Nina Slater, Pewsey Vale School’s Head of Art, heard this week that the school has been awarded the eTwinning Quality Label for their project I Matter.
The project, which linked with Pilehaveskolen, a school in Assens, Denmark, was based on large fingerprint artworks which allowed students to explore their own identity. Students were introduced to basic coding and created a QR code linked to their work and a blog/website. The work was exhibited simultaneously in both countries starting on Wednesday, 12 June 2019 – for one week.
eTwinning is run and funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme. In the United Kingdom it is managed by the British Council.
There have been more than 90,000 projects completed under the scheme – 11,000 of them in the UK – with 192,059 schools taking active part in the projects. It’s thought that Pewsey Vale School’s project is the only one of its kind in Wiltshire.
Jane Raez, from the National Support Service UK for the Erasmus+ programme, praised Pewsey Vale School’s project: “Congratulations! You have just been awarded with the Quality Label for the project I Matter. It’s a great achievement for you and your pupils to gain the Quality Label for your first eTwinning project!”
“I really liked the Wixsite. It’s a very clear and engaging way to present the pupils’ work online. I think that the combination of art and audio (via QR codes) is a powerful use of multi-media to allow the pupils to express who they are.”
“I would just like to thank all the students involved for their hard work and dedication. This is a fantastic achievement and something we can all be proud of.”
eTwinning is an online platform for staff working in a school in one of the European countries taking part, to – in the words of its website – “…communicate, collaborate, develop projects, share and, in short, feel and be part of the most exciting learning community in Europe”.
Brexit means that the future of the UK’s involvement in all Erasmus programmes is uncertain, but Mrs Slater has already set up a textile project with two Finnish schools for this academic year. The results will be exhibited in June 2020.
Marlborough.news reported on the project in July.