Does anyone have any ideas for who to approach for funding a school exchange between primary school age children? We are twinned with a French town but they haven't been able to find us an exchange school. Our twin in Germany also has a French link and we are arranging an exchange this way. But because there are no official links, and we don't have the Council resources to support another, we can't get any Council funding. The parents aren't in a position to pay for everything.

Hallo Janet,

Thank you for your enquiry, I will try to look into this for you, however, I would like a bit more information first, eg. who you are, who your French and German Links are, is this exchange a physical visit to the other school, or a pen friend/email or other electronic exchange/link.

The more information you can give me the more chance I have of finding a solution.

If you are wary about posting this information within the forums you can either PM (private message) me via the forums, or email or ring me via the contact details within the main website.

Regards
Alan

Hallo Janet, I have just realised who you are and who your group is, and have just ben reaadidng your last two years newsletters with interest.

However, I would still like some more background to your request before i attemept to look for a solution.

Regards
Alan

Hi Alan
sorry I am quite new to all this and it's been a while since I visited this site. Reigate & Banstead have had a successful ongoing exchange for 3 years now between a local primary school and one in Eschweiler for 9/10 year olds. The children all stay together in a local children's centre with a couple of teachers and some parents. They go to school each day and do activities with the English children and Twinning sponsor a day out in London. Eschweiler are twinned with Wattrelos in France and we have also got to know them on joint visits to Eschweiler (see 3 way twinning which is normal for Eschweiler). Wattrelos have no British twin but are very keen, especially on twinning for young people. We have been looking for French schools for some time but Brunoy our French twin hasn't been able to find us one. Wattrelos would like to do the same as Eschweiler on a school visit but because we're not twinned they can't get funding from their Council. It's quite a poor area and the parents couldn't afford the whole costs so that's why I would like to try to get them some help.
We only have volunteers here and VERY limited help from our local Council so we can't do more than a friendship link with Wattrelos at present. We are happy with Brunoy but want to extend our membership to younger people.
We have approached the EU several times before for funding but the application process is lengthy and has been unsuccessful on the grounds that "it wasn't European enough!!!"
Janet

Hallo Janet,

Thanks for the reply, in your first post I took it to be the Reigate & Banstead parents could not afford the whole cost, your latest post has clarified things slightly and I will try to suggest some links you could follow up.

Please be patient with me and I will try to do a bit of research for you.

I do know that funding is very difficult to come by these days, we recently tried to gain some funding for our 25 years French Anniversary, and our Polish 10th Anniversary, however, despite ticking virtually all the boxes we did not receive a single penny from the EU. Yet, the same year, a nearby Twinning Group received a funding grant for a normal visit, whilst only ticking about one box in the application.

Most of the funding grants from the early days of twinning have now been withdrawn, having been originally granted to support the creation of a large, vibrant twinning base. however, priorities have now been changed, at the time of our original Polish application the EU was supporting Eastern European expansion, but now the emphasise seems to be on third world countries, especially Africa.

European funding is now more difficult, however, there are various opportunities, including Europe for citizens, and educational projects.. i will try and provide you with a few links to follow up within the next week.

Alan

[Thanks - look forward to hearing from you

quote name='alan' date='Oct 26 2008, 09:21 PM' post='439']
Hallo Janet,

Thanks for the reply, in your first post I took it to be the Reigate & Banstead parents could not afford the whole cost, your latest post has clarified things slightly and I will try to suggest some links you could follow up.

Please be patient with me and I will try to do a bit of research for you.

I do know that funding is very difficult to come by these days, we recently tried to gain some funding for our 25 years French Anniversary, and our Polish 10th Anniversary, however, despite ticking virtually all the boxes we did not receive a single penny from the EU. Yet, the same year, a nearby Twinning Group received a funding grant for a normal visit, whilst only ticking about one box in the application.

Most of the funding grants from the early days of twinning have now been withdrawn, having been originally granted to support the creation of a large, vibrant twinning base. however, priorities have now been changed, at the time of our original Polish application the EU was supporting Eastern European expansion, but now the emphasise seems to be on third world countries, especially Africa.

European funding is now more difficult, however, there are various opportunities, including Europe for citizens, and educational projects.. i will try and provide you with a few links to follow up within the next week.

Alan
[/quote]

Hallo Janet,

I have so far found three possibilities you could follow up/ investigate.

They are:-
the etwinning website http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/index.htm
eTwinning is a framework for schools to collaborate on the internet with partner schools in other European countries.

The Global Gateway at http://www.globalgateway.org.uk/
An opportunity to find partner schools anywhere in the world and not just Europe.

The British Council in France at http://www.britishcouncil.org/france-educa...s-scolaires.htm
A link which give particular information regarding France.

One other site which may helpful in explaining the French Educational System is French Entree, http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-education/D...ticle.asp?ID=70
which also has a lot of useful information on life for Brits living in France.


I have also put out a couple of other feelers, and if they come to anything I will contact you again.

Hoping this information will prove useful and helpful.

Good luck, please let me know how you get on,

Alan

thanks for your help - will let you know how we get on
Janet

Hi Janet,

A few more suggestions you could possibly try:-

Most local authorities, perhaps at County level, have a "Global Learning Officer" or "International Schools Officer" or some such title, they may have some ideas of possible funds you could tap into, not necessarily local authority funds, but they may know of some other source of funding you could try. This could be something that does not depend upon specific twinning links between your two towns.

As the problem is to try and help a school in a poor or deprived area, it may also be worth approaching some of the local charitable organisations such as the Chamber of Trade/Commerce, Rotary, Round Table, Lions. Many of these groups have their own international links and may be able to help through either their own local efforts or through a link in the country or area in which you are interested. This sort of assistance could be of invaluable help to their publicity and is worth following up.

Also, the Global Entrepeneur Week is from 17th to 23rd November this year, see the home page of this website for full detail and all the links to their activities, this could be a challenge for the schools in your town to try and help another town, it is all about Global Cooperation and the involvement of the youngsters.

I hope these suggestions will help.

Good luck

Alan