Spojená škola sv. Vincenta de Paul

[Mária Lazorová]

Our school has launched a search for a partner school from Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway. We are emailing the message below to schools in these countries, hoping we can find a partner school among them.

Dear Madam/Sir:

Our school (St. Vincent de Paul High and Primary School in Bratislava, Slovakia) has a unique opportunity to make a project on the topic of the environment and its protection, using financial support from Fond Nil. Fond Nil was founded by the countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

It is a challenging idea for us to cooperate with a high (upper-secondary) school from one of these countries. If you feel interested in the topic of the project and in the cooperation with a Slovak school located right in the capital city of Slovakia, please don't hesitate and click on the following link to read about the proposed project in more detail:

vdp.sk/skola/Take_Action

Beside the attractions of Bratislava – the world's only capital city directly bordering on three different countries – the splendour of two other great cities of the former Austria-Hungary monarchy, Vienna and Budapest, is located only a short and comfortable train ride away from us. By visiting us, you and your students would get a unique glimpse into the culture and environment of three distinctive Central-European nations and ethnicities.

We are looking forward to our possible future cooperation.

Kind regards,

Mária Lazorová,
teacher of English
St. Vincent de Paul High and Primary School
Bratislava, Slovakia

The text from the webpage is also copied here for easy reference:

Our school would like to cooperate with a school of similar character on a project focused on the environment and its protection.

This is a rough draft of the project:

1. The project will last for 2 years.
   
2. During its first part we want to monitor the local area and the surroundings of the participating schools, taking into consideration: litter, green areas (whether there are sufficient amounts of them, their character, status, etc.), waste separation (which is not such a common practice in our country), energy policy, etc.
   
3. The second part of the project will be aimed at active steps made by students to solve the environmental problems detected in the course of the first part. These steps (actions) can have the form of very concrete acts (cleaning the surroundings, waste separation at school and students’ homes), but they can be also presented in the form of campaigns organized by students. Such campaigns may include producing and distributing leaflets, posters or stickers, but also writing letters to municipal authorities in order to call their attention to environmental problems and suggest solutions.
   
4. Students from both countries can find inspiration for their project work during the mutual exchange programme that can last for two weeks. I don’t need to add that such an exchange will provide the students from both participating countries with a wide range of other opportunities such as practicing their English, cultural knowledge exchange, getting to know another part of the world, etc.
   
5. It is necessary to say that the Slovak school can apply for a grant of € 50,000 to cover all project-related expenses of both schools involved.

These are our suggestions. Of course, the content of the project is open and can be further discussed with any school that would like to join us.

If you feel interested in cooperation with a Slovak school and you like the idea of the project, please send us a message to info@vdp.sk.