Participating Schools: Laura Vicuna, Gozo (|Malta), Our Lady of Immaculate School, Malta, St Francis Birkirkara, Malta, ICS Gandhi, Firenze, Italia, St Bridgets, Liverpool, UK and St George’s Liverpool, UK Focus of the Project: In the vision of viewing education in the Early Years as a holistic process, we aim to focus on using Storytelling as a means to teach academic concepts and also to address personal and social issues.The Outcomes of the project include:•Educators to exercise a paradigm shift in the way they see possibilities out of learning instances reflecting the national discourse about emergent and holistic learning.•Educators to re-awaken an interest in storytelling strategies and implementation.•Educators to visualise the possibilities of teaching literacy and numeracy concepts through storytelling itself.•Educators to be inspired by the idea of using stories as a means to an end: not just the message but as a medium to inspire/address further learning. •Getting parents on board to revive storytelling not simply as a bond but also as a learning provocation.•This exercise will also serve as a model of sharing the good practices as well as sustaining a network of educators followed by an Etwinning platform created just for this sole purpose.•This experience shall provide job shadowing/co-teaching experiences to teachers through mobility exchanges.•This project will include professional development sessions addressing numerical and literacy components through the choice of stories to tell.Brief Summary of the Project:Storytelling in most schools and homes is a common practice. The aim of this project is to:•think about the reasons behind this practice•awaken a more conscious interest in storytelling•get educators and parents to do an exercise in a paradigm shift in the way they see possibilities out of learning instances•encourage educators to adopt a holistic approach to the teaching of literacy and numeracy through storytelling (finding link texts)•get parents on board to revive storytelling not simply as a bond but also as a learning provocation.•create a network of educators where sharing of good practices is sustained throughout an online platform.Activity 1: Setting the Scene and The Art of Storytelling Understand the purpose of this project and give them the opportunity to reflect on where they are at right now and where they want to go. The ETwinning project will be established as the main means of communication and sharing of good practices. This will be the final product of the project and will be constantly updated throughout the 3 years. Activity 2: Using Stories in the Classroom The purpose of this activity is to share good practices of the use of Stories in the classroom. Participants will see how teachers in the hosting school are amalgamating storytelling within their teaching to address different objectives. The participants will also get the opportunity to stimulate their own thinking by working in groups to elicit learning opportunities and activities from a story adn shall include job shadowing opportunities Activity 3: It is all linked! The purpose of this activity is to highlight the interconnectedness of all developmental aspects. Even if the focus is on Mathematical concepts – by encouraging the children to speak about what is happening, to reason out processes and to discuss their choices, they are also developing their listening and oracy skills. By learning to listen to one another, take turns and show respect for different opinions, they are developing their personal and social skills. This activity is reinforcing the holistic aspect of this project. The participants will also get the opportunity to stimulate their own thinking by working in groups to elicit learning opportunities and activities from a story Activity 4: The Home School Connection The purpose of this activity is to address the issue of parental involvement. How can parents help their children at home? Do they have the skills to extend their storytelling sessions into learning opportunities? The participants will also get the opportunity to stimulate their own thinking by working in groups to elicit learning opportunities and activities from a story Activity 5: Beyond the Academic. The purpose of this activity is to address the issue of personal and social development. That aspect of learning has become more complex over time due to changing social circumstances. What are the challenges that we are facing? How can we deal with it? How does storytelling build bridges? The participants will also get the opportunity to stimulate their own thinking by working in groups to elicit learning opportunities and activities from a story Activity 6: Our Journey, Our Story. The purpose of this activity is to conclude all aspects of the project. It will be an opportunity to reflect upon the previous 3 years, evaluate what happened

The project examined the area of fitness, wellbeing and mental health in education, moreover, it challenged participants and stakeholders to examine how we approach the ever more challenging area of holistic well being. Research showed, and many reports had been published, NHS, Guardian Education, Times Education and Primary Times of the increasing crisis in childhood mental health and obesity. This was in addition to the statistics published by Aladino in Spain and the Tukish Ministry of Health. They had a varied background in working with international projects and with some, a range of histories where the lead teachers and schools had worked together successfully on a range of projects previously. These skills led to a good liaison prior and through the application, meeting regularly to update, share and improve the input and outcomes of the project. Within the project, there were schools from a variety of backgrounds; rural-suburban-urban; socio-economic; religious and cultural- Catholic, Muslim, Non-Denominational, Church of England and Humanist. This led to a wide range of skills, knowledge and approaches which enhanced the flavour of the project.Everyone involved took as many children as possible to the meetings TPM and LTTA to gain as much impact and experience as possible. Liaison between schools endures with schools continuing to keep in contact and host children families maintaining relationships post project. 100% of children enjoyed the experience of visiting a partner school and, although some found it challenging, they were 100% pleased that they had participated.Upon their return, they fed back to school communities. The project used a range of regular monitoring and activities to assess the progress and, it worked toward increasing the physical activity of participants. Outcome surveys were used to assess how children's knowledge of mindfulness, yoga and relaxation techniques was understood. They, along with staff, participated in training and sessions designed to teach individuals methods in which they could control their emotions and manage situations in which they may feel emotionally and mentally stressed.83.5% enjoyed the activity, 83.5% felt better afterwards and 78% of children could recall some of the benefits at a later point. Through the variety of activities that have been arranged and designed, the maximum number of participants were catered for, no matter what their economic, academic, social, religious or cultural backgrounds. Across the consortium of schools, the project aimed to meet the needs of almost 4000 pupils. In addition to this over 200 staff will benefit from the instruction and benefits of the project.The children when surveyed, 84% stated that they were more aware of their sleep and activity levels and 78% stated they enjoyed taking part and could compare their levels to the averages. Through the project, the children were able to identify where their food came from and the societal pressures that individuals have upon them when it comes to dietary choices. Through the identification of these, and the sharing of them with parents and stakeholders, they were, and are, able to make a more positive impact on the balance within their choices made. They were able to develop their language skills and apply their knowledge of technology to disseminate their knowledge and ideas on how they have embedded their understanding of the areas covered.Over the course of the project, we completed many units of work that complemented the overall outcomes as outlined in our original application. The conclusion of the project resulted in a range of findings that were shared on a variety of platforms: through the school, media and via the PRP portal.

CONTEXT The context of the project was such that schools participating in the project wanted to share experiences that would lead to better literacy levels. The context of the Maltese and English school participating in this project and each brought its school action plan with areas that need to strengthen or consolidate. Objectivesi) The experience in this project provided educators with the experiences need to learn new strategies on the teaching of literacy and this has in fact resulted in an improvement of literacy levels recorded through various assessments. Various educators and stakeholders in implementing the school action plan gained experience in how to better implement different parts of the school strategy of literacy improvement. i) The Senior Management Team (SMT) was able to share ideas of how to plan and implement a school action plan. During the activities organized in this project, the members of the SMT were able to share and discuss what components of their own action plans worked. Through the networking between the different schools, SMT members were able to evaluate and amend these in order to improve teaching and learning. ii) Teachers and Learning Support Educators (LSE's)/Classroom Assistants were able to use this action planning in the classroom. The activities included sharing of experiences and strategies that worked for the schools involved. There were also able to work close to their members of SMT to improve the school action plans. Implemented recommendations included: i) More focused teaching strategies using different modalities to better engage students; ii) Use of teaching strategies that worked with different learning styles/levels of ability in order not to exclude anyone from the learning process; iii) better use of text/books that matched the sounds they know so they develop accuracy, speed, and confidence; iv) better identification of struggling readers This was done to ensure high-quality literacy teaching since partners strongly believe that this raises standards of literacy.Our school was able to provide a professional development experience to 30 educators who in turn were able to influence other educators in the school to work together in favor of a school literacy action plan. Over the 2 years, the school saw an improvement in the level of expertise of its educators. Learning Support Educators also felt empowered in the knowledge gained. This knowledge was such that dissemination with other teachers and parents as possible. This dissemination helped other schools and institutions to implement some of the strategies used in this project. Each of the activities focuses on a particular area:Activity 1: This activity helped education leaders to understand what is required as a school in order to have strong leadership skills but also an effective school action plan to guide all the educators to improvement. Schools discussed the different strategies and difficulties and throughout the activity, they were able to come with a plan for the following months. The experience of excellent literacy results obtained by the school in the UK allowed the other schools to visualize what levels were possible for them to emulate. The intervention of a keynote speaker helped the leaders (being school leaders, literacy leaders, and special education leaders) to better understand the need of having action plans for literacy improvement. Activity 2: In this activity, the staff at St George's Primary school were able to share their practices both during their presentations but especially during the classroom visits. This focused on strategies particularly relevant for Grade 1 and 2. The intervention of a keynote speaker helped to bring all the ideas together. Activity 3: School was able to understand what was required in developing literacy following the implementation of the school action plan implemented and discussed in activity 2.Activity 4: Following strategies covered in activities 2 and 3, it was the turn to learn more about the implementation of spelling strategies. Teachers spent time sharing together strategies that worked. Furthermore, teachers were able to carry out classroom teaching where they saw the teaching of spelling. The contribution of the keynote speaker facilitated and aided the sessions.Activity 5: This activity, once again brought together leaders who were able to evaluate progress made through the project especially by evaluating the school action plans. Project Results and expected long-term benefits. An improvement in literacy teaching was noted in the school by the SMT and parents. Improved literacy results were also noted, not only at coordinating schools but also in other participating schools. This has in turn had long-term implications since pedagogical practices are still in place and are planned to keep improving.