Agenda for Transnational meeting in Istanbul

31^th October  / 04^thNovember 2018

Done at Istanbul/Turkey , 25 /September 2018

Minutes from the meeting

Minutes of Transnational Meeting

Fri 2nd Nov 2018

Binbasi Necatibey Ilkokulu,  Istanbul, Turkey.

Before the meeting started officially, thanks were given to the parents of Binbasi Necatibey Ilkokulu School for providing exceptional refreshments and for their gifts and warm hospitality during our visit.

1. Dates of next visits/meetings.

It was agreed that Portugal will take place 16-20th March 2019 and England 22-27th June.

2. Twin space. 

It was agreed that we have shared many things on Twinspace but not always in the right place. Clarification was given and shown as to where to put things - ie: in the correct folder in the Pages section. We must be careful not to crowd the Blog space too much. A refresher on how to upload documents and videos etc was also given.

3. Next Activities. 

The England team showed the final product of The European Child Activity. There have been some 'technical issues' as file was too large to upload to TwinSpace but this was overcome by sending on Google. There are still some gaps which the Bulgarian and Turkish teams need to fill. It was agreed to send the document again by Google Docs so that these teams can fill in. The Languages Activity, which will be done as part of the UNICEF Celebration of International Mother Tongue Day was discussed at length and ideas brought to the meeting. After some discussion, it was decided that each school will research and collate information in any form about the variety of Languages which are spoken in their schools. This will be shared via Skype sessions and information will be collated by the English Team into one place so that it can be a collaborative document for sharing with the children. The Environment Project will be completed for the Portugal visit in March. Discussion took place and it was agreed that each school would produce a short video to explain how they are doing to help the environment. The Rights of The Child Activity will be prepared ready to share at the England visit in June. Again, the details of the Activity was discussed in depth and it was decided that each school will produce a Tree of Aspirations where children will write sentences on leaves to explain what they would like to do, be, where they would like to live, what sort of lives they would like to live etc in the future. This will all be collated in England into one tree with each branch representing a different country. This will hopefully provide opportunities for children to compare and contrast their own aspirations with those friends in other countries and raise questions as to why this is the case.

4. Quality Labels. 

Each country was congratulated on the achievement of being awarded Quality Labels and it was agreed that we, as a team, will now apply for European Labels. This is a matter of urgency as the deadline is in mid-November.

5. Feedback from National Agency Visit.

Liliana kindly gave us all some feedback from the NA visit. She outlined the importance of record keeping in particular making sure all documents such as meeting minutes, Agendas, Evaluations of Projects, evidence of use of ICT for the children are all documented and filed. The English Team suggested we use a 'What I know about ——-Before/After' document to prove that the children have learnt from the projects and the mascots visits. 

6. Feedback from Turkey Visit.

Each team was given the opportunity to evaluate the visit so far. The Italian Team remarked upon the wonderful facilities for outdoor learning. The Portuguese Team commented on the enthusiasm of the children and the classroom environments. The English Team also commented positively about the warm welcome the children gave us and that they are so proud of their school and country. The great links the school obviously has with their wider community was also praised. The Bulgarians expressed that they found the atmosphere of the school very welcoming and enjoyed interacting with the children. The Turkish teachers responded with thanks and acknowledged the hard work of their staff which ensures the project's success. Finally, Mr. Mehmet Tortop, Headteacher, expressed his thanks and appreciation for the close links we are making. He praised the professionalism of the team and the friendships which have been fostered as a result of our working closely together. He wished us continued success for the future and expressed his gratitude we had visited his school.