Saint Gregory's Bath

Making waves by working collaboratively with five partners across Europe to look at issues around the theme of water

Thanks to their participation in the previous European Union schools’ programme, Saint Gregory’s School in Bath had a good understanding of the benefits of working collaboratively with other schools across Europe.

They successfully applied for funding through the Erasmus+ programme to co-ordinate a school partnership project based around the theme of water, called ‘New Waves’. By taking water as a general theme, it gave each school the opportunity to develop an aspect appropriate to them.

As the co-ordinating school, Saint Gregory’s wanted to host the first mobility with a broad introduction to the subject. Next, they investigated the topic ‘Too Much Water’, based on the experience of the severe flooding in the spring of 2014, which affected communities in their area.

Working on a shared theme, future mobilities will explore each country’s chosen topic. Saint Gregory's has a group of 30 students who will travel in groups of six to one of the five exchange partners in Italy, Latvia, Greece, Spain and Turkey. Hosting the first mobility gave Saint Gregory’s a chance to set a high standard for the rest of the partnership.

Of course it was fun, also a challenge, but above all it was a fabulous opportunity for our students to be at the forefront of something that will really make a difference to them and to students of their age right across Europe. We think Erasmus+ is a brilliant and far-sighted scheme. - Andrew Jackson, International Coordinator

The groups were welcomed to Bath by the Mayor, who also attended the final plenary and presentations at the farewell evening. Saint Gregory’s created a deliberately intensive programme for the week so students were always busy and gave their visitors a varied experience of their area.

The students were well prepared and excited to be taking part. They worked in international groups, three countries per group, which gave them some useful experience in team working, creative problem solving and communication.

The integration of expert input, industrial visits and field studies into the programme linked students directly with employers, making the project immediate and relevant. Students were able to meet with high level representatives from the Environment Agency, water company (Wessex Water), farming community and local residents affected by the flooding.

As the first hosts, the students from Bath had to show responsibility and maturity and are now looking forward to visiting their country of choice. The teachers are keen to learn from the project and incorporate good practice from each other.

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