What happens when 230 young singers and 5 conductors join forces to convey their feelings in these strange days? Yes, one could say that science fiction has become reality, but not for the singers at the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium in St. Stanislav’s Institution. The fact is that singing is a common sight at this school nevertheless, we are particularly proud to announce the release of Strange Days as devised by students under a careful supervision of their conductors. All five school choirs, namely The First-Year Girls’ Choir of DCG (conductor Marjetka Kozmus), The First-Year Boys’ Choir of DCG (conductor Tine Bec, who also prepared the song for polyphony singing), (Re)Mixed Choir of the DCG, St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir of the DCG (both under the baton of Helena Fojkar Zupančič) and St. Stanislav Youth Choir of the DCG (conductor Damijan Močnik) participated in the project. They made a cover of Strange Days by The Strunts featuring Robbie Williams.

In a month and a half students prepared their audio and video recordings, took part in individual vocal lessons to brush up their voices, uploaded the recordings in Teams, the conductors listened to each of them, the band prepared the instrumental accompaniment, video and audio editing followed and voilá – the cover is out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGAw2SZqrcE

Congrats to everybody who contributed to its making! Indeed every little thing that you do goes a long, long way. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

The new banner representing the endeavors of the new Erasmus project Small Countries Strong Cultures radiates the vibrant colours of small, yet strong countries, namely Scotland, Bengium and Slovenia. Each country is represented by either its most typical sight, dish or a figure related to Roman times. Thus Belgium shines there through Ambiorix’ statue and unmistakably the best Belgium pralines; Scotland is represented by the Athens of North, Edinburgh, and the slope from Antonine Wall; last but not least Slovenia boasts with the idylic island of Bled and the statue of Emonian Patrician. The project logo naturally assumes the central position and designed by a Beglian student, got a twist with a strong shining orange sun in the middle. The banner was designed by Matic Kotar, the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium alumnus. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

From 1st – 6th October 2019 the first staff mobility of the new Erasmus+ project Small Countires Strong Cultures took place at Wellington School in Ayr (Scotland). At the same time the annual UCAPE conference took place with about 80, mainly French teachers, from Catholic primary and secondary schools.

The meetings covering Small Countries Strong Cultures brought together the entire Belgian team from Sint Rembert (Torhout) with their director and deputy head, the welcoming group from Scotland, led by Ms Susan Coontz, and the Slovenian team (Valerija Lah Peternel, Alenka Battelino, Eva Pišljar Suhadolc, Lily Schweiger Kotar). The meetings included finalizing the preparations for the first student mobility which is to take place in Slovenia in February 2020, funding rules for the grant, partnership agreements and taking part in the e Twinning workshop given by Gary Shiells, the representative of the British Council in the UK. One of the highlights of the visit was most definitely the Wellington school students’ performance of  Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. The tragic love story was brought to life at The Gaiety Theatre with a lot of musicality, breathtaking special effects and scenery.  Friends of Wellinton, teachers, parents were justifiably proud of the magic night. Well done Wellington school!

UCAPE whose mission is to build knowledge, values and skills for global citizenship is an international association open to all schools which share the same values. In Ayr the general assembly took place with plenty of opportunities for networking along with new arrangements for the exchanges that were set up. Mr Dominique Bernard, Director of Institution Saint Dominique (France) and the present president of the UCAPE, gave the introductory speech accentuating the fact that if anybody in  modern Europe needs to go beyond meeting students’ everyday needs, it is the teachers at Catholic schools. The yearly report followed some interesting presentations of Scottish culture and students’ good practice carried out at Wellington under the supervision of Ms Coontz, a dedicated member of the UCAPE board. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

 

We are happy and proud to announce that a new two-year Erasmus+ project Small Countries Strong Cultures is being launched in cooperation with two other schools – namely Wellington School Ayr from Scotland (UK) and Sint-Jozefsinstituut College from Franders (Belgium). This will allow making room for the exploration of our common roots as well as for the endeavours to build our common future. For years we have been involved in a row of successful projects with Wellington School, who is the coordination instituion,; this time we are welcoming on board the college from Flanders.

In the next two years, our participating students will try to find the answer(s) to a (seemingly) simple question: Who are we and what connects us with others? The aim of the project is to spread and strengthen the awareness of national cultural heritage and its importance in building a strong European community. In the times when nationalisms are on the rise we want to show the young that they can be loyal to their local community, their country and the EU at the same time – but we need to be ready to learn from our past and become active citizens to shape a better future. We need to learn how to voice our opinions respectfully, how to look for common ground with others and at the same time be ready to accept differences.

All three participating countries have always been proud of their cultures, especially their languages, at some point we have all been part of a larger »whole« and each country now plays its part in modern European democracy. Throughout the project, we would like to encourage the young to take an active part in these process.

At St Stanislav’ Institution  Alenka Battelino, Valerija Lah Peternel and Lily Schweiger Kotar are in change of the project. /Valerija Lah Peternel, project coordinator/

Your brief is to design a logo to represent our new Erasmus+ project, Small Countries Strong Cultures.

Your logo should represent the three participating schools or the countries they are in. The design should be made up from simple shapes and bright colours for visual impact. The three countries are Scotland, Belgium and Slovenia. The school websites are: www.wellingtonschool.org  and https://www.sintjozefscollegetorhout.be.

The logo will be used on our project materials and needs to be of a striking design which makes an impact. You should consider a limited colour range for more visual impact, flat shapes without tone so that the logo can be reproduced digitally.

Here are last year’s winners to give you some inspiration!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The submission deadline is 16th October 2019. Please, send them at: [email protected] .We will announce the chosen logo on 5th November 2019.

 

Each of the final three days of our tour in Poland was a unique experience despite the somewhat monotonous schedule: breakfast, practice, lunch, practice, free time, concert. On Thursday night our music sounded off the walls of St. Florian Basilic in Cracow’s city centre, whereas Friday’s concert took place in Miechow. There we performed at the festival of the University of the Third Age, therefore our singing and playing were often interrupted by enthusiastic cheers of elderly ladies. :) Saturday finally came – that was the big day we had all been expecting for the entire week. After packing all our belongings and leaving the hotel, we had some more time to explore Cracow and enjoy the wonderful weather. As the evening was quickly approaching, we could all feel adrenaline working through us and as the final rehearsals weren’t what we had expected, our nervousness was getting only worse. However, our conductor and mentor advised us to relax, do our best and enjoy the good acoustics. The Divine Mercy Church was packed and full of expectation. After the Polish choir, it was time for the Slovenes to perform. After orchestra’s Concerto Grosso in B flat major by Georg Friedrich Handel the choir performed their varied palette of songs that included everything from Slovene folk melodies to spiritual pieces. What all of us had really been anticipating was actually the joint performance of all Polish and Slovene choirs and orchestras. John Rutter’s Mass of the Children was absolutely magnificent – the interlacement of fast and slow, joyful and melancholic intricate melodies created by the choirs, the symphonic orchestra and the soprano and baritone soloists touched everyone’s hearts and resounded in our ears throughout the magical evening. Still touched by the majestic last chord of Rutter’s masterpiece it was time for us to leave Poland and return back home. We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with such talented young musicians, to make new friendships and get an insight into the Polish culture and lifestyle. I am sure every one of us could agree that each concert was a new unforgettable adventure. We are looking forward to playing music with our Polish friends in the future Music to Life exchanges. /Anja Tršek, year 4/

The second reporting from the music tour to Poland runs as follows: on Monday 8th October 2018, we said goodbye to Zakopane and proceeded our journey to Krakow. In the morning we drove to Wieliczka, where we visited the famous salt mines. We could see the underground corridors, learn about the history of mines, touch and taste rock salt and even sing in the fascinating concert hall the chapel of St. Kinga. Its carved walls and floors as well as chandeliers were absolutely impressive. In late afternoon hours we finally made it to our main destination, Krakow. Some students left with their host families, while the rest of us had lunch at the hotel. We spent the evening walking down the picturesque main square of Krakow and singing to people in the streets.

The next morning the orchestra and the choir made their way to the Polish conservatory where we had separate rehearsals. Later, the Polish students guided us through the Old Town and surprised us with some interesting legends about Krakow. During our free time we took some pictures, had a cup of coffee or one of the delicious famous doughnuts, maybe took a carriage ride and keenly absorbed Krakow’s lively life. The relaxed afternoon was followed by two intense hours of rehearsal for Rutter’s Mass of the Children, which we will perform on the main concert on Saturday. The start was chaotic as about 150 energetic musicians couldn’t concentrate and just kept chatting. However, by the end of the rehearsal, some parts of the magical melodies sounded quite promising.

On Wednesday morning we had some joint rehearsals again and were excited about the progress we had managed to make so far. The Slovene orchestra and the choir got on the bus once more and drove to Nowy Sacz, where we had our third concert. Having performed versatile melodies in the beautiful Town Hall, we had dinner and returned to Krakow to get some sleep for the rest of our busy tour in Poland. /Anja Tršek, year 4/

The String Orchestra and St. Stanislav Youth Choir of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium will take part in the Erasmus+ exchange Music to Life program from 5th – 14th October 2018. This will be a return the visit to the Polish students who visited St. Stanislav’s Institution in May 2018. Approximately 90 students and teachers got on the bus and set off at around 10 in the evening.

On Saturday morning we arrived to our first destination, Zakopane, a smaller city and famous winter resort. Excitement visibly filled us with energy and hid our lack of sleep caused by the night drive. After settling in our hotel we had some free time which most of us used to take a walk around the lovely town or hike up a small hill right above our hotel in order to enjoy the breath taking view of Zakopane. Saturday afternoon was the time for our first short concert in one of the local churches. The friendly audience gave us a huge round of applause and eagerly asked for another song although we weren’t too satisfied with our performance. We spent the rest of the evening exploring Zakopane by taking a walk through the city center, enjoying local food and live music in small cosy cafes.

On Sunday morning both the orchestra and the choir participated at the holy mass. After that, we impatiently waited to see what “lunch with a surprise” on our programs meant. We were more than thrilled to see horse carriages waiting for us! Local coachmen took us to a big meadow where Polish girls dressed in national costumes welcomed us with their traditional music. They set up fires on which we grilled our lunch while singing Slovenian and Polish songs. In the end we all sang to the melodies of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love as one. This was a wonderful introduction to our least favourite part of the day – practice. We spent the rest of the afternoon working on our pieces and were proud to see some major improvement as hours passed.

All of us are having a wonderful time and are looking forward to our departure to Krakow where we’ll finally meet our Polish friends once again. /Anja Tršek, year 4/

From 7th to 11th July 2018 the second Transnational project meeting of the project Eurostonomia, Erasmus+ took place in Targoviste, Rumania. Two teachers and two students from St. Stanislav’s took part: Martin Čokl, Anton Križnar, Aleks Kaapre Rehtijärvi and Alenka Battelino.

This is the first time that students participate in project meetings so that their voice will be also heard throughout the project. This time they were working on composing guidelines for all future Erasmus+ students. They presented their findings at the plenary meeting held on the last day of the meeting. According to the coordinator of the project Mrs Susan Coontz (Wellington School, Scotland) they accomplished their work with excellence and contributed greatly to the success of the meeting.

We enjoyed the hospitality of the partner school Colegiul National Constantin Cantacuzino. All the partners participated in reviewing the activities realized in the first year of the project and intensively planning the activities for the second year. The feedback of national agencies were discussed. The stargazing activity was unfortunately cancelled due to bad weather conditions. We visited the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Science and Technology from Valahia University of Targoviste and Museum of Human Evolution and Technology in Paleolithic, Stelea Monastery,”The Royal Court” Museum, Townhall and Old City Center.

It was another wonderful experience working in the inspiring environment of good friends. We all appreciated generous hospitality and thorough organization of the managing team at Colegiul National Constantin Cantacuzino. We all look forward to our next teaching learning activity which will take place in Scotland between 16th and 23rd September 2018. /Alenka Battelino, project coordinator/

St. Stanislav’s Insittution is glad to announce that another Erasmus+ project was granted funds for the next three years, from September 2017 –  August 2020.

Eurostronomia is an Erasmus+ project connecting eight schools in eight countries, Bulgaria (SOU Emilyan Stanev, Veliko Tarnovo), France (OGEC Saint Dominique, Mortefontaine), Germany (Mallinckrodt Gymnasium, Dortmund), Macedonia (SUGS Georgi Dimitrov, Skopje), Portugal (Escola Secundaria Henrique Medina, Esposende), Romania (Colegiul national “Constantin Cantacuzino”, Targoviste),  Slovenia (Zavod Sv. Stanislava, Ljubljana) and the UK,  Scotland (Wellington School, Ayr).

Our main theme is Astronomy and through our collaboration we will strengthen STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills, communication skills and European citizenship. /Alenka Battelino, project coordinator/