France - Roots and Journeys: Our Erasmus+ Year
A Mobility to Poland
The new school year opened with a European journey: from 26 September to 9 October 2025, a group of pupils travelled to Poland for a mobility focused on exchanging practices between partner schools. Presentation boards for France, Poland and Romania were built together, and the visit closed in a lively atmosphere of shared dances, gifts and an Erasmus+ cake — a fitting symbol of the friendships taking root across the three countries.
Back to the Garden
Back home, the garden kept its own rhythm. In October, pupils picked apples at the Verger du Clos à Lin in Lanfains, then turned them into recipes in the school kitchen. The autumn’s potato harvest was gathered, washed and prepared for storage, before becoming the centrepiece of an HAS workshop meal cooked and shared by the students themselves.
Celebrating Erasmus Days
On 16 October, the whole college marked Erasmus Days with an assembly under the flags of partner countries. Pupils reflected on what the project means to them: discovering Poland’s forests and lakes, tasting pierogi, learning to cooperate with Polish and Romanian classmates, and simply making new friends. As one pupil, Léa, put it, “Erasmus helps young people travel for their studies.”
Discovering Poland and Romania
Winter and early spring brought a strong cultural focus. Members of ACAWM returned to the classroom in January and March to deepen pupils’ knowledge of Poland, while a colleague led a session introducing Romania — its geography, history and gastronomy, from sarmale to mici — ahead of the group’s own trip there. In the garden, February and March were dedicated to preparing the new growing season: sowing Rennes cabbage seedlings, chitting the potatoes, and planting the first rows of Roscoff onions.
Fieldwork and a Farm Visit
April brought both fieldwork and a farm visit. Pupils sowed flax and black-headed cabbage in the school garden, then visited the Ferme de la Belle Noé, discovering its mill — producing flour from buckwheat, spelt and maize — and its oil press, working colza, hemp and camelina into oil sold through the farm’s own shop. By May, the potato beds were once again green with new growth, and pupils also learned traditional Breton dances (An Dro, Bal de Broons, Galop nantais) with the association Dañs Bro, adding a taste of local heritage alongside their European discoveries.
A Mobility to Romania
The year’s programme culminated in a second mobility, this time to Romania, from 29 May to 13 June 2026, travelling overland by train across Europe to Târgu Jiu. There, the project’s core idea — “from the garden to the table” — was brought vividly to life through a dissemination event where each country presented its own produce and dishes on a shared table, and pupils received their certificates at a closing celebration, marked by a cake reading: “Erasmus European Heritage – Let’s Cultivate Our Garden, Let’s Share Our Table.”
