"The project ""Crossing Borders"" was conceived as a result of a proposal posted in Etwinning and many correspondences via email. The partnership consists of 8 partner schools based on geographically balanced countries in the EU: Portugal, Wales, Denmark, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Turkey. All are schools which vary in background and nature which has supported the project by exposing our pupils to a greater variety that exists in our European community. The variety in size is from 60 pupils upto a 1000 and the age range of pupils involved in the project vary from 8 to 16. All these aspects aid to further support the aims of the project which was to Cross borders, break stereotypes and develop a greater understanding in pupils of the diversity that belongs to our European community. We quickly agreed that the topic Crossing Borders could be a great working title. It could be read in many ways as intended and has been utilised as such. Our intention was to open the minds and eyes of our pupils so they were able to understand the different cultures and backgrounds people are bringing into Europe these years. 17 Global Goals was something the students got to know a lot more about and the Goals were visible in most of the activities in some way.Our main activities have base in understanding others, so charity work during the years has been important, but especially around holidays, where so many are left with very little, it has been important to help others. The mobilities have been very important! During these meetings, the pupils have actually gotten to understand other cultures and backgrounds. Not nessesarily by meeting refugees, but in the meeting with our partners. We all live in Europe and have a lot in common, but also many things where we are different, and that has been an eye-opener for all. During visits the students have attended lessons in school, have visited host families and have joined their friends for after school activities - been a part of teen life in a partner country. And that has overcome ones prejudices. And it was a particular objective - to reduce stereotyping. The students have become more confident in using English for communication. Meeting new people is easier well knowing that we have a lot in common, but also some interesting areas that we would like to know more about, e.g. school life, fashion, politics, music and so on.We believe that our pupls are more open towards new things. And they are more grateful for what they have and have their eyes open for how they might want to change things, e.g. in school: more activities during breaks, brain break during lessons in order to be able to comcentrate, better school food, less food waste, sorting the trash in school, a stronger student council and so on. There are no visible longer-term benefits, but within the participating students, there are things which they have brought on to their next educational institution, e.g. volunteering, starting a trash collection day in school for all students and teachers, focus on the well-being of others, sharing during Holidays. Some of the partner schools have taken in dancing as a thing the whole school do together once a year to give the feeling of belonging to this particular school."

According to the “forest strategy” developed by the European Commission, sustainable forestry plays a central role in achieving the EU’s climate goals and supporting the EU BioEconomy Strategy. Forests produce an impressive number of important products and services for society and present a significant source of CO2 storage related to climate change and they are home to a large proportion of biodiversity. Our project deals with the topic of forest, as a major topic for the future because future generations are needed who are familiar with the topic of forest and sustainability.Through our project, we want to build an awareness of nature, especially for the ecosystem of the forest. We want to observe the ecosystem forest from many sides, however the scientific approach will be running through the whole project as a main focus. Concrete observations of animals, soil and plants in the forest, the collection of information on site, excursions with experts such as foresters will lead to an intense experience and will be the basis for knowledge and later on attitudes. We want students to plan simple experiments themselves, to carry out and document them and to recognize scientific interrelations. The focus is on the ecosystem of the forest, not only in single, subject-based lessons, but under various aspects. The use of tools such as test tubes, test kits for determining important parameters, bug eye viewers and microscopes allow a wide range of working methods.Nevertheless, other approaches to the topic should also be made possible. Thus, each learning/teaching/training activity is under a different focus alongside the scientific. This includes tourism in the forest, access to the forest at a meta-level (for example through painting and music), the economic use of the forest (professions in the field of forestry and wood) and the impact of climate change on the local forest and in other regions of Europe.Through activities like excursions, explorations on site, presentations, discussions with experts, observations, working in the laboratory, experiments, etc. students will gain key competences not only in their mother language but especially in the foreign language and project language English (e.g. working together with students from the partner schools), in media (e.g. using modern media for presentations and research), in natural sciences (e.g. experiments on soil), social and citizens’ competences (e.g. accept other opinions in a discussion) and in self-initiative (e.g. making proposals for practical implementation). All four partner schools from Spain, Greece, Italy and Germany involved are located in rural areas next to forests and therefore have a special personal interest in participating in the project, to bring in existing experience and to gain more knowledge about the ecosystem of the forest. As a result of our project, students will experience innovation in their learning activity. They will increase their knowledge on the topic forest, recognize that the protection of it is an important task not only in their own surrounding, develop their communication skills in the mother tongue and in foreign languages and develop skills in the use of ICT and new technology etc. The project will also have an impact on the teachers, such as the improvement of English and project management skills. The schools will benefit from free teaching resources and teaching materials and will be part of a European network of schools involved in European cooperation. For longer term benefits, we will publish a handbook with a description of the activities carried out with handouts, practical examples, worksheets and products. It can be used for similar projects or single lessons. It will be handed on to teachers in the region, presented in teachers' trainings and available at the different partner schools. Final products (project summary and handbook for teachers) which will be the results of the project and were funded by the EU will be accessible for teachers and students in the schools' libraries so that they can be used during lessons, school performances, displays, lectures and exhibitions.

The basic approach of the project AROUND CULTURES SHARING NATIONAL HERITAGE is to develop cultural awareness, sensitivity and tolerance for other cultures and promote national heritage as well as improving the quality of education by developing the students' 21st century skills such as cultural awareness/expression, communication and collaboration/teamwork, creativity and innovation, critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making, meta cognition and learning to learn, citizenship, life and career skills, personal and social responsibility, interpersonal skills and intercultural learning, which are useful both in the school environment and in the world of work.Out project also focuses on strengthening the European dimension of education, providing teachers with modern teaching methods, developing digital skills and promote language teaching.Our students will benefit from innovative learning methods within a friendlier educational environment, able to respond to their individual needs and to cope with cultural diversity. Tolerance and respect for the self and for the others are two key concepts of this approach having as purpose the social inclusion for our students. As for the theoretical training, the project addresses the need to offer students competences and skills for accessing the next level in their professional formation, for active citizenship, voluntarism and future employment in changing international and local communities. All these desiderata require nurturing of qualities such as: team work ability, leadership, decision making, mistake assuming, sincerity, openness, being emphatic, pursuing a common goal, supporting the members in need and others that we promote through the methodology we intend to apply to our activities.The participant countries are Poland, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania. Out of these six organisations two have not participated in a European Union granted project in the 3 years preceding this application, Romania and Turkey. The target group of students is aged between ten and nineteen; it includes students who are intellectually or socially disadvantaged, who manifest behavioral disorder, students with special needs and migrants who need to be integrated in their new groups of friends and classes. To review the most important items of our project, it is worth reminding the following points:• The results of our partnership will be both theoretical and practical and include: a significant students' raise in knowledge about other countries national heritage, which will be measured by heritage knowledge quiz(we predict the results will be better at least 20 percent). • Frequent use of the latest ICT tools by teachers and students: The proof of this will be numerous digital results of the project, developing fluency in English languages, communication skills, collaboration and teamwork, raising self-confidence and job satisfaction and learning at first hand, thus gaining invaluable knowledge effortlessly. • Promoting European projects and European dimension of education on regional and national scale. • There are six learning teaching training activities that contain a variety of activities in accordance with our priorities and objectives. There is one teacher training held during the first LTT, where teachers will be trained on ICT tools: • flip grid• presentation tools (prezi, powtoon, slideshare, powerpoint, videoscribe, moovly or flixpress ) • brainstorming tools(tricider)• blogging(wordpress)• cloud storage services• curation • google forms• online collaboration tools(padlet)• creating timelines(sutori)• collage maker(picasa)There is also one coordinators' meeting along with the third LTT when evaluation of all the project activities will be made as well as necessary amendments, schedules and deadlines established.• The impact will be assured at all requested levels through making the project visible and applying in classes all that the project brings in the education process.• The dissemination plan will be respected thoroughly, setting examples of good practices for other stakeholders.• The sustainability will be assured by each partner through using the ensuing material and techniques in regular and optional courses, establishing new partnerships to go on this work and through maintaining the project ethos after its end. Thus, the longer term benefits become clear. We are intent on sharing our experience with our colleagues that show interest in this respect. The school climate change within our organisations will recommend us as sources of inspiration and materials for the school community.To sum up, we intend that our cultural heritage must be appreciated and preserved not only to keep our world more beautiful but also keep it as a compass to guide us in the future.