage.
-a rise in standard in ICT skills, using new and existing technologies.
-a rise in self-confidence and self-esteem.
-a greater understanding of the need to communicate with peers and with pupils across the partnership.
-an understanding that their own actions have a consequence, not only for themselves but for others.
-an enhanced motivation for learning in general, by developing existing skills when producing specific work for exchange.
-an extension of the opportunities to further develop entrepreneurship across the school.

We would expect that the impact on teachers / support staff would be
-a knowledge/appreciation of the school system in the partner countries.
-an implementation of new methods and strategies for teaching special needs pupils.
-a personal commitment towards developing a whole school ethos of implementing an international dimension.
-the readiness to work in multidisciplinary teams within own school and across the partnership.
-an exposure to new teaching methods and pedagogical concepts in general.
-an improvement in using new ICT technologies.
-an increased confidence in teaching cultural heritage in the every day curriculum.

For both pupils and teachers, new experiences will have a positive effect on the development of each person and that of the school. The project will raise the profile of the school within the local community as they will be included in many aspects during the lifetime of the project. The community links created will have become integrated into every day life of the school and continue in the future. Furthermore, the school achieved the Foundation Level of the ISA some years ago and they will use this project to gain evidence to be able to apply for the Intermediate and Full awards by the end of the two years.