Four students and two teachers from Huelin secondary school in Malaga visited Cornwall, England, at the end of October to meet and work with partners from Finland, Italy, Croatia and Germany. The week-long event, which was part of an EU-funded Erasmus+ programme, was held at Penair School, a secondary school in Truro.

Over two years IES Huelin is taking part in a project entitled “More than the sum of its parts - Our diverse cultural heritage as building blocks for European Unity”. Different cultural strands are being covered during the visits across Europe. At the recent meeting in Cornwall legends, traditions and folklore were the main themes.

During the visit students met in national groups to show a presentation of their research on folklore, a perfomance of songs and dances from their country, and how they have shaped their cultural heritage. In international groups they shared their traditions and legends to compare differences and similarities.

Students and teachers visited various cultural landmarks such as Tintagel castle, linked with the legend of King Arthur on Cornwall’s rugged north coast; and St Michael’s Mount, with its fascinating history steeped in both legend and folklore. They also visited the towns of St Ives and Falmouth, mainly to explore their fishing and maritime cultural heritage. A Ceilidh evening with the “Smash the Windows” band was hosted by Penair School, where all Erasmus+ staff, students and families enjoyed an evening of music, dancing and fun.

On the final day students in international groups made up and acted out a folktale as an end product of the week.

Emilio Guzmán, Huelin’s Erasmus Plus coordinator, said: “This has been an amazing opportunity for students to work and live with other international students and broaden their horizons. These projects, thanks to European Union funding, allow students to strengthen a wide range of competencies, not only academic but social and personal ones as well.”