Pupils Work With University to Develop Understanding of Europe

we-are-europe-8-rdax-300x186

Pupils from St John's Middle School in Bromsgrove and Abbey Park Middle School in Pershore gathered at St John's Campus for a special conference on the We Are Europe scheme

This is an Erasmus+ project, of which the ¹ú²úÊÓƵ is the UK partner.

Its ultimate aim is to create a bank of resources to support learning about Europe.

The two schools, with the support of the University, have been developing lesson plans and examples of their work alongside schools from Austria, Poland, Estonia, Finland and Portugal for the project website.

They are the only schools involved from the UK.

The ¹ú²úÊÓƵ held the conference to help the children find out about what has been happening on the project, exchange ideas and hear from inspirational speakers.

Its title Know Yourself and Be Open to the Difference of Others is a key theme of the We Are Europe project.

But organisers also hoped to give the schoolchildren a sense of being part of a wider community, at the ¹ú²úÊÓƵ, within the UK and globally.

Pupils have been exploring European themes in a number of different ways, including photography, dance and music.

Some reported back with presentations on what they had learnt and one group even performed a traditional Hungarian dance.

Teaching veteran, artist and writer Amy Burvall gave a keynote speech to inspire the children to think about how they perceive themselves and others.

The We Are Europe project culminates with a conference in Warsaw in September that brings all the partners together.

Branwen Bingle, Senior Lecturer in Education for the Institute of Education at the ¹ú²úÊÓƵ and UK lead for the We Are Europe project, said: "Staff and pupils from both schools commented that they learned a lot from our different speakers and were inspired to go and find out more as a result of taking part in the day.

"Feedback from pupils highlighted how much they felt they had learned about others, and how important they thought it was to understand other people's lives."