Our Lady of Mercy College is currently involved in the Erasmus+ Programme as part of the European Parliament Ambassador Schools Programme and we are hoping to build on our previous staff and student exchange visits.
In the 2022/23 school year we worked with Peder Skrivares Skola, Varberg, Sweden and Staatliche Fachoberschule und Berufsoberschule Neuburg, Neuburg An Der Donau, Germany on the Re3 Project. This project is focused on updating on the 3 R’s of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to Reduce, Reuse and Replace.
Each school focused on one area. Our Lady of Mercy College focused on “Replace”. We shared our findings and ideas both in-person on our school-exchnages and using the eTwinning live online platform.
We were lucky enough to be awarded funding from the European Parliament Erasmus+ Programme to fund this project. This allowed us to bring all participating students on at least one week long trip, completely for free. It was even the first time abroad for some of our students!
Students from Germany and Sweden visited Ireland in March 2023 and we visited both Germany (December 2022) and Sweden (April 2023) with our Transition Year students.
In Staatliche Fachoberschule und Berufsoberschule Neuburg, Neuburg An Der Donau our students researched sustainable cookery, completed a sustainable textile workshop, visited a textile recycling company, upcycled old clothing, created bee hotels, candles and cosmetics from sustainable materials, visited a Christmas Market and learned about the local Bavarian Culture. It was also the birthday of one of our students, Ruth Beirne, while in Germany and we were able to celebrate this with our new friends.
We welcomed students and staff from both Staatliche Fachoberschule und Berufsoberschule Neuburg and Peder Skrivares Skola to Dublin in the week running up to St. Patrick’s Day 2023. We reflected on the sustainability journals our students had been keeping all year, cooked the sustainable dishes we had researched in Germany, produced a sustainable cookbook, made bird feeders from recycled and waste materials, went on a conservation and nature walk in Knocksink Woods, taught our visitors how to play GAA and brought our visitors to our La Glás to celebrate Irish music, dance and culture.
In Peder Skrivares Skola, Varberg, Sweden we were given presentations on some of the sustainable businesses students had set up in school that year, made baskets from waste wire and other recycled materials, discussed the film “Don’t Look Up” and the issues of getting people to take sustainability seriously, had a beach BBQ, took a River Cruise, had a selfie tour of Varberg and cooked for each other in a celebration of the over 15 cultures represented across our 3 schools.
This was a very exciting opportunity for our students and has helped them develop their communication, digital technology and modern foreign language skills. It has also allowed us to develop as teachers, sharing best practice across Europe.
It also built on a wider project focusing on mobile phone recycling from the previous school year. The Transition Year class of 2020/21 researched, wrote and produced a series of three videos on the topic. These videos were shown to our whole school community during the October Tutor Class and kicked off their old phone collection drive (with all phones/technology donated to the Jack and Jill Foundation recycling programme).
