Pupils council at Bjrngrdsskolan

All classes have a meeting once a week where pupils bring up issues that concern them. This kind of meeting where all opinions are collected we call the pupils council.

Our Project Logo

Our logo was created by the Hellenic Team.

Parliamentary Landmarks and Citizenship

Vol1 March 2013 In todays society there is an increasing disconnect among young people to politics and activism. Our project seeks to heighten awareness of political processes, and to encourage active citizenship in our school communities.

The principals meet the board of the pupils council a couple of times each year. There we can express the pupils matters and we also discuss problems to be solved for the future. We try to find solutions to different problems. We discuss school rules and how we can help all children in school with the environment in the schoolyard as well as rooms indoor. This year Tova from class five is our chairman and Andor from the sixth class is the second chairman. Our secretary Thomas or Josephine write and hand out the minutes and more questions to discuss to the classes. The pupils council is often asked to be guides when we have visitors or to be responsible for ceremonies we have in the assembly hall. Every class has its representative in the council and it is a special honour to be chosen.

The logo consists of the frame of an ancient temple that symbolizes democracy and refers to most parliaments. We also added two children from ancient Greece where democracy and citizenship were born. We named the boy Phidias after the well-known Greek sculptor, painter and architect, who lived in the 5th century B.C and is regarded as one of the greatest sculptors of classical Greece. We named the girl Athena after the goddess Athena - the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, law and justice, warfare, and arts, crafts and skill. She is holding an olive branch, the symbol of peace, hope and calmness. According to Greek mythology, Athena offered the olive tree to the city of Athens as a gift. At the top of the building there is the flag of the European Union, which is the roof of the 27 countries that compose it aiming at peace, freedom and democracy.

To achieve these aims our schools plan to bring pupils to city halls, and regional or national parliaments, to understand how they function and to learn about the electoral processes involved. We hope to focus on integrating citizenship to all areas of the curriculum encouraging collaboration, and developing social competence and basic values among pupils - and facilitating pupils reaching out and engaging with the wider community.

Young Citizens meet the Mayor

The students of the 6th class 1o Primary School of Asvestohori visited the headquarters of our municipality in Panorama.

News from Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain

The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins addresses pupils in Galway.

Escola les Acacias links with many outside agencies and is featured on Catalonian TV as project is integrated to Christmas concert. Pupils are also invited to Sagrada Familia and Tarragona Comprehensive School of Gottolengo studies the European parliament and examines its architectural history. Pupils collaborate to research and illustrate a book featuring local monuments. Escola Basica 1 dos Templarios has a weekly debate on ethical issues relating to citizenship Pupils from St Michaels produce a newsletter after their visit to City Hall. They also plan to visit the Dil or National Parliament.

Democracy in Germany
The task of legislating is split between the 16 Land Parliaments and the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag). For all matters which directly affect the Federal Republic as a whole such as, for example, foreign policy and defence policy, currency issues, atomic policy, the postal and telecommunications services - the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) in Berlin has sole and exclusive authority to legislate. Officially opened on 2 October 1988, North Rhine-Westphalia's Landtag building is the first completely new parliament building to be built in the history of the German Federal Republic. It was the first time that a German parliament had designed its future home itself and the first time that a parliament's own view of itself had been translated into architecture. Tieplatzschule was invited to visit the Landtag. Students from classes 8 and 9 have had the big opportunity to make a discussion about the theme: What is better for students, economy and society: 4 or 6 weeks summer holidays?

They were initially given a tour in the Town hall and were informed about the various services which are housed in the Town hall. Then the Mayor Ignatios Kaitetzides accepted the students in the conference room of the city council, had a conversation with them and listened to their questions and their thoughts with great interest. The students asked the Mayor about the difficulties of running and managing a large municipality, the administration bodies, the number of the municipal counsellors, the Vice Mayors and the local councils. They mentioned problems relating to school buildings, cleanliness , green and recreation areas and traffic issues. The Mayor characterized these issues as priorities of great importance for the municipality. He said: The children are asking for something which is obvious in every organized, qualitative society: good schools, a clean city and areas to play. All these are our every day struggle too. I had a very nice discussion with some young citizens, who have great dreams. I am really glad to see that our children show their interest and love for our place.

The President of the Portuguese Parliament, Lady Assuncao Esteves, welcomes our teachers to the Parliament in Lisbon.