Comenius

'We are all citizens of one world.'

The Comenius Programme is named after Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670), often considered the father of modern education

Comenius is aimed at schools, colleges and local authorities across Europe


Comenius has two main objectives:

- to develop knowledge and understanding among young people and education staff of the diversity of European cultures and languages, and the value of this diversity

- to help young people to acquire basic life skills and competences for their personal development, for future employment and for active European citizenship

OUR C0MENIUS PROJECT

2009-2011

As a school we are always looking for new and exciting ways to further the children’s learning and life experiences. In 2009 we decided to take part in a Comenius project funded by the British Council. The theme agreed by the participating partners was:

“When the expression and the creativity meet the fantasy of little children”

The project focussed particularly on how we develop children’s creative skills through the Arts and Music.

The project linked schools across Europe. Our Partners were Estonia, Bulgaria, Italy, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Turkey and Greece. As part of the project, members of the staff team had opportunities to partake in trips to these countries . During these visits, staff shared good practice and experienced different education systems, as well as gaining an insight into the culture and diversity of our partner nations in order to engage our children and provide them with a global context for learning


2011-2013

We are now working on a second two year project. We will continue to work with the original partner schools, mainly Primary, in Estonia, Bulgaria, Italy, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, Greece and this time Spain.

The topic for this project is: “Finance and Economic Systems.”

This may sound really difficult for young children, but we have lots of ideas of how this might work. We are always pleased to use ideas too! We will be looking at role play situations, handling money, visiting local shops and purchasing items, ordering a piece of equipment for the group and managing that process ie catalogues to delivery etc


SPECIFIC GOALS OF THE PROGRAMME: written by our Portugese colleague.

  • Be aware of financial understanding, financial competence and financial responsibility.

  • Recognize the currency that different countries use.

  • Understand the need of using coins and notes for goods.

  • Recognize the regular sources of money.

  • Recognize the importance of looking after money.

  • Recognize the purposes of money.

  • Be able to talk about things which need money to be bought.

  • Understand the need of spending money on familiar/ household things.

  • Understand that we have to pay for what we buy.

  • Talk about the value of money and how work can be transformed in money.

  • Begin to understand that people have different standards of living in different countries.

  • Be able to understand how to satisfy needs and wants through saving.

  • Give the ability to make appropriate personal life choices about financial issues.

  • Understand consumer rights and responsibilities.