About Our Project
Eating for Life
Description of the Project
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According to the World Health Organisation, the worldwide prevalence of obesity nearly doubled between 1980 and 2008.
Country estimates for 2008 record that over 50% of both men and women in the WHO European Region were overweight, and roughly 23% of women and 20% of men were obese.
• Based on the latest estimates in European Union countries, 30-70% of adults are overweight and obesity affects 10-30% of adults.
• Estimates of the number of overweight infants and children in the WHO European Region rose steadily from 1990 to 2008.
Family affluence was found to be a significant indicator of overweight or obesity in around half of the countries surveyed in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Survey undertaken by the WHO: those from lower affluence families were more likely to be overweight or obese. This pattern was strongest in western Europe.
Over 60% of children who are overweight before puberty will be overweight in early adulthood. Childhood obesity is strongly associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, orthopaedic problems, mental disorders, underachievement in school and lower self-esteem. The WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity encapsulates an important package of comprehensive and integrated recommendations that will inspire and foster even more action at the European level.
The Commission's recommendations to address childhood obesity cover six areas:
• promotion of intake of healthy foods;
• promotion of physical activity;
• preconception and pregnancy care;
• early childhood diet and physical activity;
• health, nutrition and physical activity for school-age children; and
• weight management.
Such a massive agenda could not be addressed in a small scale project such as this, so the principal aim of this project is therefore to introduce the basic principles of healthy eating to schools and students, and to develop effective ways to encourage students and school communities to examine their eating habits and modify them in order to promote healthy outcomes.
The project will encourage and facilitate schools, teachers and pupils to share knowledge and good practice about the ways that healthy eating is encouraged and supported in a number of European countries.
The project will ask young people from each of the partner schools to examine some of the food options and choices made by young people in the participating countries. Through a series of practical, planned and shared events in five countries, working with significant groups such as parents and teachers, healthy eating will be investigated and encouraged. It will be supported by the creation of a bank of healthy eating resources contributed by the participating schools and contained on a dedicated project website, which will be linked to each of the partner schools' own websites, and which will provide a sustainable legacy from this project for those schools and their communities.
In the first year of the project, in each country involved, partner schools will:
- Research the incidence of obesity and poor nutritional diet in their country, locality and school
- Investigate the eating habits in their country, locality and school;
- Look at the impact that healthy eating can have in the fight against obesity;
- Investigate the strategies that are in place at local and national level to promote and support a healthy diet.
- Share their findings via an online website to be established as part of the project activities.
As this work continues in each country and school, a series of Blended Mobility activities will begin and continue, one in each of five countries - over the course of the project each of five schools will host, prepare and organise a learning activity attended by a delegation of students and accompanying persons from the other partner schools, at which they will present the food and eating culture of their region and country, highlighting the healthier and unhealthier aspects, and suggesting ways of adapting the diet to promote good health. The success of each event will be evaluated by the participants, and the learning will be shared with the other partners and disseminated more widely though the online tools to stakeholders in each country.
On the basis of what they found through their research, and what they learnt from other partners during the Blended Mobility activities, the students of each partner school will:
- Develop resources to promote and support healthy eating so that the work of the partnership can be disseminated locally, regionally and nationally. This will include the collation of healthy recipes from each of the project partners, and everything produced will be shared online with students from the other partner schools to provide European added value.
Food and nutrition education will also be promoted in each partner school as a curricular activity, with the ultimate aim of incorporating it into each school's educational programmes.
The Partners
Poland - Mykanów
Częstochowa is not only the largest pilgrimage center in Poland but also one of the most important centers of this type in the Christian world. All thanks to Pauline monastery at Jasna Góra, whose walls hide the icon of the "Black Madonna" - the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa. Every year, Częstochowa is visited by a few million of pilgrims from around the world. Częstochowa history begins in the XIII century when it was built connecting the city of Old Częstochowa and Częstochówka. Today, situated on the Warta River town has more than 200.000 residents, covers an area of 170 km² and is an important cultural, service and marketing in the region. Having up to 8 universities it is also a major academic center. There is well-developed infrastructure and numerous monuments. Besides, the most important Monastery of Jasna Gora, Czestochowa offers numerous museums, architectural monuments, galleries, theaters, etc.
Our village and also the province is called Mykanów.
It's a small and quiet community in the south of Poland, in Silesian Region.
Mykanów is located near Częstochowa. This is one of the bigger cities in this region of Poland.
Location of Mykanów is good because of the beautiful nature around. There are small lakes, rivers, picturesque fields and meadows.
Still the centre of Częstochowa is about 20 km far from here.
There are about fourteen thousand residents in our province.
There are plenty of active organisations, such as: Youth Brass Band, Local Association of Culture, regional and traditional music bands, dance club Zorba and sports clubs.
There are nine primary schools, four middle schools and five kindergartens, all of them are state funded.
In the province of Mykanów there are many important monuments like old churches in Mykanów, Borowno and Cykarzew and the Duke's Palace in Borowno.
Next to the school in Mykanów there is a modern sports centre. We have got football fields, volleyball and beach ball courts and a huge sports hall.
It's the first facility of this type in our community.
There are modern sports courts, professional equipment, about two hundred seats, cloakrooms, showers, sauna and etc.
Sports hall is always open for everyone and hosts important sports and cultural events from our region.
Our province is a nice place.
Here you can be close to nature, spend time in the fresh air, go cycling or run across the fields. You can do everything here, because there’s a good atmosphere and good people around you.
I hope you will be fond of Mykanów and visit it soon!
Middle School from Poland is in Słoneczna Street 114, Mykanów. There are about 300 students from Mykanów, Grabowa, Kokawa, Lubojenka, Dudki, Błeszyńskie, Rybna, Przedkocin, Radostków and Łochynia. They are from 4 to 16 years old, because in one building there are three schools. There are kindergarten, primary school, and middle school which people in Poland call “Gimnazjum”. There are news walls in every corridor and class. There are three classes for the smallest children, a small canteen, seven classes for primary school, seven classes for middle school. There are two teachers’ rooms, a gym, sports hall and a small library. Sports hall is very big and modern. We can develop our talents, knowledge and what we want in this school. We always can ask teachers for all topics for example when we have a problem. Teachers are helpful and nice, but they are serious and strict too. We have got a cool head teacher. Mrs Kiedrzynek is easy-going and understanding. We really like her. We like all the teachers. There are lots of extracurricular classes after basic lessons. We can go to Mathematics, Geography, Polish, English, dance, sports and IT classes. We have got sometimes parties and competitions for our national holidays. A few years ago we took part Comenius projects and now we are really happy to join Erasmus+. We usually have from 6 to 8 lessons between every lesson we have a few minutes of break. We can do our homework or eat something. Breaks are noisy, but funny. Most students like going to our school. This school give us many opportunities to be fulfilled. For example now, without this school we will be at home, in our country. This school is the best, but it’s still a school.
Italy - Cosenza
Cosenza is a medium sized city situated in Calabria, southern Italy, which counts almost 70.000 inhabitants. It rises on a two rivers’ confluence and it is surrounded by seven mountains. The entire settlement area is protected to the west by the Range Southern Coast, that separates the city from the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Sila mountains, the wooded plateau where wolves still live , totem animal of the city and symbol of the local soccer team.
Cosenza has interests and wonders deriving from its cultural past. It has one of the most beautiful historical centres in Italy, which is testimony to the cultural expansion of its first inhabitants, the Bruzi, who chose to call this city Consentia.
About art, the city contains several outstanding monuments: the medieval Swabian castle at the top of the city hill; a tradition theatre designed by the architect Zumpano in 1887 and dedicated to the pianist Alfonso Rendano; the Romanesque Cathedral as Heritage witnessing culture of peace, recognized by the UNESCO; MAB, the Open Air Museum ‘Carlo Bilotti’ along the pedestrian precinct of Corso Mazzini, with several modern sculptures.
Its present and its cultural future are solidly connected to Unical, the largest university campus in southern Italy.
Internal context: our school
The secondary school for scientific studies “Enrico Fermi” is located in Cosenza town centre. It was born as a completion of the first scientific high school of the city and acquired its full autonomy between 1973/1974. The school’s dedication to the great Italian physicist Enrico Fermi was chosen by the students because, from their point of view, he better represented their field of study.
Currently, the school counts 1216 students, coming from different social, cultural and territorial realities, divided in 56 classes (each equipped with multimedia digital boards and computers) organized in two principal institutes. Inside the building there are many classrooms for theoretical studies, a computer lab, two physics and chemistry laboratories, a gym, a library and a lecture hall.
Scientific subjects (Maths, Physics, Biology and Chemistry) are the curriculum basic fields of specialization, but the students study also literature, history, philosophy, art and, of course English as a foreign language.
Extracurricular optional courses are also organized according to the students’ choices: drama, sports activities, music or, since the school is the first and only in Calabria which offers IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education), they can take courses on several subjects in English, organized in cooperation with Cambridge International Examinations.
This year a new kind of five years' international curriculum has started , namely "Liceo Internazionale ad Opzione Italo-Inglese", in which some subjects (Geography, Coordinated Sciences, Maths, Art&Design, Economics, including English as a Second Language and Spanish as a Foreign Language) will be studied both in Italian and English and will bring the students to a double content final certificate (IGCSE in 7 subjects and Italian Secondary Scientific Studies certificate). So from this year on, our school has two curricula options: 1) Secondary school for Scientific Studies (with the possibility of enlarging the curriculum with more weekly hours of Maths and Physics); 2) International Secondary school for Scientific studies ( with stress on foreign languages, English and Spanish, applied to science content learning).
Furthermore, the students have the opportunity to certify their English level through Cambridge International Examinations (PET-FCE-CAE) and their IT skills with IC3 (Internet and Computing Core Certification) a training and certification course which allows to acquire the necessary knowledge to work with a personal computer.
Malta - Msida
The Junior College, was established in 1995 at the University of Malta. It is a post-secondary educational institution, offering a two-year course specifically designed for future University students. The College caters for almost 2,500 young people aged 16 – 18 coming from all parts of the Island.
Students may choose from a wide range of subjects and must take two subjects at Advanced Level, three at Intermediate Level, as well as Systems of Knowledge. The College encourages students to develop their own initiative through guided self-teaching in preparation for their future University career. In addition to formal instruction, the Junior College is committed to offering a holistic education through various extracurricular programs, social and cultural activities, as well as intercultural education. These formal and non-formal activities offer the students an all rounded educational experience which cannot be achieved by formal teaching only. Amongst others, typical activities relate to sports, theatre, music, various art forms, and personal skills formation programs.
UK - Stockton on Tees
Turkey - Konya
Stockton Sixth Form College is a state sixth form college offering academic and vocational education for students aged from 16 to 19 years. It recently merged with Prior Pursglove, a college in the nearby town of Guisborough.
The students come from an urban area, in a post industrial town with an approximate population of 165,000. The town suffers from higher than average levels of urban deprivation, and the majority of the students that attend SSFC come from working class or lower-middle class families.
The College has been praised for its inclusiveness, particularly regarding students from ethnic minorities and students requiring learning support. In addition to a full complement of academic subjects including Maths and Further Maths the College offers vocational education at both Level 2 and 3 in a diverse range of subjects including: tourism, health and social care, ICT, sport and business. The college benefits from a highly professional media studies team and has its own film making equipment. The college uses the quality system required by OFSTED which is a mixture of observation, performance and value added.
Portugal - Miranda do Corvo
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The Agrupamento de Escolas de Miranda do Corvo is a cluster of schools situated in Miranda do Corvo near Coimbra. Coimbra is a very important city in the centre of Portugal due to its University (one of the oldest Universities in Europe) and students’ traditions.
In this cluster of schools there are 15 schools and the biggest one is the head school. We have students from the age of 3 to the age of 17, 18 in a total of 1600 students. We have 160 teachers working with us and 60 people in the different services at school (canteen, bars, stationary’s, administrative services…).
Although our school isn’t situated in a disadvantaged socio-economic environment, we have pupils who come from poor families living in rural areas. We have pupils at risk of social exclusion who live in Social Institutions but fortunately they are very well integrated with the rest of the pupils who belong to traditional families. In fact our school is highly concerned with the future of these students and offers vocational courses which provide training that enables them to gain job entry skills and the tools needed for lifelong learning. We have been increasing options in the scope of these courses and at present we have vocational courses on sports, tourism, restaurant/bar skills and social cultural animation.
We also have pupils with special needs to whom we provide special educational support to empower them with the necessary tools to become fully integrated in our society. Our local associated partners are deeply committed to our pedagogical programme and cooperate with us on a regular basis to implement innovative practices leading to high quality education. The Public authorities as well as the parents’ association are, among others, highly involved with our organisation to promote the development of an education of quality. We also have the chance to have some volunteers working with us in different activities. Some of them are retired teachers, others are parents or just friends who are always willing to cooperate with us.
We are deeply committed with the internationalization of our Agrupamento and have been engaged in European projects since 2008 (Comenius, Leonardo da Vinci, Grundtvig, Regio, Erasmus Plus). This experience has added value to our organisation in what concerns a European dimension, development of language skills, increased knowledge of other cultures, however it has made us understand the importance of broadening our relationships with European partners so that we can share innovative experiences and provide our students and staff with training and cooperation opportunities by empowering them and their ability to participate actively in a European society.
Our school – Turkish Telecom Social Sciences High School – was opened in 2007. In total 453 students have been studying for 5 years with a preparatory class.
The mission of our school is to raise enlightened and highly qualified individuals who will contribute to society’s social, cultural and economic development.
English, German and Arabic are taught as foreign languages in preparatory classes. Literature, history, geography, philosophy and mostly math and science lessons are also taught in our school after preparatory year.
Our graduates continue to higher education in fields such as literature, law, sociology, psychology, political science.
Our school has 35 teachers and 10 auxiliary staff. It’s a boarding school and half of our students stay in there.
Our school has participated in the following projects:
European Union School Partnership (2009-2011)
European Union School Partnership (2012-2014)
European Union Youth Project (2013)
European Language Assistant Project (Italy / 2009)
Mevlana and Mysticism Project (Partnership with Rietberk Museum – Zurich / Switzerland)
All of these projects have been satisfactorily executed and concluded. Many students have taken part in these projects, both at home and abroad.
One of the main purposes of our school is becoming a source of qualified writers and intellectual people. Our students have advanced writing skills in poetry, articles, essays, stories etc, and they have created many products in these fields.
Norway - Trondheim
Strinda Upper Secondary School is situated in Trondheim County in the municipality of South-Trøndelag. The school has about 1100 students and 220 employees.
Strinda Upper Secondary School offers 5 education programmes, both programmes for preparing for university and also vocational subjects. The school has highly qualified teaching staff with a mix of older and younger teachers in both types of programme, for university preparation and vocational subjects.
The programme offered for preparing for university includes sport, specialist subjects, science subjects, languages, social subjects and economics.
Vocational subjects taught include health and childcare, restaurant and food production, and electrical subjects
Many teachers are used to doing projects with partners abroad, and in the last 20 years our school has sent more than 700 students to different countries in Europe in different projects like Comenius, Leonardo da Vinci and now in Erasmus+. Most of our projects have been mobility projects but we have also had Comenius projects in written and theoretical subjects like sociology and history. Our school has specific expertise in all of our education subjects so we would be well qualified to join any kind of project with a specific social context.
Our quality system for education and learning is called "Its Learning", which is a data based programme where students and teachers can use all kinds of text from and to each other. For example, students can send their work to the teacher, the teacher can give them feedback on their work with a grade on it and the grade stays there until the end grade for the subject will be given. We can also send messages to the student's parents, we can make written tests using this system and so on.
