Céad Míle Fáilte for European teachers at Corrandulla NS

By JACQUELINE HOGGE 'We have been inspired throughout our involvement in the Comenius project and we hope you will get a lot of inspiration during your visit here over the coming days.' Tom Creaven, chair of the school's board of management, also welcomed the European contingent as Gaeilge and said it was a great honour for the school to be involved in such a worthwhile project. The visiting teachers were presented with a tea light candle as well as their own tin whistle and song book during the ceremony and the children also sang a number of songs, including an intercultural version of Shine a Light. Comenius is part of the European Community's Lifelong Learning Programme, funded by Leargas, the national agency in Ireland for the management of national and international exchange and cooperation programmes in education, youth and community work. Its goal among others is to strengthen European dimension in education, promoting cooperation between pupils and teachers from different European countries. Such projects have shown to enhance children's interest and knowledge about other countries and cultures on a European and global level. The theme of the current partnership is based upon the premise of teaching environmental sustainability through a cross curricular project exploring the topics of vegetation preservation, energy preservation, water, air and soil pollution. Teachers from the Corrandulla school have already visited partner schools in Iceland, Cyprus and Finland and will travel to Germany and Spain in the new year. Sinead Naughton, one of the Comenius co-ordinators at the school, said it had been a fantastic initiative for both pupils and teachers in Corrandulla. 'This is an exciting opportunity to motivate and stimulate learning throughout the whole school community, as we all have a role in preserving our resources and caring for our environment,' she said. 'It has also allowed the teachers involved to share expertise and encourage the principle of lifelong learning. 'At the moment sixth class are designing a logo for Protect Nature, which will be included in a competition between the partner countries to decide the final project logo. As the project develops we hope to bring many more classes on board to complete various aspects of our project Protect Nature.'[/private]