Erasmus+ project "Jump into the STREAM" in Sosnowiec, Poland

Monday 15th January

This week our group of six students & two teachers have travelled to Sosnowiec, Poland, as part of the project “Jump into the STREAM”. Each country participating takes a particular aspect of STREAM, and this week Poland is focussing on the sciences.

We arrived last night, and the students went off with their host families. This morning, we were reunited at the local high school we are working with. At the start of the day, we had some social time to get to know the other participants. This was followed up by a school tour courtesy of the principal (which meant we had access to everywhere) and were able to watch some lessons. Of particular interest at this school, is the emphasis on digital learning. There is a dedicated green room for students to simulate streaming or television broadcasting, and to practice the associated skills. As well as this, there are also two computer labs. One for coding and software usage, and the other is a dedicated e-sports lab!

After the tour, we continued with a workshop on the application of science within criminology. In this workshop, we looked at fingerprinting techniques, made copies of our own fingerprints and tried to match examples to crime scenes.

After this, it was time for a traditional Polish lunch, and then back to school for our international e-sports tournament! The school gym was blacked out and seating arranged to view as each country put forward a team to play. After the trophy ceremony, students returned home with their hosts to explore more of Sosnowiec.

Tuesday 16th January

Today we are travelling to Gliwice, which is a short drive away from Sosnowiec. The focus of this week is on science, and so today we have two museums which give students different insights into scientific topics.

Firstly, we visited the ‘funzeum’. This is a museum/science exhibition dedicated to colour and the electromagnetic spectrum. In different sections were different colours, and explanations about how we see each colour. There were also plenty of opportunities for interesting photographs utilising light and colour! At the end of this, we had the chance to draw our own elephant and have it created in digital form.

After this, we travelled back towards Katowice and visited the Silesian history museum. This museum was vast, and also contained a large art gallery. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to fit everything in! We looked at the history of Silesia, and how it has changed over the last two hundred years from an agricultural place to an industrial one, as well as the impact of the world wars and technological change on the area.

Once again, we were treated to a traditional Polish lunch and then students were free to enjoy the late afternoon with their hosts. Many of them arranged for visits to nearby Katowice, for the opportunity to explore more shops!

Wednesday 17th January

Wednesday was a day that we were looking forward to. This part of Poland is famous for its industry, but also for salt mining, and today we were going to visit one. We travelled by coach to Bochnia, to visit one of the oldest salt mines in the world – operational since the 1200s!

On arrival at the salt mine, we were shuffled in groups of 6 into the lift to descend hundreds of metres into the darkness. Safe to say, for many of us it was a little nerve-wracking! On arrival at the older mine-level (the operational mine was another few hundred metres below us), we took the underground train deeper into the mine, and were given a tour of the facility discussing how important salt mining was in the area, as well as how they worked throughout time.

Aside from the tour, the mine was also a fully functional living area with catholic shrines and a large chapel carved out of the rock. As it came time for lunch, we descended deeper to a larger chamber which housed a dance hall, cafeteria, and basketball court. From here it was even possible to take a boat across a salt-lake to another section of the mine!

We ate underground and took the lift back up through the darkness to the surface. It felt good to see sunlight again. From here we travelled to Krakow, with a walking tour of the castle and into the city centre. Students then had some free time to visit the famous cloth hall and square, undertake some gift shopping, and get some more food.

Given that it was January in Poland, by now the darkness was coming in and it was getting time to head home. After a few hours of free time in Krakow, we boarded the bus and headed back to Sosnowiec. Today was a tiring, but fun day!

Thursday 18th January

The theme of science continues today as we visit a place called the ‘Exotarium’ in Sosnowiec. On multiple floors, the exhibit takes us through flora and fauna from across the world. Underground, we saw various different species of fish, snails, and spiders. We emerged into different sections of the exhibit which represented temperate grasslands, rainforest, and drylands. In each we saw different plants and animals who naturally live in those areas (it was also a welcome change from the snow outside to be in the warm savannah!)

Today was a slightly shorter day of activities after the longer and more tiring Wednesday, so we enjoyed a walking tour of Sosnowiec with our hosts who took us to a Polish chocolate shop (a necessity), and then to a unique cafeteria with a Harry Potter theme. We enjoyed soft drinks which bubbled with dry ice (it looks more magical than it sounds!) and then returned to the school for lunch, and an afternoon spent with our hosts.

Friday 19th January

As today was our last day in Sosnowiec, we spent the day in school with our hosts. Split into teams, we worked together on competitions like building a spaghetti tower as tall as we could, and in quizzes like Kahoot. It was a fun opportunity to spend time with our new friends and relax before the journey home began early the next morning.

Before lunch, we had our award ceremony in which students were presented with certificates to commemorate their participation this week. It was also an opportunity for each country to show the short presentations we had made throughout the week, reflecting on our time with pictures and memories.

As this finished, our students went off with their hosts for one final evening, On Saturday morning our journey home began around 5am, so this afternoon gave them the opportunity to pack and say goodbye to their new friends.