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Welcome to the third newsletter of our Comenius Project “A healthy mind in a

healthy body”.

Greetings from

Iceland

2

My Comenius

experience in Breclav

2

Meeting Rohana 3

Penicuick High

School

4

My Italian

experience

5

Slovenian reflections 6

My week at the

Wesselinks

8

Welcome

Newsletter 3Newsletter 3

Newsletter 3 A healthy mind in a healthy body

Stef, Pjotr, Daan and Jesse from the Netherlands in the Czech Republic.

The content of this newsletter focuses primarily on the stories of participating

students of the meetings in the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Italy. This

newsletter includes contributions from the schools that work on our Comenius

Project “A healthy mind in a healthy body”.

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Since September 2012 our students,

staff and community have been in-

volved in our project ,Healthy Mind

in a Healthy Body´or ,Heilbrigð Sál í

Hraustum líkama’ like Icelanders

call it…we concede that it sounds

easier in English.

Our first feeling is certainly satis-

faction. A great number of tasks

have been achieved and we believe

that the impact on our lives has been

positive. Awareness about different

cultures, countries, societies has

been developed through cooperation,

physical activities and environmen-

tal matters. Our school is deeply

concerned about the respect of our

world and nature and such a project

can only reinforce our policy. We, by

instance, recently received at a na-

tional and international level by the

Green Flag award.

The Green Flag is awarded to Eco-

Schools as a mark of high achieve-

ment in environmental education

and performance as part of the Eco-

Schools Programme lead by FEE,

Foundation for Environmental Edu-

cation.

The Green FlagTravelling has been a

cornerstone of this project. We spe-

cially aim to mention our visit to

Czech Republic and the wonderful

town of Breclav. Some wonderful

memories of the Czech team are still

in a corner of our minds. A country

made of soft valleys, green forests

and dark blue rivers. Hospitality of

our hosts was unforgettable. Back

home our students were very keen

on asking questions on school system

and life in general. We are sure that

some of them will have the curiosity

to pay a visit to Czech Republic, Bre-

clav and its inhabitants in the

future.

Greetings from Iceland

The following day we got up at 8 o-

clock in the morning and went to

school, where we met the students

from the other countries for the first

time.

We had many different activities but

my favourite was the “Sports Day”;

we had so much fun playing sport

and getting to know each other!

Other great activities were ridding a

Segway and of course… the barbecue

and the party we had with all our

colleagues at school.

During these days we went to visit

Breclav, Brno Spilberk Castle and

the Lednice – Valtice area and Cast-

le and many other places and we

were pleasently surprised by the

beauty of this country.

We really got on well with each other

and the time we spent there seemed

too short. It was an experience I will

never forget. I deeply recommend

anyone to take part in such an acti-

vity if they have the opportunity.

Pedro Alvarez –Linera

(Colegio San Ignacio – Oviedo - Spain)

I was one of the students that took

part in the Czech Republic mobility

and I would like to write a few lines

about the experience:

When we got off the bus to get to

Breclav I was pretty nervous because

I did not know the family or the pla-

ne I was going to stay at but, five

minutes after I got to their house

and I talked to them I felt much bet-

ter. I was quite tired because of the

long journey so I went to bed almost

immediately.

My Comenius experience in Breclav

Page 2 Newsletter 3

The Green Flag

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It was a mixture of feelings for me at

the beginning. I was so looking forward

to meeting Rhona and welcome her at

our house. And at the same time I was

really nervous – What if she doesn’t

like me? What if she doesn’t under-

stand my English? At the end it was

one of my greatest experience ever.

And not only for me but also for my

sister, parents and grandparents. We

enjoyed wonderful week, had a lot of

fun and time was passing so fast.

I remember how I saw Rhona for the

first time... I was waiting at the plat-

form and when she appeared I

wanted to run away as I was shy and

scared she wouldn’t understand my

English. But I couldn’t because in a

while the Scottish teacher asked me

where Mrs Uhrova was and I had to

take them to the train station main

hall to meet my teacher.

Then Rhona met the rest of my fami-

ly. My father who doesn’t speak

English could learn some introducti-

on phrase, my mother could introdu-

ce herself in a nice way and my

younger sister wrote on Rhona’s

palm Hello and Hi and she was

quiet.

In the car I tried to ask Rhona about

her journey but I really don’t remem-

ber the details as I was really ner-

vous. Soon we arrived home and

Rhona could meet also my granny

and granddad.

Rhona was very nice and polite,

everyone in my family liked her very

much and cared about her.

I had many lovely memories on the

meeting at our school. Segways ri-

ding, sports day, trip to Lednice, big

barbeque party with the concert, trip

to Brno. I will never forget of this

experience.

Meeting Rohana - Adela Teturova (CZ)

A healthy mind in a healthy body Page 3

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At five o’clock in the morning on

the 28th of May seven yawning stu-

dents, two sleep deprived teachers

and the headmaster himself from

Penicuik High School embarked on

an adventure.

The Czech Republic trip had been

long anticipated by the staff and

group of seven students that I was

a part of.

In the weeks leading up to the trip

presentations of the theme A

Healthy Mind, A Healthy Body

were produced, rehearsed and per-

fected.

This involved taking photos of the

contents of our fridges after a big

shop and comparing them to The

Eatwell Plate. On the whole, our

fridges provided healthy balanced

diets, the most offensive item being

a can of Irn Bru.

The most enjoyable project we

worked on as a group was creating

sporting equipment from recycled

materials. We created ten pin

bowling; the ball was made by

scrunching up plastic bags and ty-

ing them with elastic bands and

the pins from ten two litre plastic

bottles a third full of water.

The preparation took many weeks,

and a few days before departure we

were presented with massive,

matching Penicuik High School T-

shirts to sport in the Czech school,

identifying ourselves proudly as

the Scottish group.

On arriving in the Czech Republic -

a team united by the previous

weeks of preparation and the giant

blue T-shirts tucked in our bags -

we were each escorted off by a dif-

ferent Czech family.

All to stay for the week with Czech

pupils somewhere around the town

of Břeclav, we were plunged into

their lifestyles, their culture, their

diets.

The diet came as the biggest shock

for most; provided with at least

four meals a day, plus constant

snacks, tea and cake breaks and

late night munches, we were turn-

ing into a team of walking carbohy-

drates.

A typical meal there was a slab of

meat and bread or dumplings,

Greetings from Penicuik High School

Page 4 Newsletter 3

The most enjoyable project we

worked on as a group was

creating sporting equipment

from recycled materials.

We all had very different

experiences, but they all had

the common trait of being very

different from our home lives.

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I was sitting on the plane for the first time in my life.

And it was amazing. We were flying above the Alps

and I couldn’t believe my eyes how beautiful it was:)

I lived in a very nice and friendly Italian family:)

Morever, they had a really lovely dog which was great.

The first nights there I was sad, I felt homesick.

However, all members of the family were great and

helped me a lot. We started chatting in a dining room

I felt much better.

Italian school was a bit of surprise, it was completely

different from my school. But shorty afterwards I felt

like home there, especially thanks to warm-hearted

people and a very good programme. I loved mainly

trip to Rome. There was a Roman solider who wanted

to cut off my head. (He just pretended, of course). I

could see Colosseum, Vatican and lots of other re-

markable places in this city. I was just a bit disappoin-

ted that we didn’t have time enough to visit Spanish

Stairs. In short, I really enjoyed it.

It was a wonderful trip. →

My Italian Experience

day, where everyone mingled together, and made

friends. We taught each other basic vocabulary from

our own countries and by the end of the day everyone

had at least ten new Facebook friends.

The trip seemed to pass in a blur and before we knew

it we were embracing our host families at the Břeclav

train station, clutching gifts we had received or were

giving as a thank you. We made friends and shared

experiences that week that will stay with us for a long

time. It was a fantastic opportunity.

The village I stayed in, just outside of Břeclav was

a wine village, and I got a fantastic tour of the

vineyards from my host family. A fellow student

of mine was staying in a house decorated extrava-

gantly with stag heads, antlers, framed butter-

flies, cacti and a boar’s head. We all had very dif-

ferent experiences, but they all had the common

trait of being very different from our home lives.

When we went to their school, along with stu-

dents and staff from Holland, Iceland, Italy, Slo-

venia and Spain, we first attended a performance

by the nursery children. They sang us many

Czech songs and performed a short Czech play,

then presented us with gifts they had made; little

clay houses. Next, we got a tour around and it was

similar to our schooling in Scotland, however they

had separate buildings for seniors and juniors.

We also learned how to segway, and aside from

my embarrassingly public crash landing, it was a

hilarious and highly enjoyable experience. As the

theme of the trip was health, we had a big sports

But shorty afterwards I felt like

home there, especially thanks to warm

A healthy mind in a healthy body Page 5

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Last school year I attended a meeting for Comenius project. Before

this meeting the teacher and the students made a presentation about

how healthy the habits of the students in our school were. We made a

survey, talked about results and improvements, and did the presenta-

tion.

In Holland-that was the place of our meeting- all the students from different countries and schools

had their presentations. We all talked about the same topic and it was very interesting to hear what

the habits in other countries were. We couldn’t believe that some facts were true. They were a sur-

prise to us.

On our trip we met new friends, and I think friendships in each group which travelled together be-

came stronger - we know each other better.

When we came home, we talked about our impressions, experiences… We made a poster with the

photos of our trip.

There is one more positive thing about this meeting: we were in a foreign country, so we couldn’t

speak our mother tongue - we had to speak English, if we wanted the others to understand us. We

became more confident about our English because we used it very often.

I think it was an unforgettable and educative experience for all of us.

Meta Mekuč, Slovenian student, SI

Slovenian reflections about the first year of our project

Another amazing experience for me was

the last day in Italian school. We had a

five-course dinner and we were sitting al-

together at the longest table I had ever

seen. The food was delicious and we had a

lot of fun. After meal we went to the

school garden where Italian students per-

formed traditional dances and music. The

boy dancers had very long and funny

shoes. They also taught us to dance and at

the end we all were dancing together.

It was hard to say goodbye. But I have so

lovely memories. I'm still in touch with

the family where I lived. We write e-mails,

talk together via skype. But I miss them

and hope I will meet them again.

Another great experience for me was when

a Scottish and Spanish girls lived in our

house during the Czech project meeting.

We were really excited about their arrival

and my mother who cannot speak English

was very shy and nervous. But she hand-

led that perfectly and I think we managed

to make girls feel like home. We had a lot

of fun together, took many photos.

I miss them both.

Tamara Svobdova, CZ

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I think Comenius is a very interesting international pro-

ject, especially its theme - Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body.

Comenius project is very good for upgrading skills in Eng-

lish language because you don`t have a choice in which lan-

guage you want to talk. You must talk in English all the

time and it is funny if someone can`t remember a word and

it is very interesting to see how this person tries to explain

it.

It`s nice to meet new friends from foreign countries. You

learn about different cultures and countries, meanwhile

you play sports learn about healthy diet. You also see how

schools and school systems in other country look like and

what the students learn.

Ana Ogris, Slovenian student, SI

I enjoyed the first year of our second Comenius project very

much. I must admit the project is a different from the previous

one. But the idea of European Union is present in each project:

to work together, to exchange experience, to become friends for-

ever.

I really enjoyed all the mobilities beginning with picturesque

Iceland and a nice town of Vogar, continuing with warm Italy

and sunny town of Alvito and finishing the first year with flat

Holland and cycling town of Almelo. Four different countries

and places which have something in common – friendly and

kind hosts who put a lot of effort in the success of their mobility.

Students and teachers are the same in each country. They

speak different languages, the school systems vary but their

enthusiasm and the will to learn, meet new challenges the same

wherever I go. And this fact makes it worthwhile. So I’m looking

forward to the second year of our project.

Petra Lesjak, Slovenian coordinator

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I was flying for the first time in my life and I had never been to the Netherlands before. I didn’t know how Dutch kids would be like and I was very nervous. When I had a look at my classmates who were travelling with me, I wasn’t much calmer because they were even more nervous. Just our teacher was completely calm, smiling and blinking at us on the plane whenever she saw that we were getting really scared.

When I saw Bart and his family for the first time, I was immediately calmer…I really liked them and I

And they really were. I really enjoyed my stay there and could learn a lot. Also about myself. I saw places which I didn’t guess I would ever see. I could eat Dutch food, ride Dutch bikes, visit Am-sterdam and Nemo centre. I will never forget. And I am still very grateful to Bart’s family which I am still in touch with.

„My week at

the

Wesselinks“

Visit to the Netherlands

I was flying for the first time in my life and I had ne-ver been to the Netherlands before. I didn’t know how Dutch kids would be like and I was very nervous. When I had a look at my classmates who were travelling with me, I wasn’t much calmer because they were even more nervous. Just our teacher was completely calm, smiling and blinking at us on the plane whenever she saw that we were getting really scared.

When I saw Bart and his family for the first time, I was immediately calmer…I really liked them and I was

really were. I really enjoyed my stay there and could learn a lot. Also about myself. I saw places which I didn’t guess I would ever see. I could eat Dutch food, ride Dutch bikes, visit Amsterdam and Nemo centre. I will never forget. And I am still very grateful to Bart’s family which I am still in touch with.

Tadeas Figura, CZ