As part of the international Erasmus Plus Project, ‘Respect, Re-use, Recycle’, staff and pupils from Shoscombe Church School and St Julian’s Church School in Wellow recently travelled to Arden Skole in Denmark.

They met with visitors from the other four schools in their partnership – from Bordeaux, Barcelona, Spain and Northern Ireland.

Headteacher for both schools, Ruth Noall, said: “Our trip to Denmark followed on from our successful trip to Bordeaux, France, in April, where pupils were given an opportunity to find out about cultures and traditions in other European countries, and what environmental projects they are running.

“The five-day trip included salt making, discovering more about how salt is produced, a trip to the forest where children could make campfires and look for insects, plus international school presentations on the theme of recycling!”

The Erasmus Programme is an international student exchange programme established in 1987 by the European Union to encourage schools across Europe to work together on projects, initiatives, competitions and research work.

Shoscombe Church School and St Julian’s School Wellow, are the only schools locally to have been awarded such funding – singling them out as leaders in this field of work. Between 2018 – 2020, they will receive almost €50,000 between them.

The Erasmus Project coordinator for Shoscombe is Sophie Hampton, and the Erasmus Project coordinator for Wellow is Tracey Soccorsy.

Ruth added: “We have plans to host a professional development conference for teachers here in October, and further trips to Ireland and Catalonia are planned for next year.”