Local school’s enjoy European Erasmus experience

TWO primary schools in Llanelli have recently hosted an Erasmus+ European Schools Project training seminar involving teachers from all over Europe.

Bigyn Primary School and St Mary’s Catholic Primary School hosted teachers from Poland, Ireland, Greece, Catalonia, and France as part of their ‘Changing Europe’ Erasmus+ Schools Partnership.

The project coordinator and Headteacher of Bigyn Primary, Marc Howells, reported that the successful project is now in its third and final year.

“The seven schools have been working together on a project that explores the causes and benefits of migration around Europe.

“With Brexit on the horizon, it is important for our pupils to realise that people moving into Wales from other countries has been happening for many decades and has brought many benefits to the economy and to society.

“Here in Llanelli, we have a large Polish community and it has been fantastic for our Polish pupils to work with our partner school in Poland.

“The project has focused on how war and conflict have resulted in refugees moving to the UK. Pupils in all schools have completed research projects on how their areas were affected by World War Two.

“The pupils have also focused on the importance of peace and have been taking part in a range of activities involving art, music, and drama.”

The project has facilitated teachers from all schools to visit each other to observe and share good practice. The first visit to the Polish school focused on effective ICT and Maths teaching.

The visit to Greece concentrated on how art, music, and drama are used in creative learning.

In June they visited France to learn about how they use environmental art and local history in their curriculum.

This visit to Wales has been the fourth visit and has involved the teachers in training seminars focusing on ‘The Rights of the Child’ and on recycling. The teachers also visited both schools to learn about Cooperative Learning, effective ICT teaching and how young children learn in the Foundation Phase.

Those in the Project also had the opportunity to meet with Cllr John Jones, Llanelli Town Mayor, who was very interested to learn about how the schools have been working together over the last two years.