"Project entitled ""Children in the forest - prevention of nature deficit disorders"" was carried out by two schools: the Private Primary School of the Queen Saint Jadwiga Foundation in Przyłęków (Poland) and Preilu Briva skola (Latvia) for a period of 24 months. The main goal of this project was to enable the teachers of our school, together with a partner organization, to share knowledge and experience in the field of specificity and methodology in Montessori education, ""forest education"" inspired by the idea of ​​forest kindergartens, development tutoring among students and methods of informal education. We have developed modern working methods by combining the above-mentioned methods in order to obtain the best educational effect for children and adults . Through the exchange of good practices in our schools, the workshop of educators was developed to help our students gain the skills and competences needed for their current and future functioning. Participation in an international project brought much better results than in the case of local projects. The professional environment within the Montessori organization began to introduce good practices and new methods to everyday activities not only in the school in Przyłęków, but also in other facilities of the Foundation, including in Koszarawa, Kęty and Grodzisk Mazowiecki. Cooperation at the international level allowed to implement innovative practices, a better understanding of the links between formal and non-formal education. The experience related to the implementation of the project had a significant impact on the improvement of the quality of teacher education - it should bring positive and long-lasting effects in building the image of the teacher in the school community. The received funding allowed equal opportunities for teachers and built a lasting partnership in Europe. The main goals of the project: 1) sharing knowledge and experience in education in Montessori, ""forest education"" inspired by forest kindergartens, shaping social skills (the five principles of Ashoka), tutoring, TRIZ, Waldorf, ways of cooperation with parents and partnership with the local community; 2) modern professional involvement in the search for good practices and their implementation in their school environments; 3) improving the skills and qualifications of employees in the use of forest education in kindergartens and classes at higher education levels; 4) improvement of proprietary teaching programs in the fields of mathematics - science, language and emotional development, taking into account the methods of forest and field education on a European scale; 5) improving teachers' skills in the field of foreign languages; 6) exchange of knowledge on the creation of an optimal environment that will allow children and adultsto better develop not only knowledge but also social skills, such as team work, creativity, openness to change, empathy, leadership and mindfulness; 7) promotion of a healthy lifestyle - prevention of nature deficit disorders; 8) preparing the school as a place and team for national and international training in the field of education; We achieved these goals thanks to the activities planned in the project: participation in physical mobility of 10 teachers of our school and 5 in virtual mobility, as well as 8 teachers from the partner school (physical mobility) and 5 in virtual mobility. The planned activities have a long-term impact on the participants, and in particular on increasing the attractiveness of the educational program in partner schools. The scope of the project also covered students, teachers and the entire local community of schools not directly involved in the activities planned in this project. The developed good practices were implemented in other schools of our Foundation (value added project). The very way of implementing the project, i.e. trips abroad, was a more attractive form of learning, which motivates both students and teachers. In addition to the above activities, we have developed a rich project documentation in the form of an e-book ""Handbook for outdoor education practitioners"", articles disseminated on the Polish educational platform E-mi (meaning Education can be different), the Edukacja pod Chmurką webinar and on the websites of partner schools. In addition, we conducted an international training on the eTwinning Live platform on forest pedagogy and the possibilities of its implementation in various forms of education. Access to the above materials will be ensured by placing them in open educational resources, incl. on the Erasmus Plus Dissemination Platform."

"Project titled: ""Outdoor education-as a way to explore the world through experience"" will be carried out within 12 months by two schools: Non-public Primary School of the Foundation of the Queen Saint Jadwiga in Przyłęków (Poland) and Preilu Briva Skola (Latvia). The main aim of the Project is to enable the teachers from both the schools to share their experience and knowledge concerning the methodology of Montessori education, forest education,inspired by tutoring programme as well as methods of informal education. Our intention is to continue the established cooperation by further development of modern methods in accordance with the individual needs of the social education environment. By sharing good practices at our school, and developing joint solutions suitable for adaptation in both partner institutions, we want to develop teachers' expertise to help students acquire the skills desired in the world more effectively. Thanks to this international project its participants will be able to acquire better results than it will be in the case of a local one. Teachers from Montessori school are ready to implement into their everyday work all the good practices and new methods; to cooperate with organisations working in various branches. Continuing cooperation at the international level, completing the initiated changes in education at the level of partner schools, describing the developed models as good practices can significantly affect the dissemination of the model itself as well as inspiring change in general.Project’s assumption is also connected with professional development of teachers in order to improve the quality of teaching. This fact should bring positive and long-term results. What’s more important, Montessori school is located on so called affected area (mountain area) that is way it has reduced chances. Receiving the grant would help us to level playing field for teachers as well continue partnership in Europe due to visible similarities between both schools. Such a partnership based on key values for education will be a significant strengthening for the continuous development of both schools.The main aims of the Project:1)sharing knowledge and experience in the field of forest education based on proprietary teaching methods2) searching for good practices and new methods, finding a way to combine working methods to achieve complementarity in accordance with the individual needs of the social environment of education3)improving the skills and qualifications of employees in the use of forest education at all levels of education from kindergarten to grades 1-8 of primary school4)developing proprietary curricula in the fields of mathematics, nature, language and emotional development, including forestry and field education methods on a European scale5)improving teachers' skills in professional profiles, i.e. pre-school, early school and mathematics and natural sciences as well as in the field of foreign languages6)exchange of the knowledge about creating the optimal environment educational, testing existing solutions,which will help to better develop in children and young people not only the knowledge but will help build self-esteem, independence and also social skills, i.e. work in a group, creativity, openness to changes, empathy, mindfulness7)promotion of healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle as a friendly educational element8)continuation of contacts and permanent cooperation with the school in Latvia9)preparing the school as a place and team for national and international trainings in the field of outdoor education10)improvement of work qualities in the field of forest/outdoor educationResults that we want to obtain:1)understanding by teachers methods and tools used by partner organisation2)using these methods in daily work3)higher quality of teaching in Europe4)being ready to implement good practices and new educational methods into everyday work with students5)continuation and increase of international cooperation in the field of educationWe will achieve these goals thanks to the activities carried out during the project: the participation of 4 teachers from our school and 2 partner school during 2-week visits to partner organizations. Except for the above activities we will elaborate a rich documentation of the project including the syllabus and forming of the abilities based on learning through experience the access to it will be provided through placing of the materials in the open educational resources, among other, on the Propagating Platform of Erasmus+ program and in professional magazines/internet portals."