Waregen Januar 2004

Waregem Januar 2004

Meeting in the school	Evaluating the project and planning for the future

	Meeting in the townhall. The mayor promises to cooperate in a scientific project within the Comenius project.
A visit to Ghent: A medieval city built on the banks of the river Leie.
	The third working year of the Comenius project "water - the essence of life" focuses on "Human activities".
The Heilig- Hartcollege celebrates its 75th anniversary. The Comenius partners join staff and students in the festivities.

"WATER ..." COORDINATORS MEET IN WAREGEM (Belgium)

Jan 21-25,2004, -the coordinators and headmasters of the 8 participating schools were present in Waregem ( Belgium)for some days of intensive brainstorming concerning the future orientation in the project" Water, the essence of LIFE".

The Waregem coordinator Hugo Delbeke prepared a full program together with the headmaster team and a team of 15 enthusiastic colleagues.

The delegations popped in on Jan 21 and were hosted within walking distance from the school. Students who are involved in the Water Project picked up the delegations at the airport ( some 90 km away)and escorted them to Waregem. This gave the students the opportunity to get acquainted with the other delegations, and to present an immediate and personal insight into Flemish particularities, such as school profile , the overpopulation and its consequences in Flanders, the family-run businesses , the climate, our history of domination by other cultures, the language and culture difference between Flanders and Wallonia, and so on.

Jan 22 was devoted to a general presentation of the focus that the H. Harthandelsinstituut gives on " Water, the essence of LIFE". The Waregem school is a commercial school, which means that as well in its curriculum as in its contacts with society, it is strongly embedded in business life. Nearly all companies in this area of Flanders are family-run textile-related businesses, which means that they have a flexible company structure to meet the global competition. Moreover they can nearly always guarantee a lifelong employment, but in order to obtain this, they must be able to rely on skilled and trustful personnel. In the last 20 years of European expansion, these companies have used the so-called soccle water so plentifully, that it is creating a serious problem for the public health; ( cfr article : Grey Water in Waregem). The school has presented this specific problem to the international delegations . Next, all delegations were invited for a meeting with the Waregem mayor where they received professional information how the focus of ecology and economy is brought together

Jan 23 was Comenius day. We welcomed the Lisbon delegation from Escola Secundaria do Restelo. It offers the general Humanities curriculum with options

for Biology and Chemistry, Arts, Economics. The foreign languages English /French are important subjects. The meeting was split up into two parts; first: a comment on the completed activities ( see article: Coordinators meeting") Next an interesting discussion followed about the option all schools have to take for the project year 2004-2005. Inge Banholzer from Urspringschule Schelklingen (D) steered the discussion round with great skill. Finally we agreed on " Human activities and water'. Each school should fill in a specific topic. All ideas will be streamlined during the Oct 1-2 meeting in Lisbon. During this next meeting the procedure about how to present everything in a plenary session will be discussed further on.

A complete proposal was presented by the Icelandic delegation. Each school would present a case/ a lecture/ a powerpoint/a video based on the general topic " Human activities...." which could be followed by a round of explication /discussion in multinational discussion groups during the Budapest meeting in March 2005. What follows is a negotiated proposal ( or proposals) that can be approved/rejected by the plenary session of all participating schools in Budapest (Hungary) March 2005. The big advantage of this meeting formula is that it generates plenty of interaction, debating, negotiation, and seeking a consensus.

The tough discussions were followed by a relaxing walk through the medieval city of Ghent.

Jan 24 all schools took part in the official celebration for the Waregem school anniversary. Indeed, the H. Harthandelsinstituut was founded 1929, and in the course of these 75 years it has become a secondary school with 1200 students 140 teaching personnel, and all curriculum options for Humanities and Commercial education.. It is a school of the Roman Catholic denomination. The Bishop of Bruges, who is the formal head of school, led the Holy Mass . It was followed by a reception and a formal banquet.

The meeting in Waregem was a mix of Flemish hospitality which was greatly appreciated by the delegations and a tough but correct discussion round about the future orientation of the project.