Due to COVID, there were some extra challenges, but we maintained our programme and harvested fruitful results. The project was split up into three phases in order to build up the material for students in terms of quality and difficulty. In these phases, we worked on various challenges that were set in phase one, but which students could come up with in phase two and three. A group of 21 students was able to travel abroad for the exchange project to the other participating countries in this project, namely, France (La Réunion), the Czech Republic, Italy (Sardinia) and Spain. The project taught our students to be independent, collaborate with each other, develop their intercultural learning and language skills, cook and eat healthy, research nutrients and much more! Students and teachers also developed lots of materials such as a healthy cookbook, badges for the successfully completed challenges, logos for the project and the challenges, lesson plans, presentations about the learned materials and they were introduced to new hobbies and sports. The students noticed that they became more fit throughout the project and in order to make impact on the (local) community, students organised a sports afternoon specifically designed for people with a heart condition. It can be hard to exercise when your heart is not entirely healhy, however the hartsticthing Spijkenisse organises lessons for these people and our students could organise such an afternoon and develop a training plan for these participants. This sense of responsibility helped students grow their organisational skills and their perspective that everyone can be fit within their own limits. Finally, students created an outdoor herbs garden, grew the herbs and did research about their nutrients, vitamins and minerals and followed a healthy cooking workshop to process the food from the garden.  

Students and teachers alike learned to be resilient physically, but also mentally; motivation is key.  

Erasmus+ Day:  

On Erasmus DAY, the Dutch school went to the petting zoo where a meeting was held with the municipality, teachers and the students. The project coordinator held a seminar on the effect of nature on your well-being and exchanges the outcomes of the project in which students presented their work (the herbs garden brochure, their sports club activity and the sports event). The alderman of Spijkenisse (Wouter Struijk) was also present and visited the school earlier that day.  

PowerPoint Presentation Municipality: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CRMayuu2Ox8ChwhpXzjOV_C6BWZ8Lmvw/view?usp=sharing  

Previously posted newsitems about the exchange:

Uitwisseling Sardinië

Uitwisseling Tsjechië

Uitwisseling Spanje

Uitwisseling La Réunion  

Uitwisselingsweek Spijkenisse

Nieuwsbericht sportmiddag hartstichting  

Materials for teachers, parents etc.  

Twinspace: https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/etwinning/projects/step-face-challenge-2/twinspace/pages  

Google Drive (output and outcomes): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1q-LylQ2vmE-dE3fCWIeKoeGAlFDgCdMr?usp=drive_link  

Acknowledgements

Project: Step Up Face the Challenge

Project number: 2021-1-CZ01-KA220-SCH-000027754

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Czech National Agency for International Education and Research. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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