A. Project environment:

Our school cooperates with local authorities and organizations. Due to our preparing and organizing some entertainment for our local youth, we are accepted and appreciated by local society. Our school is situated in old town - K³odzko in the south part of Poland surrounded by The Sudety Mountains

Klodzko has a town hall and a monumental fortress with an underground route. In Klodzko there are also many different shops, some pubs, libraries together with a museum, a local culture center and a culture education center. It is also possible to spend 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 transportation (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 Klodzko and the surrounding area is high and increasing unemployment, which currently stands at around 31 %. This results in many economic and social concerns (e.g. lack of cultural life and youth facilities, lack of public transportation, lack of tourist facilities, etc). Currently, the region is trying to promote its great number of places interesting to visit and the beautiful countryside in order to increase tourism, create job opportunities, and regenerate the area.

B. Proposed activities for EVS volunteers:

The volunteer who decides to work in our school will have the opportunity to work with different projects and take part in trips organized by our school i.e. field trips (which are in attractive parts of Poland).The volunteer will help to organize and coordinate school tasks for the youngest students after obligatory classes.

We are planning to have volunteer support in art and sport lessons for the youngest students.

The volunteer:

- will take part in preparing our school newspaper which is partly edited in English,

- will help organize trips for children by school club called BFK (Community of Brother Shirt),

- will share his/her customs, culture, tradition of his/her country,

- will help to organize additional competitions, games and quizzes after classes for pupils,

- will help to organize extra classes according to their interests for junior high students and high school students,

- will be an active participant of project carried out by our school.

The volunteer might contribute to

- Art workshops taking place once a month where the students make different pieces of work created in different techniques and tools,

- Dancing workshops of junior high students lasting five days and including designing special clothes and make -up

- Jewish Week-project devoted to Jewish culture, history, traditions and Jewish cemeteries, preparing national dishes, learning their songs and dances.

- Hosting Danish students in our school.

- "Polish Table" project, connected with Polish customs and traditions from different centuries according to Polish literature.

- Coordinating the project of Polish, Czech and German students carried out by the school computer club called NET.

- Organizing 4 trips for the youth from our town (in autumn, spring, summer and winter) and our school clubs .

- Preparing artistic cafes where our students can present their abilities, skills and introducing famous people.

- Project for the youngest children called "On The Small Feet Into The High Mountains", connected with hiking the local mountains.

C. Volunteer profiles and recruitment process:

The characteristics and abilities the volunteer will be expected to have for this project are:

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 will be Polish lessons provided to help the volunteer communicate with local people.

2)an ability to establish contact easily with young people

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

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

5)an ability to organise oneself and act independently

We hope that the volunteer will be open-minded, flexible, and motivated to participate in a number of these different activities during his/her stay with us.

The most important factors for the volunteers' work are motivation, good mood and interest in helping.

D. Risk prevention, protection and safety:

We will prevent risks and crises by:

- integration activities (overcoming language barriers, ice breaking games)

- organizing individual meetings with the volunteers,

- meetings with educationalist and psychologist, if necessary,

- contact with a doctor in the volunteer's country, if necessary,

- we will inform the volunteer about his/ her rights, regulations in our organization, consequences of unacceptable behavior,

- giving the volunteer the opportunity to stay in contact with his family/ sending organization via e-mail or telephone ,

- releasing negative emotions through meetings, talks and excurions.

The main aim of our school is having a wide web of communication all around the world. We would like our students to be tolerant, open-minded people knowing the history, culture, customs, traditions and problems of Europeans. Thanks to being with other young people, through their work and games our students can be more familiar with things mentioned above. English language is the second leading language in our school. Our students have 4 hours of English language lesson per week. The direct contact with the volunteers can motivate them to use a foreign language. Very valuable is the fact that these are contacts after school, so it is not connected with classes and this is what makes using a foreign language a natural need. Teachers of our school are also interested in being with volunteers thanks to whom they are inspired. They have exchange of opinions with the volunters, making the lessons more exciting. Volunteer's presence in our school will allow the students to feel the existance of real Europeans around, although we live in a small town.

Zespol Szkol Spolecznych is a non public school led by KTO (Klodzko Educational Association). It consists of three types of schools:

-primary school (grades 1-3)

-junior high school (grades 1-3)

-high school (grades 1-3)

There are 116 students and twenty teachers. The school has been working since 1991. After obligatory classes, there are many interesting additional classes, i.e.:

-editing a school newspaper,

-computer club,

-Math classes in German language,

-English classes,

-Different kinds of art projects: drama, dancing, painting.

Our school cooperates with a school in Denmark (Odense). The members of the computer club take part in projects with students from Czech and Germany.