Bordeaux has launched a new trial project helping members of a dozen social grocery stores to buy fresh fruit and vegetables by having the city pay the difference between cost price and store price. The city also supports the Food Bank and various other organisations to give access to good quality food to those in need for free. The city and its partners have collected around €300,000 to finance food distribution actions.
Continue reading “Bordeaux – Fresh fruits and veggies for all”Tag: schools
Guimarães – Disinfecting Kindergartens
Guimarães has begun the the disinfection of the kindergartens of the public preschool network, through a specialized company, with a view to reopening next Monday, 1 June. This process started last Monday and runs throughout this week, covering around 50 schools in the municipality, in all school groups.
The Ministries of Education and Social Security have issued guidelines for the reopening of kindergartens, which open doors for children aged three to five again. The document for kindergartens indicates that “under no circumstances can masks be put on children.” These personal protective equipment will only have to be worn by adults. More information (in Portuguese) here.
Contact: Adelina Pinto
Guimaraes – 20,000 visors to those in need
The city will distribute 20,000 visors to people and entities that need them, but don’t have the means to buy them. These will be distributed for example to daycare, kindergartens, health centres, parish councils, volunteer firefighters, hospitals, and schools. Read more here (in Portuguese)
Contact: Crisália Alves
The Hague – Safely at school
The Hague is taking measures to ensure pupils can get to school safely by respecting physical distancing. Fifteen elementary schools introduced ‘School Streets’, closing the streets to traffic twice a day – coinciding with school opening and closing hours. Read more info here
Contact: Ronald Woudstra
Cardiff – iPads for school kids
Cardiff Council is providing thousands of digital devices and broadband dongles via the Welsh Government’s Education Technology Project Fund to support children in Cardiff that have been unable to access online learning during school closures caused by COVID-19. The Council has worked closely with schools across the city to deliver the scheme which seeks to address the issue of digital deprivation. Over 5000 Chromebook or i-Pad devices repurposed from existing schools or purchased and 2500 broadband dongles will be provided. You can read more here
Contact: Beverley Watson
Paris – Easing the lockdown
Reopening schools with small groups of pupils, making face masks mandatory in the metro and devoting roads to biking, to prevent an intensive surge in car use – these are some of the steps out of the corona lockdown in Paris. The city has compiled a summary of measures. You can download the document here
Contact: Jean-Yves Camus
Nice – Back to school
The mayor of Nice is consulting with the directors of the 154 public schools, parents and parents’ representatives, and with a local scientific council. The consultation aims at finding how to best organise the gradual reopening of schools announced by the government. The city has also created a free tutoring app ‘Prof in the pocket’ to help its students. Read more here (in French)
Contact: Jérôme Sieurin
Espoo – Tips for pre-primary school children
Espoo is making exciting ideas available to very young children to support their well-being. Families can access weekly activities and tips to be used on their own time. Educators will keep in touch with families with the digital tools at their disposal. Read more here
Contact: Annika Forstén
Nicosia – Overview of measures
The city of Nicosia, Cyprus, has compiled a summary of the municipality’s measures in the corona crisis, from confinement regulations over ‘solidarity baskets’ for the elderly to creative activities for kids, painting their vision of ‘Nicosia 2030’ while at home. The document also provides contact names for further information. You can download it here
Contact: Charis Theocharous
Viladecans – School at home
Both educational and fun – that is the ambition of the online platform ‘School at home’ from the Spanish city of Viladecans. Activities range from baking an Easter cake over math games to watching a short film and reflecting over the emotions represented in the movie. You can read more here
Contact: Alba Martínez García
Fuenlabrada – 370 smartphones for school kids
To allow pupils who lack mobile devices to follow online classes from school, the Spanish city of Fuenlabrada is giving out smartphones with internet connection to families in need. The first 70 phones have been distributed, up to 300 more will be given out. The aim of the measure is to prevent students in compulsory stages from being disconnected from the course due to a lack of technological resources. You can read more here (in Spanish)
Contact: Juan Carlos Hernández Navas
Cardiff – Pre-school support for families
The Cardiff based organisation Flying Start has gone online to continue delivering services to pre-school children and their parents. Appointments, group parenting as well as health and therapy services have all been moved online. While ‘Stay and Play’ sessions have been replaced by a range of fun activities to do with children shared on social media. Read more here
Contact: Beverley Watson
Nice – Build your opera
Artists, performers and teachers of Nice’s municipal opera house and music schools are busy creating free content for all. From short audio capsules to extracts from famous operas to building a model of the opera at home with a simple DIY kit. Read more (in French) here
Contact: Jérôme Sieurin
Nice – Dance and music
Nice is supporting its Conservatory in giving effective lessons. The dance department offers courses in fitness, ballet history and anatomy, the creation of a chamber ballet, and the exchange of videos of international ballets. The Music department has created a youtube channel for students on the alert. It also offers video exchanges, daily tutorials and skype lessons. Finally, the Theater department has set up a discussion forum. It also offers remote debates on shows, or even video exchanges. Read more (in French) in the attached press release.
Contact: Jérôme Sieurin
Dusseldorf – Poems over the phone
The municipal Heinrich-Heine-Institute in Dusseldorf, a museum dedicated to the German poet Heinrich Heine, offers the reading of poems and other texts over the phone during the time it is closed due to the corona regulations. The museum also publishes educational videos, readings and quizzes on Instagram and Facebookto to keep eager Heine fans busy. Read more here (in German).
The municipal Clara Schumann music school offers digital music classes for its students. The lessons are conducted online or via video messages, students receive their music sheets online and send their rehearsed recordings to the teacher. Read more here (in German)
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
Leipzig – Hotline for families
To support families in the current situation, the City of Leipzig has set up a phone hotline, available from 8am – 6pm, 7 days a week. Experienced personnel from the fields of childcare, school social work and youth work answer questions ranging from how to keep children occupied to Corona-related rules affecting families. They also provide educational counselling. The goal is to offer low-threshold support to families in a time of restricted social contacts. Read more here
Contact: Christin Rettke
Besiktas – Broadcasts for Children
On the Besiktas Municipality YouTube channel, programmes filled with educational and colourful content specifically for children are now being broadcast. Programmes include theatre and puppet shows, storytelling shows and films. See more here:
Contact: foreignaffairs@besiktas.bel.tr
Espoo – Doing distance learning right
Since Espoo turned to distance learning, the city and teachers have learned the importance of clarity, the best methods, the role of the teacher and wellbeing of the child. Read about the city’s experience here.
Contact: Annika Forstén
Tallinn – School lunch continues
Students of Tallinn’s schools will be able to continue to get a daily free school lunch under a special arrangement approved by the city’s authorities. Normally, school lunch is free in Tallinn for the students, but due to the emergency situation all schools are closed in Estonia. As for some children the school lunch is the only hot meal during the day, the Tallinn has decided to continue to make free school lunches available to students who need it.
Schools will inform families about the availability of a free meal and where the students can get it via the eKool (e-School) online environment and the schools’ web pages. To start getting free school lunches, the family must inform the school, as the number of meals prepared will depend on the number of those who wish to get them.
“Since for some children the school lunch is the only hot meal of the day, we do not consider it possible to deprive the children of it. Therefore the Tallinn crisis committee decided to arrange for the provision of hot school meals for the children in need of help,” Deputy Mayor Vadim Belobrovtsev said. “The most important thing in the current situation is caring, and for aid to reach the children who need it most,” the deputy mayor said, urging schools and families to work together on this. Read more (in Estonian) here.
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
Tallinn – Digital help for companies and schools
’10 ways to run your business operations remotely’ – the city of Tallinn gives advice for companies under the restrictions of the corona crisis. Estonia has already digitalised many public services. It is also leading in digital education and offers its tools for free to support other countries. Read more here
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
Helsinki – Education helpline
Tallinn offers free kindergartens
With all municipal kindergatens still running, despite schools being closed, the Tallinn City Government has used emergency measures to enact changes in the organisation of kndergartens, giving more parents an opportunity to continue working.
Read more here
Contact: Kerttu Märtin