Comenius Project
COMENIUS PROJECT 2011 - 2013
Comenius School Partnerships enable Irish schools to create partnerships with other European schools to work on projects which are pedagogically relevant and encourage intercultural exchange. These projects must involve some form of travel for the teachers involved, and take place over a period of two years.
Partnerships help students and teachers to acquire and improve skills not only in the subject area on which the project is focussed, but also in teamwork, social relations, planning and undertaking project activities and using information and communication technologies (ICT).
Working with schools from different countries also gives pupils and teachers the opportunity to practice foreign languages and increases their motivation towards language learning. The schools involved in this project are from England, France, Norway, Iceland, Co. Kildare and Mountbellew.
A 2011- 2013 project is called 'Future in our Childrens Hands' (FINCH), and is based around our environment. The project will make our children more aware of Environmental issues from 'Reduce, Re-use, Recyclye' to aspects of Ecological Conservation. Our mascots are 'Super-Ted' and 'Uncle Bulgaria' (One of The Wombles).
Our teachers and Comenius colleagues visited Clocharince N.S. Co. Kildare in February 2012. We studied our local fossil fuel source, our boglands. We visited a cut-away and raised bog at Lullymore and the Bog of Allen Nature Reserve which is run by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC). Our Comenius colleagues will use this visit as a springboard to launch their own studies in their respective countries on the use of fossil fuels and the negative impact this has on our local and global environment.
Comenius visit to Bath, England
In November 2011 teachers from St. Mary's N.S. visited our partners in Bath, England, where they went on a trip to a local a landfill site with 4th Class pupils.
The pupils in Frome Catholic Primary School, Bath, presented their projects on 'Reduce, Re-use, Recycle' during Assembly.
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OUR COMENIUS PROJECT 2009 - 2011
Name of Project: S.O.S - Support Our SuperTed Theme: 'Healthy Mind, Healthy Body, Healthy School' Our 'Healthy Mind, Healthy Body, Healthy School' project is a collaboration between 8 schools around Europe where whole school communities learn together. To encourage healthy lifestyles pupils will work with teachers and families across the partnership to plan, implement and evaluate a programme of activities which will support our mascot 'SuperTed' to develop a healthy mind in a healthy body in a healthy school. The schools involved in our project are from: Ireland, England, France, Spain, Norway, Germany & Turkey Project Mascot: 'SuperTed'
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Our Comenius mascot 'SuperTed'
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Comenius visit to St. Mary's N.S.Teachers involved in our Comenius Project from Norway, Germany, Spain, France, England and Kildare visited our school on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th May. On Monday the pupils from all the classes put on a special concert in the Pastoral Centre for the visiting teachers. On Tuesday the the visiting teachers put on a display from their schools for our pupils. Then the teachers went to the classrooms to talk to the pupils about their country, their schools and our Comenius Project - The theme for this visit was 'The Comenius Olympics' where pupils from each school got a chance to learn various Playground Games from the other Comenius countries. The parents also got a chance to meet the visiting teachers in the Pastoral Centre on Tuesday evening. Many thanks to the Parents Association who provided lovely food and refreshments in the Pastoral Centre for the Comenius teachers on Monday and Tuesday and they treated them to dinner in the Malt House on Tuesday evening. |
Pupils with teachers from Norway
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Pupils with teacher from Germany
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Comenius Visit to NorwayIn February 2011 Mr. Kelly, Mr. Mannion and Mr. Murray went to the Comenius meeting in Norway. The school in Norway involved in our project is called Jara Skole, near the town of Flisa which is an hours drive north of Oslo. The temperature at the time of the visit reached was between -15 and -30 degrees! The cold weather didn't bother the pupils at all as many of them came to school on skiis. Before the visit to Norway the pupils in all 8 schools took part in 'Playground Games' which each school then displayed in photos and videos to the other schools. Photo 1: The pupils in Jara Skole put on a concert in their school hall for the teachers from the European schools involved in our project. Photo 2: A Norwegian pupil looks at the photos of the 'Playground Games' and paintings of SuperTed on the Mountbellew N.S. display |
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