UK National Priorities 2011-2013

The following is taken from the British Council website:
we need to look carefully at how our proposals fit into this model.
National Award Criteria 2011

Partnerships which address the theme of entrepreneurship/skills development and/or which develop pupils' employment skills.
Partnerships involving disadvantaged and/or under-represented groups (including ethnic minorities, migrants, looked-after children, special needs students and students from socially and/or economically deprived areas).
Partnerships focussed on pupils at secondary level, including in vocational and/or further education .
Partnerships which address the theme of sport, including the use of sport to address issues such as leadership, active citizenship, healthy lifestyles, and community participation/ cohesion .
Applications from schools / colleges currently registered with the eTwinning Programme and/or for the UK Government’s International School Award, to at least Foundation level.

Up to 3 extra points will be awarded for each of the five national award criteria. This means that UK schools fully addressing all five criteria will score a maximum of 15 extra points in the quality assessment.

Bicycles in Zwolle

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Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll

I enhanced the red of this building as I quite liked the colours. We spent the morning cycling Zwolle to get a feel for the town. The schol playground was a sea of bikes-unlike back home in Glasgow where very few folk cycle. Is iftthe numerous steep slopes of our glacial ly derived drumlins or the lack of decent cycle paths on many suburban roads I wonder. Certainly the Netherlands are more cycle friendly.

More brainstorming

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Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll

After touring the Doerpark Nooterhof we continued our discussions back at Van Cappelen, All our notes have been saved to disk and converted to a readable format. I;ll upload these shortly, to help show the process of decision making.

Comenius Planning Meeting, 9th November

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Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll

Our group met to define the terms of the project. We wanted to look at environmental issues, focusing on sustainability. This white board shows the crative process of coming up with ideas and trying to dind connections. We want to look at local experiences and then draw broader, global conclusions for each topic we study.

Doepark Nooterhof

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Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll

As part of our planning meeting, we visite the Noterhof in Zwolle. We had a guided tour of the Earthship, and of the gardens, including the Celtic calendar, a ring of trees, each species representing particular periods in the year. We also experimented with the various water lifing exhibits, such as an Archimdedes screw and a shaduf. we held a good meeting in the conference facility, helped by coffee and delicious apple pie

Scoping the Project-1

On Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th Novemeber, we spent a lot of time brainstorming ideas, with a view to scoping the project. We all agreed that it should focus on sustainability. Four core themes were identified, each of which could be developed over a two year period, going from specific and local, to a more general and global consideration.

Food-meat, then looking more widely at food production, transportation
Water-our own consumption, and the management of water
Energy-domestic and school consumption, moving to national patterns of energy use
Waste-its disposal and impact.

So, we are moving from the pupils' observation and experience of each issue, to coming up with more general conclusions. First we examine the local and specific before considering global and general. We aim for pupils to get a real insight into the concept and the reality of sustainability. We hope to enhance their political literacy, too.

Old Wall in Zwolle

Old Wall in Zwolle
Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll

I liked this faded and peeling advert on a old wall in the centre of Zwolle. Zwolle is a lovely town, the capital of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands, some120 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam. It has about 115,000 citizens

Initial meeting-8th-9th November 2010

The first meeting of the proposed Comenius parnership took place in Zwolle, hosted by colleagues at Van der Capellen school in Zwolle. A full 2 day agenda was prepared, which gave us time to brainstorm ideas, as well as visit some places of interest. During the course of the two days, we had full discussions about aims, timescale, methodology and likely visits. These will be outlined in the next post.

First of all here is some information about Comenius himself, taken from YouTube: