A group of ten Year 9 students have just returned from an exciting trip to Helsinki in Finland as part of the Erasmus Project, STARS.
The STARS project is made up of five chapters that challenge common negative stereotypes. It started at Shotton Hall last year where we looked at religious stereotypes before heading to Malta to look at feminism in November last year. The third leg in Finland last week, saw students investigating sexuality stereotypes.
Working with partners from Croatia, Finland, Portugal and Malta, students made a collection of movies depicting positive representations of LGBT issues. They worked on a drama presentation tackling bullying and attended the Finnish Parliament where they were met by a deputy from the Finnish Social Democratic Party. He talked about the position regarding same sex relationships in Finland and the emphasis on equality.
The group also experienced a genuine Finnish sauna (in swimsuits!), enjoyed lessons in a Finnish school, visited a Moomin Museum, went ice skaing and bowling and celebrated with a brilliant party on the final night.
As well as the great experience of visiting Finland, our students also formed friendships with the students from other countries and were sad when they had to leave.
Well done everyone.