This Erasmus+ KA2 project on cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices is a strategic partnership for schools only. It involves 7 schools from Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Wales (UK), Bulgaria, Romania and Czech Republic. The main priority of the partnership was to support schools to address all students from the lowest to the highest end of academic spectrum, to maximize the learning and teaching potential in each of our schools and to deal with issues of underachievement in basic skills. The teachers, in close collaboration with the educational community (researchers, parents, students and other members)have learnt and developed new teaching methods: Visual Literacy (VL) and/in Differentiated instruction (DI). In the media age, children face reading literacy and VL challenges even at their early primary school age. The children began developing broad literacy skills, which go far beyond a purely text-based approach (e.g. critical and competent use of visual material, coding and decoding of pictures), This project primarily addressed our needs as teachers to adopt and share innovative methods. As a consequence this enhanced and developed our teaching work in societies where cultural changes (multiculturalism, financial crises, immigrants) happen so fast that formal traditional educational systems fails to follow. This project was developed to encourage diverse teaching contexts and environments so we were able to discover some positive lines of investigation and new ways of adapting education. Our innovative project was guided by the general principles of differentiation, which included tasks, differentiated lessons, flexible grouping and ongoing assessment. The methodology that we applied to work incorporated a lot of the characteristics inherent in language teaching and looked at the potential of the Visual Literacy approach as a viable practice. Our aims were: - To utilise the pedagogical teaching methods behind the theories of DI and VL in order to customise learning experiences, to adapt and differentiate teaching procedures and tasks according to the unique needs and learning styles of the students - Raise awareness among children and adults of the cultural elements around them and how these relate to their daily lives - Sensitise children to collective processes necessary for decision-making and to foster the spirit of collective work and trust in the product of group work - Use tasks as “research tools” for cultural comparisons on a longitudinal basis and between communities of a different cultural, economic, social profile - to address our students’ individual needs in terms of better understanding the learning process, the curriculum topics and contribute to the improvement of their school attainment and inclusion Our intention was to include VL and DI in the project and to integrate them school subject and combined the outcomes of educational activities which incorporated other areas of knowledge (e.g languages, art, music, drama, ICT, social studies etc) As a result of the project the final productions of activities along with the digital book on our twinspace showing all Project activities in different languages, the resources received from teachers.The project had an impact on the whole school as it was embedded in students, teachers, parents, local community by supporting the overall improvement and the quality of the school. We disseminated the project practices and results (using various tools) to target multiple groups (local, regional, national, transnational level).Finally, the sustainability in this project was ensured as all partners were committed to building a network of stable relationships that will lead to future expansion and development of the project.

MOTIVATIONThe idea of the project is based on an article I have read called biophilia, inducing the idea that humans are instinctively drawn towards their natural surroundings. This idea is more current nowadays as kids prefer to spend a lot of time indoor in front of a monitor instead of playing outside. According to a survey the ratio between the time of a child spent playing outside and inside in front of a monitor is 4 to 7 minutes to 7 hours.The project is based generally on two main movements:1. To get the kids outside in nature.2. Teaching the kids natural responsibilities towards the environment and nature.Based on these motivations, we as primary school teachers from all over Europe, are going to develop this study to induce a discipline intended to direct our children meet the nature, make them enthusiastic to the time spent outside. In order to reach this, we will prepare and apply simple and practical entertaining activities inside the school’s systems.The core idea of the project is based on 50 different outdoor games, both for children and teachers, games that are going to be improved to be practical applied in the education system. We, the primary school teachers, intend to meet 5 times in the next 2 years to apply the results of the development in our schools.The activities within the project will lead the kids to wish to play outside bringing with this the responsibility for nature and environment. This will develop the sense of nature protection.OBJECTIVESO1. To exchange experiences and good practices bound by teaching through outdoor games between primary teachers from EuropeO2. To create and develop appropriate materials which will sustain children's interaction with natureO3. To grow students’ awareness about the importance of the environmentO4. To develop student’s abilities for nature's protectionsO5. To form student's competences of active citizenshipO6. To enrich school curricula and reinforce the implication of the school in local communityO7. To promote active citizenship and social responsibilityPARTICIPANTSThe targeted children for the project are aged 5-12 and are the main beneficiaries of the study in the lessons and outdoor activities developed by the teachers which attended to the JSMs. The next beneficiaries are the teachers, as main characters and instructors in the performance of the activities. Every JSM training comprises of 5 teachers from each school partner. In the program there will be 100 teachers directly involved and 100 teachers as indirect participants. The entire capacity of the project will include 500 teachers with all extensions an 450 students with ages between 5-12 and around 500 parents.ACTIVITIES AND METHODOLOGYThere are going to be launched 50 different outdoor games in every JSM out of 5, where primary school teachers will join in workshops, developing the games in order to integrate them into the curriculum of their school.RESULTS AND IMPACTEvery performed game will be uploaded on the platform and after all are completed, they will be downloaded by all partners, who will improve the learning material of each school. This material can be used for developing new courses for students. There will be also 5 digital books which contain 10 outdoor games each and examples of outdoor lessons that have been developed during the JSMs.Another important part of the project is the development of the human resources, concentrated both on the short and long term. The project intends to develop strong relationships between the participating teachers from Europe and give theme the opportunity to launch new future ideas for projects. All teachers from different educational systems will apply their understanding and the best practices in the implementation of the project. Where there are several teachers from the same school in the project, these teachers will collaborate in improving the intra-institutional relations, meaning a positive climate for all participants in the education.The goal is to make the classes more attractive and attract them to with the games to the outdoor activities, and therefore to increase the motivation to learn. Also, within these games the student will develop the sense of initiative which will get them being more involved in their community activities. More awareness campaigns will be organized both by students and their teachers in the future years. Another idea that might arise is the after-school activities for volunteers for getting involved in the active citizenship from within the school.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been felt globally, affecting all walks of life in personal, social and commercial contexts. The Cultural and Creative Industries are not exempt, and nor have they escaped the significant negative impact. Theatres, cinemas, operas, art galleries, museums, community arts groups have been forced to close at short notice. Schools were shut to most students, some have fully re-opened in Wales, many across Europe have a mixed approach with some year groups in full time and others a mix of F2F/online learning. This situation has left many young people stressed/concerned about their current and future lives. Many students have missed school for friendship and support from school staff and are now worried about catching up on their education. This has impacted negatively on their emotional wellbeing. The Children’s Commissioner’s report Wales 2020 highlighted that only 39% of the 12-18 year olds were confident to access counselling services in school. This project is unique as it aims to take creative arts experts and teaching professionals on a journey to create lessons/activities that use a range of creative arts media to engage learners to express their emotions/feelings. Many have these feelings pent up within themselves without an outlet for ‘unpacking’ their feelings, or someone to talk to or the language to express themselves. As a partnership of 6 schools, 4 creative arts experts and 2 education support organisations we will work as a PLC to carry out the followingBaseline assessment to evaluate starting point and final impact of the project on the role of Creative Arts methodology within schools as one of the support mechanisms to improve students’ health & emotional wellbeing. This will be developed into an in-depth RESEARCH based IMPACT EVALUATION REVIEW carried out with support from an independent researcher to produce a robust & dynamic impact evaluation report to drive policy development with policy influencers. Other Intellectual Outputs that will support the project to develop/deliver its intended impact include Online workshops/modules developed by CREATIVE ARTS experts to upskill teaching professionals and stored as a digital repository on open access sites. A toolkit of resources/lessons/activities produced by teaching staff developed after attending the online modules to develop and deliver high quality creative arts lessons/activities in schools. The majority of students targeted are learning in a bilingual environment and to support their language acquisition skills we will create between teaching professionals, students and creative arts experts a LEXICON of EMOTIONAL WELLBEING, which will be one of the unique features of this project. This will be developed into a progression route strategy for 3-19 year olds as part of each school’s Health & Wellbeing curriculum/policy.Our expected results/impact include:Students have the necessary vocabulary in their language of learning to express themselves confidently about their feelings, emotions and problems that have built up within themselves during the pandemic.•Students have gained confidence in a range of creative/cultural/expressive arts skills to communicate how they feel about the impact of Covid-19 on themselves, their families, and friends.•Teaching staff and related support staff (pastoral/counselling staff) develop the skill set to provide support and guidance to pupils to express themselves confidently in the native language used within school setting•School staff are comfortable and confident in using a range of creative, cultural and expressive arts- based methods to develop their own repertoire of approaches to linguistic and emotional support.•Schools have mechanism/vocabulary and progression route for talking about feelings from foundation phase into transition years of secondary school and beyond.•Develop resilience strategy within the school and their local community for the current situation and future challengesOur longer-term benefits are anticipated as follows:•Policy changes within schools to develop an emotional wellbeing progression route for talking about feelings from foundation phase into transition years of secondary school and beyond.•Higher profile on the importance of CREATIVE ARTS and EXPRESSIVE ARTS across the curriculum•Better emotional wellbeing resilience for schools, their students and teaching staff•Greater engagement between school communities and local creative arts community.

The project called “Teachers & Learners using ICT tools in Teaching & Learning Science, Mathematics and English Language” aimed at developing the pedagogical and digital skills of the teaching staff from four partner schools located in Romania, Turkey and UK.Two of the partner schools have never implemented an Erasmus+ project before. Nevertheless some of their teachers have been involved before in other Erasmus projects. When we applied for the grant all partner schools shared the same need to invest in the professional development of their teachers in the ICT field, the need to extend their partnership network and to exchange best practices with schools at European level. Our pupils and parent communities expressed the need to participate in European mobilities as a way to improve their knowledge of European identity and the diversity of the European culture and to have access to digital lessons and digital tools and methods when it comes to learning science and foreign languages. In this regard, the Erasmus+ program was an extraordinary opportunity for all our schools. The objectives of the project were: - Develop the pedagogical and digital skills of 40 teachers from 4 schools so they can improve their teaching with the help of technology; - Increase the level of academic results and motivation of 200 pupils (50 from each school) who attend activities delivered by teachers who use ICT tools and digital educational resources during their science, mathematics or English language lessons. - Improve the educational offer of the 4 partner schools by sharing best practices in using ICT tools in teaching and learning activities at European level - Promote European citizenship and improve the cultural awareness and expression of the direct and indirect participants We will reach these objectives by organizing local activities and also international mobilities for pupils and teachers.By the end of the project we met the following results: - increased number of digitalized lessons and educational activities delivered by 40 teachers by using ICT tools and educational resources: the cooperation between teachers resulted in more than 40 lessons designed and delivered to the students; We kept a record of those lessons and their support materials and then made them available to all partner schools and other interested schools through open web platforms and through Google Classroom and Google Drive. - better academic results of 200 pupils directly targeted by the project local activities (improvement by at least 10% in average in science, math and English language grades). - a curriculum for an optional course offered on school's decision. - a boost in pupil’s motivation (measured by applying satisfaction surveys and interviews at the beginning and end of the project) - 4 mixed virtual classrooms comprising students from the four partner schools, based on age and study subjects. Each virtual classroom has co-teachers from each partner school.During the project period we implemented 6 transnational events for learning, teaching and training activities. Three of them were for teachers and three were for students exchange. One of the 6 events was organised online by means of video conferences. - an online lesson where the participant students had the chance to meet the Romanian Cosmonaut Dorin Prunariu, the only Romanian who flew into space. For this reason, the coordinating school invited the other three partner schools to attend the online meeting.The project had a significant impact on students, teachers and partner schools. The the teachers from the partner schools shared their best practices and contributed to the improvement of the educational opportunities in schools, in line with the 21st century learners’ needs.