European Comenius Project

(Click on the photo to go to the gallery for the meeting at Radlin, Poland) 

Withernsea High School Geography Department is currently involved in a Europe-wide project with 4 other European schools in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Portugal. The project is on the topic of 'Environmental Responsibility for young Europeans' and has involved Year 10 and 11 students from all 5 schools engaging in common classroom activities, research and out of school visits as they explore the ways in which we impact on the environment and discover ways to become more responsible citizens.

Funded under the Comenius Project by the EU (via the British Council in our case), teachers from all 5 schools meet twice a year at one of the partner schools. Our first meeting in November 2006 was in Frydek-Mistek in the Czech Republic where over a dozen teachers met to plan the project and agree activities to carry out with our students. The second meeting was in Radlin, Poland in April 2007 where we exchanged the results of the research our students had carried out and planned the next 6 months of activities. We also had the pleasure of meeting with students from Portugal, Germany and their Polish hosts as they accompanied their teachers for this meeting. Future meetings are planned for Hessen - Germany (November 2007), Withernsea - England (April 2008), Lisbon - Portugal (November 2008) and the final meeting of the 3-year project will see us return to Frydek-Mistek in April 2009.

By the end of the 3-year project our students will have investigated how they make use of their immediate environment - in their own lifestyle, homes and neighbourhoods; what challenges face their communities in operating in an environmentally responsible way; visits to recycling and energy-saving schemes in their locality, and implementing an environmentally-sustainable project in their own school.

Not only are our students learning about how they can contribute to an environmentally responsible future - they are learning about the lives of fellow students across the European Union, collaborating on joint activities, and making essential links through email and personal contact.

(Click on this photo for more images of our first Comenius meeting at Frydek-Mistek, Czech Republic, November 2006)