Well done to our European Development Team on the first week of March who helped the staff and pupils prepare for our first Erasmus School Week. As part of that we welcomed our first Erasmus teachers to our school. Karine and Odette came from the Dordogne area of France and they wanted to learn all about our Irish school system. They arrived on the Monday to a welcoming party in the school entrance. The school European Development Team mostly made up of pupils from 4th to 6th class welcomed them in English, Irish and French and gave them a whistlestop tour of the school. On Tuesday the visitors went to all the classes and began to see how Irish schools work. Ms. McCarthy and Ms. Franey took them to Hook Lighthouse where they were amazed by all the history of the lighthouse. On Wednesday the French teachers met with different staff members and learned all about the different roles in an Irish school. On Thursday they visited playschool and were treated to lots of stories and songs. We finished our first Erasmus School Week with a meeting between the French teachers and the pupils from the European Development Team. This meeting was chaired by the Chairperson Pádraic Barry from 5th class and lots of questions were asked and answered. When the pupils found out that French primary school pupils have an hour and a half for lunch one of the pupils said she wanted to move to France! When they reminded her that school doesn't finish until 4pm she quickly changed her mind!!
Well done to all our pupils and staff in our school who made our school a very welcome place. Karine and Odette said that they loved their week in Ireland and that they learned so much from our pupils and staff.
Merci beaucoup to Karine and Odette.
And remember, we have applied for funding to allow staff to Job Shadow in other schools in Europe. We await the good news!