Monday 23 May: Participants arrived to school in the morning. There were flags and a welcome to all countries in the Comenius Project. Both Staff and pupils were very happy to get visitors from the partner schools. Everyone got a warm welcome with friendly words, colourful fruits and cakes. There were some visits to classes, and this was a very good start getting to know one another.
Later in the morning there was a guided sightseeing tour in the City of Nardò. We had a visit in the Town Hall, which was a very nice building. We got a presentation of the history of Nardò. It was very interesting to know. During the sightseeing tour we got to see historical places and buildings and monuments. We went inside The Cathedral and Saint Dominick`s Church and the Municipal Theatre, all of them very beautiful buildings.
In the afternoon it was time for the 1st Project Meeting. There were important matters to discuss. All partner schools were present in the Project Meeting. Evaluation of Project Activities and the work with The Final Report were important matters in the Agenda for the Meeting.
Most of the pupils and some of the teachers went to the seaside for a swim in the very nice weather in the afternoon and early evening. They could see a wonderful sunset by the Mediterranean Sea too.
Tuesday 24 May: Everyone met at school in the morning. There were new aquaintances every day. After some time some of the staff and pupils from the school joined us for a sightseeing tour to the seaside, to Santa Caterina. All the participants were divided into two groups, having sightseeing by boat or staying in Santa Caterina for talk and swimming. During the trip by boat, we got to hear about the history of the coast of Italy and we visited some caves as well. It was very nice weather, and everyone was happy about these activities.
The whole group had their lunch at "Masseria Bellimento", a local farm, serving local cheese and farm products. It was very nice to taste local specialities in food.
The area was known for its agriculture and olive oil production, and we got to se a lot of olive trees. Some of them were very old.
In the afternoon it was time for the 2nd Project Meeting summarizing the project work. Then every school shall start the work with the Final Report, which is sent to them by their National Agency. The coordinating school shall summarize Part A as agreed in the Meeting, and then send a copy to the others to look at and comment. At last every partner school do their own work filling in Part A and Part B. The deadline is 30 September, but we aim to finish it earlier. In addition the coordinating school is going to do the EST - Report, for the database "European Shared Treasure".
The pupils and some of the teachers had different activities in the City, and in the evening the pupils met for activities together at school, playing together. There are communication in English and some sharing of languages in the participating countries as well.
In the evening everyone joined for dinner in the restaurant "Il Vizio" , and we got delicious pizza and some local dishes.
Wednesday 25 May: Everyone met at school in the morning. It was time for a new day of getting to know the area surrounding Nardò. This day we all went to a beautiful City of Castro and there were a famous castle and the interesting Zinzulusa Caves. The whole group had a wonderful lunch at a hotel by the sea, and there was time for a swim in the swimmingpool before continuing the tour. The next place to visit was the City of Otranto. Between the places to visit we got to hear about the history of the area along the coast. We visited the old part of the City of Otranto, and this was also a very nice place to buy gifts for family and friends at home.
In the evening everyone had a nice time in the City of Nardò. There was a concert for parents of the school this evening, and we joined the families and friends at this concert.
Thursday 26 May: Everyone met at school in the morning. After staying in school and visiting some classes, we went for a visit by bus to a ceramic pottery in Cutrofiano. This was a famous pottery, exporting their beautiful things to other countries as well. The guests got to see how the ceramic products were made from start to a finished product. It was very interesting. Some of the visitors bought gifts to bring home.
At last the whole group visited the City of Lecce, a wonderful City with beautiful and famous baroque arhitecture. We had a walk in narrow streets looking at the nice buildings and balconies with beautiful flowers. We learned about famous buildings and places. The whole group had lunch in Lecce before returning to Nardò.
In the evening it was time for "The Celebration of the Comenius Project" and a big "Party" with performances, dinner, singing and dancing. There were pupils, staff and parents from the school and all the participants from UK, Poland, Greece and Norway present this evening.
At first there were speaches by the headmaster, Carlo Longo, and the Italian Project Coordinator, Paola Gioffreda, and the Project Coordinator of the whole Project, Johanne Sætre, from Norway. They focused on the importance of the Project, the theme about environment and all the additional things with collaboration between countries such as friendship, tolerance, the sharing of language and culture and the crossing of boundaries both geographically and mentally. Everyone said thank you to all, pupils, staff, parents and other coordinators and participants. There were also some exchanging of gifts to the schools.
Then the school orchestra had a concert with the National Hymns of each participating country and then some more music from these countries. They were excellent in their performance.
The partner schools had prepared some dances afterwards, and the Italian school started with beautiful dancing in very nice costumes. Then the pupils from UK had their performance with dancing in bautiful costumes. At last the Norwegian school had their performance with "Sjuspringar" and "Hallingkast". They finished the part with dances with the dance from the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, Glow. Thank you everyone for excellent performances!
Then there was the great "Celebration" in front of "The International Tree". Everyone was served a lot of beautifully served dishes from local area. This was followed by colourful decorations of fruit and cakes for everyone. It was wonderful!
During the dinner, there was a presentation on a big screen of "The Story of the Comenius Project ", a self-explaining story with pictures from the whole period of the Comenius Project.
The rest of the evening there was singing and dancing in front of "The International Tree". Everyone was joining the activities and enjoyed themselves together.
This was a marvellous evening for all! The Project Work is soon finished, but we will keep all the good memories in our hearts. This is what Comenius collaboration is all about. We could feel "The European Dimension" in our collaboration with the Project "The International Tree - Developing Environmental Awareness". The aims of the project are achieved and it has been very successful!
Thank you for being part of EU`s "Lifelong Learning Programme" and the funding that makes it possible to collaborate and meet in participating countries.
Nettstedskart