c

April 2016

Migration &
Urban Growth News
Index
Migration ....1
Ernst-Hansen School ..2
1st Primary School of Asvestohori ..3
St. Michaels School ..4
Agrupamento de Escolas Templrios ..5
ZS sv. Cyrila a Metoda ..6
Escola Les Accies ..7
Storkyrkoskolan and Bjrngrdsskolan ..8

Migration
Every country is home
to one man
And exile to another
(T.S. Eliot)

The twenty-first century has been called

the age of migration, essentially because
there are more migrants in the world today
than ever before, about 232 million
international migrants in 2013. In general,
however, it is expected that the number of
international migrants worldwide will
increase in the future, with demographic
factors,
economic
disparities
and
environmental change continuing to be
major drivers of migration.
We are experiencing at local levels the
effects of migration because the schools of
our partnership in recent years have
enrolled many pupils from international
countries. These pupils have many
language difficulties and need extra
support and resources so that they can
more easily adapt to their new situation. It
is necessary that our schools should be
welcoming and accommodating to these
new pupils. And it is our common goal that
we teach all pupils to be tolerant and
respectful of others, and to appreciate
Global Citizenship steps in Europe

cultural diversity. We view this multicultural aspect of our schools as a very

positive development.
The theme of global citizenship is
especially important for our multicultural schools. It engages pupils in
meaningful learning processes, and
gives them an understanding of the
dynamics of migration. Moreover, it
gives them an overview of the impact
of climate change and the importance
of sustainability. The development of
pupils' citizenship skills is an important
element of global citizenship. These
skills ensure that pupils can participate
in society and give them confidence to
voice their opinions. Pupils feel that
they have reinforced their sense of
identity, enhanced their self-esteem,
and engaged and participated in
political discussion and debate. They
have learned that their contribution to
society is important.

http://gcstepseu.weebly.com/

Ernst-Hansen School, Bielefeld

Project from class 8b: Refugees in my town

Germany

3.400 refugees arrived in Bielefeld in 2015,

many more came to register and were send to
other cities and counties. Bielefeld has about
34 000 inhabitants and is not allowed to take
more immigrants than that 10 %, so we are
full! There are still refugees arriving in
Bielefeld, but it is just for the registration
before they are being sent to another city.
Some of our students families hosted refugees
in their own homes, since members of their
own family members were among the
refugees.
In class we watched movies and looked at
photos of the refugees situation in their home
countries and their situation in our town. We
discussed about war and other reasons for
fleeing.
We also planned on getting involved and
helping. First we collected donations of clothes
among families and teachers and brought it to
the place of first accommodation/initiate on in
Bielefeld. We also baked cakes and gave them
to a Coffee Shop called Cafe Welcome that
spreads free coffee, tee, water and cake to
migrants that have to wait for registration. The
waiting time was tremendous, especially in
November, it took days.

The year 8 of our school works for the so

called students firm kiosk & Coffee
Shop. Within that firm we started
different fund raising campaigns by making
and selling Hotdogs and Cup Cakes as well
as just collecting money from students and
school staff with a charity tin. We used the
money to buy socks for children, games,
balls, crayons and sweets for children who
live in the schools former building (Maybe
you remember, that our school had to
move two years ago. That building is now
used for homes for refugees). Some kids of
our school went to play with the refugees
living there. Some were very kind end very
eager to learn German from us.
Just now at Easter we repeated the
fundraising and buying of items. It was
very interesting to talk to some of the
refugees. Since some of our students
speak Kurdish, we were able to talk to
them and translate it to the rest of the
class. We also donated a box of books,
puzzles and a pool table to another home
of refugees in our part of the town.
One part of the money we collected will
also go to the organization doctors
without borders.
Keep up the good work!

A refugee from Syria in front of her new home, our former schoolbuildung.

1st Primary School of Asvestohori, Thessaloniki

Refugees
Hellas

Catastrophe of Asia Minor

Migration

In the beginning of school year

visited responsible Migration Policy
Department competed for Mitilinis Hot
Spot, Mr Papathemelis Athanasios. He
informed students for the following
procedure when refugees and immigrants
coming in reception centers. He specifically
talked
about
the
importance
of
identification of migrants and refugees and
the progress followed to reach the
countries of their choices.

I paid a ship to take me all over the world

For refugees and all uprooted must hit
upon a land.
The route is short, they said, and before the
sun goes down

5th grade dealt with the

Smyrna Disaster, which
took part at 1922. This
catastrophe
led
to
emigration 1,5 millions of
Greeks. The students read
books, gathered material,
photos and videos and
learned
some
songs
relevant to this subject.

Another corner of the earth will gift us with

redemption.

In the end of this effort,

the pupils organized a
theatrical play that showed
all the desperation and
bitterness of the refugees.

-The road, where is the road? Waves are

approaching like beasts!

Yes, the route was short, and in the light of

the moon
We could single out welcoming shores and
villages.

The pupils of 4th grade decided to

write a story, with the title "The
Adventures of a Refugee Family". The
children separated into groups and wrote
different parts of the story (in order of
time). The parts of the story were: Our
Country, The War, The Journey, Crossing
the Aegean Sea, Welcome to Greece, and
Leaving for Europe. The children wrote the
texts and drew the respective images.

We had already arrived when suddenly we

found ourselves in the water
And it was like the sea had opened in two.
And then a thick heavy fog covered us!

-The wave...how can we pass through it

and land safely onshore across?
The sun had set and we remained alone

Pupils of 6th grade wrote The Diary

of Refugee with duration a school year and
the culmination of the project will be an art
exhibition by the refugees issue.

Skirmishing with the waves like rocks,

Those among us who stayed alive
For we could see around the dead bodies of
our children
And on their side the screams of our
parents
And then, we kept floating in the waters of
the Mediterranean
Some people rushed to our rescue late
hey had come to collect death instead of
life!

In May there will be a

demonstration dedicated to the immigrant
and refugee history of Greece as well as the
influx of the immigrants and refugees
arriving in our country in the last few years
with historically referenced video footage,
photos, songs and dances.

D1 class
(Translated into English by Erma Vassiliou, Melbourne)

http://blogs.sch.gr/dimasves
/

St. Michaels School, Galway

Migration and Integration

Ireland

The integration of international

newcomers is always a priority
objective of our school.

At
outset of
our project
we completed
Thethe Blue
Star
Programme
is an
an
audit of pupils
in ourfor
school.
Almost
40%
education
initiative
primary
school
were
either
international
newcomers,
or
students across Ireland. The idea of the
did not use English as the first language in
Programme is simple: to foster better
the home. In fact, we had pupils from
understanding and knowledge of the
twenty different countries attending our
European Union and how it affects the
school. These countries were mainly in
lives of Europe
Irish citizens
among
Irish also
primary
Eastern
and Africa.
Ireland
has
pupils
through
classroom
projects
and
a long tradition of outward migration and
activities.
The Programme
is integration
supported
there
is a strong
feeling that the
by the
office isof the
Minister
Statethe
for
of
migrants
important
forofboth
migrants
the receiving
country. of
It has
Europeanand
Affairs,
the Department
the
always
been the
an important
objective
of our
Taoiseach,
European
Commission
school
to welcomeinpupils
and to and
integrate
Representation
Ireland
the
them
into
our
school
community.
To
do
this
European Parliament Information Office
effectively we believe it is necessary that
in Ireland.
we appreciate and respect the culture of
Pupils
of sixth
signed up
forpupils
this
the
migrants.
It isclass
also important
that
should
also appreciate
their own
culture
programme.
They explored
European
and
themesethnicity.
through Migration
four key without
areas:
integration
the potential
to create
historical, has
geographical,
cultural
and
problems
in
the
future.
institutional.

They learned about the devastation of

the Second World War and about the
Holocaust. They learned about the
functions of The European Council, The
European Parliament and The European
Commission.
They examined the
impacts that these institutions have on
Irish citizens. They learned about
European elections and about Irish
Members of the European Parliament.
The
of Europe
providesour
a
Ms celebration
Marion Harkin
MEPDayvisited
great
opportunity
not justpupils
to showcase
the
school.
She answered
questions
work of pupils but also to develop an
about the European Parliament, and
appreciation of cultural diversity. Pupils
stated that the formation of the EU has
created an exhibition of their work detailing
made Europe a more peaceful
the countries of the European Union,
continent. their projects on World War 2
highlighting
and
featuring some
As The
wellHolocaust,
as teaching
aboutof their
the
artwork
based
on
paintings
of
Vermeer
and
democratic processes of the EU
Picasso, and further works on the
throughout the year teachers were very
Netherlands, Slovakia and Germany.

proactive in developing the citizenship

skills of pupils.

Every pupil in the school visited this

exhibition and each pupil marked his
country of origin on a map of the world
with a coloured pin. Selected pupils also
detailed other pupils about our past and
ongoing eTwinning and Comenius/Erasmus
projects.

The creation of this body of work and the

subsequent exhibition of this work was so
successful in raising pupil awareness of
cultural diversity and developing respect for
different ethnicities that next month we
will extend the exhibition of work to a
week. We will also develop the scope of our
work this year. As well as celebrating
Europe Day we will celebrate ethnic
diversity in general. We will invite parents
from Poland, Nigeria, and Lithuania to
speak to different classes about life in their
countries. We will invite parents to visit the
school to see the pupils' exhibition of work,
and we will have food from different
nations available for pupils to sample. We
will encourage pupils and parents to wear
national costumes. We will fly flags of the
different countries represented in our
school.

https://www.mervuebns.com/

Agrupamento de Escolas Templrios, Tomar

We can hear and see. We cant ignore!

Portugal

We also have a head to think; because of it,

many questions are real if we get attentive
to whatever surrounds us.

Some of us remembered what we have

learnt on History classes and reminded
ourselves about us, Portuguese, always had
been a migrant people, used to cross each
and every continent, taking and getting
influences to and from all of those places.
Iberian Peninsula itself, since ever, was a
passing point and a place to other far away
peoples to settle here.

On our school (Santa Iria School, Tomar,

Portugal) there are many pupils with
migrant relatives. Some of them are, or
have been, apart from them because they
have to look for work elsewhere abroad.
To think properly about the reasons that
led people to travel leaving behind their
families, roots and springs, pathing an
unknown adventure full of risks and
uncertainties has something to do with all
of us.

Others have thought about the cities that

call people from their home rural areas,
leaving them almost deserted and only with
aged persons. We see this in our villages
and many of those who are still there
dream on travelling to the big city to study
and work

We, 6th graders from class D, were thinking

about migrations.
After a huge debate, two were the main
reasons we found:
- Many of them leave looking for jobs and a
better life;
- Many others run away from war and
persecutions.
Of course, we all reviewed those terrible
images of cities in ruins, boats loaded of
people crossing the sea, floating bodies,
crying people crashing against each other
just to get a place in a train towards
unknown destinations, barbed wire that
kills the walkers dreams, tents into the
mud, despair in childrens eyes

After this so interesting debate, we have

prepared some art work to display outside
the classroom so that everything we
thought about and discussed might be
shared by the whole school.
Here we leave some images of our works
and the working process.
6th Grade, Class D - Santa Iria School

http://www.aet.pt/

ZS sv. Cyrila a Metoda, Kosice

Slovakia

Our school is Saint Cyril and Method

Primary School in Kosice, Slovakia. It has
got about 600 pupils aged from 6 to 15,
almost all of them of Slovak nationality. We
have not got any migrants in our school but
because Kosice is a city with over 250,000
people and a popular tourist destination,
children are used to seeing people of
different nationalities.

weeks and then they have 2-4 weeks off

here in Slovakia. They do this for months,
even years. This gives them a financial
benefit but often has a negative influence
on the stability of their marriages and the
upbringing of children. One of those ladies
says that she does not earn more money
now in Austria than she did in her previous
job but she did not want to be unemployed
so this was the best option for her.

About 10 of our pupils study abroad and

only come to our school once a year to
write a test in Slovak language and to have
some contact with their Slovak classmates.
Since Slovakia is not among the countries
where immigrants tend to go, we have not
been confronted with the phenomenon of
migration much yet. However, we teach
children solidarity with people in need
the poor and the persecuted. We have
raised money for children in Kenya, Syria
and Ukraine.
Every year pupils and
teachers bake gingerbread hearts, sell
them at school and send the money to help
build new schools, hospitals or shelters.

We have got a pupil in our school whose

father had some experience with migrants
and he would like to share it with you:
My dad works as a lorry driver. He drives to
each country in Europe and he stays there
for two or three weeks. After that he
arrives home only for the weekend. He can
drive up to eight hours a day. After eight
hours he must have from nine to eleven
hours long break. The lorries can not be
seen on the roads from Saturday afternoon
till Sunday evening. So he must stay at one
place almost for two days. He usually drives
to Italy, Germany, and France. He has done
it for a very long time and it means that he
got to know almost all countries. If it is
needed, he uses GPS while driving. He has
got many experiences with driving. One of
them happened a month ago. He heard
some voices coming from a semitrailer. It
was dark outside, so he had to take his
torch. When he opened a door, he couldnt
believe his eyes. There were some
immigrants inside. He asked them to go out
and he continued driving. I am always very
interested in all his stories, but I miss him
very much.

Every year our pupils also have a good

opportunity to learn about and accept
different cultures. In cooperation with
AIESEC we welcome a group of foreign
university students who spend one week at
our school and give presentations about
their countries in our English lessons. We
have had young people from Brazil, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, Ukraine and Indonesia. It is
good for children to compare the different
cultures and lifestyles. This way they can
learn to appreciate their own culture as
well as to be tolerant to others.
There is one new phenomenon especially
in the east of our country and it is
connected with high unemployment. Many
women who cannot find an appropriate job
here decide to go and work in Austria as
carers (Pflegerinen). They leave their
families (often small children, too) to look
after elderly people in their homes for 2-4

http://www.zscamke.sk/sk/projekty

Escola Les Accies, Barcelona

Les Accies school is located in Poblenou
neighbourhood in Barcelona. Its a
neighbourhood in full urban growth.

Spain

Barcelona is a city in constant motion

where many cultures and different
nationalities live together with one
another. For that reason newcomer
children often arrive to the school.
With this multiculturalism at the school
there are more than 50 different
nationalities.

During the course children have

brought information of their family
countries: books, photos, maps, typical
objects, coins, etc.

Is because of that that children grow up

and develop in an environment where
equality and tolerance are values that
they work with since the very first day.
During the Erasmus+ project this course
we have worked the migrations and
urban development block and how our
daily life is enriched by this coexistence
with the different cultures and
nationalities of our students families.
Here you can see a little summary of the
activities we have done.

In the school we collaborate in some

different projects like: food and clothes
collection, plastic caps collection to help
for the research of unknown diseases. In
this year we examine also the global
problem with the refugees crisis. This
topic has been worked repeatedly in the
school, so we have done different
activities related to it. One of these
activities was the celebration of the day
of Peace, where every boy and girl of the
school wrote a message of sympathy and
their desire of a better world.

Students have chosen the name of every

class according to the major nationality of
the families of every group. In the starting
stage they propose to choose based on the
continents. In the medium stage and 5th
grade based on countries and in 6th grade
the democracy.

http://xtec.cat/ceipacacies/

Storkyrkoskolan and Bjrngrdsskolan, Stockholm

Migration

Sweden
The Town it grows
a work by Class 2- the
Squirrels
(Bjrngrdsskolan)
Families can have very
different situation in a
town. Some can afford
everything and some
families have to think a
lot how to use the money
they have. We decided in
each group how our
family would look like.
We made a plan for our
house or apartment
before we build it.
People move to our town
every day.
In our class everyone
made a choice about bath
house or a football arena
in our town. By that we
learnt how an election is.

It is important to clean
the water we use so we
can have fresh water the
next day too. There has
to be a fire brigade, a a
police, a hospital and
some food stores in a
town.

Migration- a project in class 3-5

We made a work about migration and

particularly thought of what people bring
to our country when they live here. We
saw a lot of pictures before we started
our Roma embroidery. We got our
inspiration from the roman people. There
are about 40 000 Roman people living in
Sweden. Katarina Taikon is one of them,
known for her childrens books about a
Roman girl Katitzi. We saw lots of
pictures of how they are dressed when
they give performances as well as how
they are dressed in ordinary life. They
have many beautiful colours in their
clothes.
The romans dresses have a lot of flowers
and that was my inspiration, said Nikita in
class 5, when I asked her.
I myself chose many different colours but
mostly pink. The embroidery became
nearly as I planned from start. I thought
of different ideas while doing this
embroidery. Thats why it got a little bit
different. I have drawn this pattern
before, about a year ago. Im satisfied
with my work. Here you can see a bit of
it.
Niamh Madden, Class 5 Bjrngrdsskolan

http://storkyrkoskolan.stockholm.se/

http://xtec.cat/ceipacacies/
In Sweden we have lots if students that
either come from other countries or some
of their parents do.
We have tied ribbons from all those places
to Stockholm to show where we originally
come from. This is a project that students
from class 3-6 have made.

Just a few of the students were born in

other countries, two in USA, one in China,
one in Vietnam and one in Poland. Most
parents come from Sweden but nineteen
were born abroad for instance in North
Korea, Australia, Ireland, China, Israel,
Peru, Germany, Russia, Poland, Ethiopia,
Latvia, Cuba, Greece and Bolivia.

http://bjorngardsskolan.stockhol
m.se