Seeds of friendship publié le 06/06/2023

Planting seeds of friendship for flourishing exchanges between Jean Rostand Vocational high school in Angoulême and Maria Lessen school in Mönchengladbach, Germany.

Last March, a « bunch » of 12 first year students from the English European Section of the fashion sector experienced their first week ever in the city of Monchengladbach in Germany, an event which marked the « blossom » of pedagogical exchanges between our school and our German « twin school » : Maria Lessen Fashion school.

-* Ground preparation : using virtual tools

A strong will for developping European mobilities at Jean Rostand vocational high school was the fuel for 3 teachers (a Fashion teacher : Stépahnie Pilet, a German teacher : Fabienne Gagnaire and the Referent Teacher for European Actions, Céline Pignon) to answer the call for partnership from our German colleagues (Barbara, the English teacher and Catherine, the teacher responsible for the Fashion sector) at Maria Lessen Fashion school. Web conferences and Whatsapp groups were fertile ways to learn more about each other and finally find out we had more in common than we had previously thought.

-* Know your environment, your needs and your goals : adult mobilities

With a Fashion sector and a Child Care and Old People Care sector in both schools, we could explore the different ways we could cultivate our partnership for the sake of our students. Thanks to OFAJ grants, initiated by the German school, Catherine and Barbara came on a 5-day mobility to visit our school in March 2022. In exchange, the three of us were invited in Monchenglabach 6 months later. We discovered the German school, their facilities and the perspective it offered for future pedagogical mobilities with our respective « seedlings ».

• Student exchange mobility : the nutrients

These exhanges were fruitful. Bonds of friendship were born with the promise of organizing further steps, resulting in a 5-day visit of 12 German fashion students last January and a 5-day trip for our first-year fashion students to Mönchengladbach last March.

• Bloom

The German and the French teachers set their sights on a sustainable future, not only on the next flowering, but also on the whole European climbing plant, so beautiful but still fragile...