Partners

VFA is a registered non-profit association that supports young people at the age of 14 – 19 in different fields of their lives in Judenburg/Styria.

VFA seeks to offer its members new ways of understanding certain aspects of a multicultural and global society and to strengthen their entrepreneurship and their social, linguistic, cultural and civic competences.he VFA has been member of the Caretakers of the Environment International youth association (https://www.caretakers4all.org/) for about 15 years and has participated with teenagers (15-18 years) in several youth exchanges in Europe and all over the world (Denmark, Scotland, Portugal, Hungary, USA, Taiwan, etc.)

In 2018 the VFA carried out the international and European CEI youth exchange “Let’s challenge the Nature” focussing on the topics environmental protection and sustainability. The one week youth exchange took place in Austria an covered approximately 300 young people (https://cei2018at.wixsite.com/cei2018).

The VFA also carried out several youth activities in the field of political education and active European citizenship visiting EU-Institutions in Brussels. In these activities students visited the EU-Council, the EU-Commission, they met Members of the European Parliament, they visited the offcial office of the Styrian regional government and also the Permanent

Representation of Austria to the EU. The VFA also organised a participation of a group of 25 teenagers at a Euroscola Session in Strassburg in 2022. The VFA also supported several trips for teenagers to EU and governement institutions in Vienna (Experience Europe, Austrian Parliament, Meeting with the President of the EU-Parliament Roberta Metsola, etc.)

The VFA organizes European and international social and cultural events for young people aged 14 – 18 in the Murtal region in Styria on a regular basis. Its members meet other teenagers from abroad to discuss social and cultural issues and reflect on them.

VFA also arranges activities in the field of ecology, sustainability and environment in order to foster environmental awareness and to become conscious of challenges that surround the young generation. It is a main goal of the VFA to raise awareness for sustainable living and to environmental protection. Therefore the VFA organises workshops in the field of environmental learning focussing on the topics “Water” and “Forest”. Furthermore the VFA promotes activities with teenagers in the field of Sustainable Development Goals.

In order to promote European values and European citizenship the VFA also organises and puts into action annual trips and visits to EU institutions in Vienna, Brussels and Strassburg. These trips are realised in cooperation with other local and national institutions like the Bundesgymansium und Bundesrealgymnasium Judenburg, the regional government (Land Steiermark) and the Federal Chancellery of Austria

Bilingual Primary School No. 1 in Warsaw was established in 2009. It is a non-public institution with the rights of a public school. The governing body is the Amaltea Foundation for Bilingual Education. The school has about 240 students and employs over 40 teachers. The languages taught are English, Spanish, and French. The school is experienced in carrying out European projects. In August 2020, the school completed the project: "Towards Better Quality and Innovation" - Educational Staff Mobility.

The school carried out the projects: "Call Me Coach!" - Educational Staff Mobility, and "Climate is the Topic!" - School Cooperation. The implementation of these two projects was hindered by the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2023, the school obtained Erasmus+ accreditation in the school education sector. It has just completed a year-long project on renewable energy sources and is beginning the second phase of the program – solar energy. The school received both the National and European Quality Label for the eTwinning program.

The school youth participate in various forms of youth groups and activities. Each year, a student council is elected, consisting of representatives from all classes. The elections are combined with a campaign, followed by an election assembly. These culminate in a school-wide vote on individual candidates. The elected students then become involved in many aspects of school life: organizing school volunteer activities, gathering young people for initiatives on school grounds,

participating in environmental protection actions, and advocating for student rights in discussions about school regulations and policies.

A youth debate club also operates on the school premises. The debate club typically includes a variety of activities designed to foster critical thinking, public speaking, research skills, and the ability to argue both sides of an issue. The structure and activities of a debate club are dynamic, depending on the interests of the participants and the type of debates they practice.

The club usually meets regularly, with sessions structured to practice debating skills. Meetings often start with warm-up exercises, like impromptu speeches, followed by structured debates or workshops on specific debate formats. The club organizes debates in front of an audience, such as fellow students or teachers. For instance, the debate on "Wind Energy as the Future's Best Resource" was a public event where both sides presented their arguments, the audience voted and discussions followed.