1999/2000 Report

We have extended the projects to involve other subjects including English, Spanish, Art and Design, Information Technology, GNVQ Leisure and Tourism and Business Education.

The Multiple image project

The Millennium Face project was organised by KLB and was based on the work of the artist, Chuck Close. KLBS wanted to create a large picture of a face made from 2000 pictures of other smaller faces. Eg submit photographs of pictures of pupils and students from all schools. KLBS built a large picture using computer software which combined hundreds of faces from our partners in all schools. This produced a record of our schools in the year 2000 and depicts an image of a well known person alive in the year 2000.

The Heraldry Project

This is a repeat of a very successful project from previous years. 26 pupils, 14 boys and 12 girls from KLB School have responded to questions sent from Holland and reciprocated by designing heraldic shields for their partners in Gouda. The questions were composed on a word processing package and sent to Gouda by Email. Final images were created using a drawing and painting package afforded by a previous Comenius ICT bid.

A display of the final products was erected on the Comenius board in Katharine Lady Berkeley's School.

In Tenerife 34 students, 22 girls and 12 boys took part in this project. English, Computer Science, Art, Photography and Textile technology were involved. Because all the 14 to 16 year old have different optional subjects in Tenerife coordination was practically impossible.

'Pen-friend club'

KLBS have responded to this by introducing its students studying GCSE and A level Spanish to partners from Tacoronte. It has been very beneficial in terms of our students reading Spanish and responding in a combination of English and Spanish. Similarly the Spanish students in Tacoronte have had the same experience. One problem we have encountered is that of the age difference with KLBS students being younger than the Spanish partners.

KLBS have responded very positively to this initiative and have now included the pen/Epals project into their English curriculum in Year 7 (11 and 12 year olds). Teachers have been very keen to teach pupils the skills of composing informal letters and have used our European partners as a vehicle for delivering this valuable part of the English KS4 scheme of work. Each English group have taken on board a partner group from one of our partner schools.

20 secretarial students (15 girls and 5 boys), sent Christmas cards to KLB to start a link, hoping to continue by e-mail later on in the year. No answers were received; apparently there was a problem with age groups and level of Spanish. The cards were received some time after Christmas.

In May we received a list of six students of Spanish from KLB interested in starting an e-pal link, and letters were sent, but once again time caught up with us and our pupils are now on holiday, maybe this can be continued in September-October.

School Life

In response to this project KLB School have included the A level Art and Design group and have made a video of school life for sending to all partners. The filmmaking was included in the Year 12 'A' level scheme of work and has formed part of the students' assessment for the course. It involved 2 teachers, 23 students (4 boys and 19 girls)

In Poland an English class was used for this project comprising 1 teacher, 20 pupils (12 boys and 8 girls)

Pupils from Gouda have been very busy and have initiated several projects this year. The next five topics were set as part of their pastoral and social education work. Gouda pupils have one hour per week when they can work on these projects.

KLB School has responded to the following 4 projects by integrating them with the Epal project, which has been taken on-board by the English teachers in the school. Dutch pupils have initiated questions in English for other pupils to research and reply to. The result of their surveys has been distributed to other partners for displaying in each school.

KLBS received three questionnaires about these subjects, which were answered in English classes (About 60 students, 40 girls, 20 boys) and sent back to Gouda.

LIVING AND HOUSING

Pupils have exchanged articles, pictures, photographs of their homes on a one-to-one basis with their partners in other schools. The results of this project have been mounted on the Comenius notice board in KLB school. - Living and housing (Gouda) English classes, 1 teacher, 24 pupils (13 boys, 11 girls)

OUR HOME TOWN / VILLAGE

Again pupils have exchanged articles, pictures, photographs about their town or village on a one-to-one basis with their partners in other schools. The results of this project have also been mounted on the Comenius notice board in KLB school.
- our city, its history and monuments (Gouda)
English classes, 1 teacher, 26 pupils (12 boys, 14 girls)

LEISURE ACTIVITIES

Pupils have exchanged articles, pictures, photographs of what their favourite pastimes are on a one-to-one basis with their partners in other schools. The results of this project have been mounted on the Comenius notice board in partner schools.

MILLENNIUM CELEBRATIONS

Pupils from Gouda have kindly made and sent Christmas cards to their partners in all countries. These were distributed to KLBS pupils in English lessons and used to identify partners.

Saving water in everyday life

Krakow has taken charge of this project on water.

Polish pupils have produced an extremely thorough and well-written document researching into the use - and misuse - of water. Pupils have discovered many interesting facts about water from a scientific and environmental aspect.

The project has been divided into five parts;

• Make up questionnaires for sending to other schools
• Send to other countries
• Send questions back (collate)
• Draw data together and reach conclusions
• Distribute results to all partners

Spanish response:
26 students, 12 boys and 14 girls from Tacoronte took part in the water survey sent by our partner school in Krakow. The experiments were carried out at home and the results commented in Science class during the months of January and February, and sent back to Krakow. Photographs related to the theme were also sent. The end result is a comparative study about using water in the household, water treatment, and tips for saving water, environmental awareness...

The students and Science teacher involved were very impressed by the booklet, and they were very pleased with their participation.

Here are two of the schools' comments:

Polish response:

• The aim of this project was to increase pupils' and their parents' awareness of the absolute necessity (and inevitability) for sparing use of water and only environmentally friendly chemicals in our households. Our pupils have produced a document and questionnaires into the use - and misuse - of water and household's chemicals. Pupils from Poland, Spain and England have discovered many interesting and illuminating facts about water from a scientific and environmental aspect. Some schools have even contacted their local water institutions. After drawing the completed questionnaires and data together our pupils collated them in one comparative study, the most important part of which are conclusions and instructions what should be done to help to protect the environment.
• The booklet has been presented to all participating schools during the Gouda meeting.
• The project was done in Science, English and ICT classes.
• Teachers involved: 4
• Pupils involved: 26 (15 girls, 11 boys)
  

English response:

• The water project has been very successful and was used by a science teacher with her Year 8 Science class (17 boys and 18 girls, 13 year old pupils). The pupils were introduced to the survey firstly by the school's Comenius co-ordinator and also by their science teacher. Pupils then carried out the survey at home during a weekend and their results were tabulated and correlated in lessons.
• The scheme of work for water and the environment specifies the second half of the summer term and it was superb timing to be able to show the class and their teacher the finished report, written and compiled by their Polish partners having collected it during our conference in Gouda in June.
• A display has been created in one of the Science rooms and images recorded on digital camera for use in our web site here in the autumn term. The information collected was both useful and relevant to the science coursework and is to be the basis for an interactive multiple-choice game for publication on the group's Comenius website.

Young children of English and Polish schools celebrated the Millennium in a European context taking part in the project called:
"How do you imagine man 1000 years ago and 1000 years ahead?"

Polish pupils have challenged partners to draw images of a person in the year 1000 and to anticipate what a person will look like in the year 3000. Numerous interesting paintings, drawings and collages have been created and a selection of the final results sent to other partners for displaying.

Our pupils have challenged partners to draw images of a person in the year 1000 and to anticipate what a person will look like in the year 3000.

Numerous interesting paintings, drawings and collages have been created. A selection of the final results has been gathered in one album, whose copies have been handed on to all partners.

It should be pointed out that the pupils' images were exchanged not only by traditional mail but also by e-mail. Our young pupils have found this project extremely interesting and their teachers considered it a very successful one.

The project was done in Art classes.
Polish teachers involved: 4
Polish pupils involved: 110 ( 50 girls, 60 boys)
English teachers involved: 1
English pupils involved: 35 (20girls, 15 boys)

Food survey - recipes and cooking activities.

20 students, 15 girls and 5 boys of the Secretarial Course in Tenerife were in charge of this project; they generated the questionnaire, e-mailed it to the other schools, studied the answers and made a summary of the most relevant information. They also took part in the French Food and Afternoon Tea activities. They chose typical Spanish and Canarian recipes, translated them and then illustrated them using the scanner. All these activities were done in French, Computer Science and English classes. These activities were done all along the school year. (October-June)

The end product is a booklet that has been presented to all the participating schools; hopefully it can be used in different classes, such as language and food technology. It also can be extended the following year, as we would like to receive more recipes, food activities and comments about what they think about our suggestions.

The students were amazed by some of the results and thought that the experience was very interesting.

Poland responded with recipes typical for the Polish cuisine to I.E.S. Tacoronte for the Comenius Cook book. English classes were used, 1 teacher, 26 pupils (12 boys, 14 girls)

England responded with recipes typical for the English cuisine to I.E.S. Tacoronte for the Comenius Cook book. Food technology classes were used, 1 teacher, 24 pupils (10 boys, 14 girls)

Pupils in Krakow have prepared a video on CD for the other partner schools to see. Basically it shows life in their Polish school and was professionally produced by the school. It is composed of three main parts;

• (i) last year's visit by the Comenius team
• (ii) life in a Polish school
• (iii) "Polish Family Day," which was last Saturday

Pictures were taken by a group of 5 pupils (4 boys, 1 girl) and 2 boys did the conversion into the CD version.