The 4th Primary School of Edessa going through the second year of the European program Erasmus + KA229 Partnerships for exchanges between schools, entitled “Our cultures-our treasures” and code: 2020-21-SI01-KA229-075865_6, approved by the National Erasmus Agency of Slovenia and from the Hellenic Foundation for State Scholarships ,participated with three teachers in the first transnational meeting hosted by the OsnovnašolaRače school in the town of Rače in Slovenia from 11th to 15th October 2021.
“OsnovnašolaRače” was the meeting point of 12 teachers from Greece, Spain, Estonia and Portugal. The teachers who represented our school were the headteacher Mr. Piperas Konstantinos and the coordinators of the Project Mrs Siolou Maria and Mr Galipis Sotiris. The teachers from all countries had the opportunity to discuss and evaluate the overall progress of the Project so far, as well as to plan in detail the activities of the second year of implementation of the Project. The colleagues of the school “OsnovnašolaRače” welcomed all the partners very warmly. They prepared an excellent program that covered all our needs and gave us the opportunity to get to know elements of their culture and history at the same time. Admittedly the atmosphere among the participants during the meeting was excellent. The team of all fellow partners was so strong and in a giving mood that very quickly we developed friendships with all.
The headteacher Mr Ronaldo Lašič, the coordinator of the Project Mrs Sabina Hovnik and their team had a perfect organization and were very warm and friendly with all of us as they responded perfectly and implemented all the activities of the project in all its phases. During the meeting, a warm welcome party was held in the school event hall, followed by a guided tour of the school premises by students, during which we had the opportunity to learn about the structure of the Slovenian education system and the operation of the school. The participating teachers had the opportunity to attend and participate in learning and training activities. Also, during our stay, the host school organized online activities / workshops in which the 6th grade students of our school participated. All the children found this activity very creative, as it gave them the opportunity to see, even from a distance, students of the same age ,to get acquainted with the culture of Slovenia and to practice the English language in real conditions of communication with other students from abroad.
Participating teachers had the opportunity to use their time constructively both inside the school and in organized activities outside it. As part of the extracurricular activities, we gained a lot of interesting experiences. We visited the Puppet museum, Castle Rače, Nature park Rače, eco farm, Postojna Cave, Ptuj, the oldest recorded city in Slovenia and had the opportunity to tour the cities of Maribor and Ljubljana.
We strongly believe that this visit fulfilled the educational purposes of the Erasmus + project and helped us understand the importance of intercultural communication in order to get acquainted with other cultures. A common finding was the substantial interaction and fruitful cooperation between the participants, in a context of mutual appreciation and respect.
The next step is to disseminate and exchange the good practices gained during the mobility to all the other teachers, which will help to strengthen the skills of the school teaching staff so as to make teaching and learning more constructive and act as an added value towards achieving our goal of being an attractive and enjoyable school that children will love and parents will trust.
Finally, the next meeting is scheduled to take place in Estonia in April 2022.