We are four schools; The American Academy Junior School, Larnaca Cyprus, Shaftesbury High School London, & Red Balloon School, Cambridge, both in the United Kingdom and Zespol Szkol Ogolnoksztalcacych nr 9 w Krakowie, Poland.
is to achieve academic and personal fulfilment in an emotionally supportive environment and so lay the foundations for the future independent Lifelong Learner.
To achieve this, the Project will provide the means to train staff with the aim of increasing competence, social and emotional intelligence, whilst encouraging the sharing of best practice and the essential skill sets, which are equally important for both professionals and their pupils.
The pupils will have the opportunities to develop their learning via cross-curricular group and individual projects, including internationally, and to experience how Project Based Learning generates intrinsic satisfaction. We aim that the pupils will learn a range of skills that create outcomes which contribute to their physical and digital communities, personally, locally and globally.
In March 2019, the Project Coordinators from each school met at the American Academy Larnaca for a Project Administration Meeting. At this meeting the aims and objectives of the Project for the next three years were recorded, along with the time frames within which these should be achieved.
First task? All pupils in all the schools took place in a Logo competition to design the Project Logo.
In June 2019, Mrs. Charalambous, Mrs. Michaels, Ms. Stella and Ms. Rebecca joined a group of teachers from each of the partner schools at Shaftesbury High school in London. The Head teacher of this school, Mr. Matt Silver, has been pioneering Project Based Learning and Well Being in his school already for the past year and we were treated to the experience of just how positive and empowering this method has already proven to be with the staff and students alike at Shaftesbury.
We visited various Project Bases such as Food Tech., I.T., Design Technology/Art, Sports Science, Gardening and Social work (such as visiting Old People’s Homes).
We also indulged in Mindfulness and Kick Box de-stress sessions.
Furthermore, we were given an insight into how Shaftesbury run their Parent Links and Family Liaison. Their aim is that the Home and the School cooperate and support each other fully with best interests of the child at the core
We returned full of enthusiasm and motivated to try out new ideas and projects in our own school.
Watch this space for more news soon.
This month (October 2019) Mrs. Charalambous and Mrs. Nicolaou will travel to Red Balloon School in
Cambridge to assess the progress of the Project so far and to find out more about what the other schools have been working on in their own settings. We will also get the chance to see the day to day running of Red Balloon, which is a centre for children who have excluded themselves from school because of bullying issues. Later in the Project there will be the opportunity for more of our staff to visit Red Balloon.
And this time next year all the schools will visit our school for 5 days!
Calendar
