Profile of the organisation

There are classroom support teachers to take care of the disabled pupils during lessons and breaks in the integrated classes. Our school also employs a psychologist and other specialists for its pupils. These people implement individual programs in relation to the children who need this kind of help. The integrated classes have around 20 pupils and the others are larger. Our institution organizes many additional activities for its pupils, for example: local excursions, visits abroad, trips to the cinema, occasionally parties, games, cycle races or theatrical performances. Our pupils can also have lunch or spend free time in the club room after school. The school building is located on the outskirts of Klodzko, a large town in South West Poland with about thirty-five thousand inhabitants. Near the school there is a bus stop which can make easier journey to the centre of town.

Local environment and community

Klodzko has a town hall and a monumental fortress with an underground route. In Klodzko there are also many different shops, some pubs, one cinema, libraries, museum, Local Culture Center and Culture Education Center. It is also possible to spend free time in parks and in the sport center (stadium). Klodzko has a couple of interesting churches which are situated in the centre of town. There are also many spa towns nearby and the Sto³owe (Table), Bystrzyckie and the Bialskie Mountains. The region of Klodzko is surrounded by hill ranges forming a natural barrier separating it from the rest of the country and the Czech Republic close-by. Thanks to means of transport (bus or train) it is possible to get to some bigger towns like Wroclaw or Opole, or to Prague only 200km away. The biggest problem in K³odzko and the surrounding area is high and increasing unemployment, which currently stands at around 38 %. This results in many economic and social concerns (e.g. lack of cultural life and youth facilities, lack of public transport, lack of tourist facilities, etc). Currently the region is trying to promote its many interesting places to visit and beautiful countryside in order to increase tourism, create jobs, and regenerate the area.

Experience and need for EVS volunteers:

The school needs help for its daily activities. EVS volunteers enable us to provide the best opportunities and support we can for our pupils. The volunteers will be independently connected with the classroom support teacher's duties and work with disabled children: e.g. with diabetes, EPI, Down Syndrome. The volunteer will assist in caring for disabled children and he/she will also help organise activities for their free time during breaks and after school (therapeutic, artistic and motoral games, conversations). Many of our children have interests in theatre, music, dancing, and sports, however, it is critical that they have adequate support and options to further develop their interests. Volunteers in the past have helped us through organising cultural events using the knowledge of the volunteer's own country (exhibitions, games, festivals, workshops, competitions), exchanging experiences connected with the implementation of the integration process at school in other countries in the EU, fortifying the integration process between disabled and non-disabled children through games and workshops (dance, music, art, pantomime). Educating our children with similar projects and an extension of the European theme is vital to allowing the local community and the Ziemia Klodzka region to continue to balance and improve its social and economic infrastructure.   

There is a possibility for the volunteer to take part in a number of activities during this project, including:

- helping with nonformal language conversations after school in English or in the volunteer's mother tongue

- assisting in the running of the day-to-day activities of the school, particularly in the areas of arts/drama, crafts, sport, developing practical skills (the staff run workshops on cooking for example), or helping children learn basic computer skills (i.e. to use the internet, e-mail, to write letters).

-organising cultural events for children to help increase their knowledge about other countries, for example, presentations about the volunteer's own country

- assist in caring for disabled children- community interaction - the staff organise a number of visits, both in the local community and sometimes further afield, to which the volunteer might also accompany us both so that they can see a little more of the country and provide support to the children on these trips

- intiating any other activities (in harmony with project's aim) according to the volunteer's own interests, experiences and skills

-participating in 'Euroweek', a week-long seminar for motivated 16-21 year olds from all over Poland organised by Europejskie Forum Mlodziezy (the coordinating organisation). The volunteer would give presentations on European subjects and organise integration games.

It is hoped that the volunteer will be open-minded, flexible, and ready to participate in many of these activities. All volunteer's tasks do not substitute professional work. The volunteer work is unpaid, non-profit-making, of importance to the community and in the common interest. The volunteer's tasks do not contain an administrative character, because full-time employees of school perform these tasks. Tasks are not designed in order to achieve profit, because school is a public institution with no aim to make financial gain from their activities. The general aim of the project is that while working voluntarily for us the volunteer will acquire social, intercultural and personal skills, enabling him/her to lay the foundation for his/her own future and at the same time as contributing to the well being of our community.

Most of the time, the volunteer will work in a group with other volunteer(s) and staff. This atmosphere of group work is aimed to promote common understanding, so that the volunteers can help each other, share problems and have fun together.The volunteer will work for five days a week, 30 hours total, 6 hours a day.

The volunteer will have weekends free and if there are activities during the weekend, then she/he will receive a free day in the week to compensate for this. The volunteer will have free days whenever it is a church or national holiday in the region and Poland.In addition, the volunteer will have two days holiday for every month of European Voluntary Service which can be taken anytime during the project providing there is prior agreement with the staff of the school and the mentor.

Throughout their project, the volunteer will receive Polish lessons in order to help make his/her integration into the community and contact with Polish children easier. The volunteer will have two 90 minute lessons a week in Bystrzyca Klodzka (a small town 17km from Klodzko where the office of the host organisation, EFM, is located) with other volunteers from the host organisation for which money for transport will be paid. There's possible to arrange English lessons for volunteer if he / she has got a will to improve it.

Through this project, volunteers will have the opportunity to learn the following:

- how to work with handicapped and not handicapped children in the age seven to thirteen.

- how to prepare and lead language classes,

- how to work with a group; methods of team building, communication and integeration,

- an introduction to working with people from different cultures.

Volunteers have a very important place in our organisation as they bring languages, interests, and a perspective from their country which allow them to carry out tasks we could not do without them. We hope that in return our organisation is able to give volunteers new skills and ideas to take back home to their country.

Factors that will be important for a perspective volunteer's work:

1)speaking English on a basic level (speaking a second language may also be useful but is not essential); there's a possibility to arrange language support for a volunteer if they have a desire to improve in a language (volunteers often share their language skills) and there willl be Polish lessons provided to help the volunteer communicate with local people.

2)an ability to establish contact easily with children and young people

3)creativity, flexibility, energy, enthusiasm, initiative, and the ability to adapt to new environments

4)basic computer skills (word, internet)

5)interests in culture - music, art, languages, sport

6)an ability to organise oneself and act independently