What a week!
We are coming to the end of a two year project funded through the British Council. We are working with schools in Greece, Poland, Spain and Turkey on a project titled "Playground Games". So far children and teachers from Moorside have visited Spain, Poland and Turkey - last week was the time for all of our partners to descend on Manchester.
I inadvertently became the lead coordinator of the project when the original coordinator was forced to move schools due to restructuring in his host country. I had never participated in a Comenius project before, never mind led one. It has been a steep learning curve. Leading meetings which are being translated into multiple different languages, catering for several school timetables and expectations, writing a project which was accessible and relevant in each country, and ensuring that the project is catered for within our curriculum.
As part of the project application we collectively wrote a monthly timetable of activities. It has been my responsibility to ensure that the timetable is adhered to. My role over the last month or so has been to plan and prepare for our international visitors. It's been far more time consuming than I first anticipated.
The first step was to write a timetable for the week, booking activities which all can access and ensuring transport to and from for 21 visitors. This was then sent to the partners along with an invitation letter to support visas. We planned for our visitors to spend two days in school. Alongside that we planned for them to visit Manchester United, visit the Mayor of Tameside and go BMX cycling at the Manchester Velodrome indoor track. I also had to find several restaurants which could cater for such numbers whilst bearing in mind that all partners were working to a budget.
Arrival times can cause a logistical challenge. One group arrived a day earlier than our other partners. I booked train tickets for them to visit Liverpool for the day whilst our other partners were travelling. Another group flew into Liverpool, so I booked coach tickets for them to come to Manchester. We collected others from Manchester Airport using a minibus we hired for the week.
Our group had met before on several other visits, so already work together effectively. The most challenging thing for the week was managing a group with diverse interests as well as managing my class. Once I had ensured all was completed for the day and the following day was confirmed it was 10pm each evening - then I could check books and make final preparations for my class the next day. I have slept well this weekend! Added to this we supported our partners by home hosting children from Poland and Spain with a number of teachers.
We were able to take part in a Tesco Online Field Trip through the Eat Happy Project
http://www.eathappyproject.com/resource-hub/online-field-trips/magnificent-milk/
At our meeting we successfully shared the work we had done on the project so far, and discussed our final visit to Greece. It takes a lot out of you to run an international visit, but I am thoroughly enjoying the ride, and am already planning the next application.
