Kindergarten and primary school - Ecole des petits chemins

Looking for four volunteers

Trip type

ESC Volunteering

City + Country

Lessive (ROCHEFORT) , Belgium

Dates of the next project

28th of August 2023 – 27th of August 2024

Deadline to apply

No deadline : first come, first served !

Hosting organisation : Collectif des Petits Chemins

Le Collectif des petits chemins is a non-profit association and school based in Lessive, which is a village in the French-speaking part of Belgium. It promotes new pedagogies considering the children’s unique personalities and using their natural environment. They aim to motivate young children to learn while respecting their needs and rhythms, as this creates a fairer and more respectful environment.

Being an alternative education system, the school also (but not only) welcomes children who experience learning difficulties in a more classical type of education due to a disability or a behaviour.

Children range from 2 to 12 years old and are divided into two sections: the kindergarten and the primary school.

As opposed to a classic system, the teachers use a pedagogical methodology based on outdoor activities, cooperation and education to peace. They stimulate 8 intelligences: linguistic, mathematical and logical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, spatial, kinaesthetic, musical and naturalist.

While most of the project takes place at the school, the collective organises or takes part in other local and social initiatives, such as farmer markets, concerts, parties…

The staff involves 8 teachers and the children’s parents. The teachers are well equipped to support the learning process of the 4 volunteers, since they are trained in active pedagogy. Indeed, the active pedagogy methods stimulate the “learning to learn” process. One volunteer works in the kindergarten while three others works in elementary school. Things can however evolve according to the volunteers’ interests and wishes.

The association opens every weekday from 8:30am to 4:00pm, except on Wednesday from 8:00am to 12:00pm. From time to time, they organise networking events on weekends.

Support organisation : CBB

CBB host in total 26 international volunteers around Wallonia. The ESC team of CBB tries its best to connect this network of volunteers together trought different collective activities, seminar …

Les Compagnons Bâtisseurs, aka CBB, is located in Marche-en-Famenne, which is another Belgian town not far from Rochefort. We are a non-profit, non-political youth organisation that is recognized and financially supported by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. The organisation proposes different kinds of activities, based on volunteering and non-formal education: local and international workcamps, short and long term volunteering services (including ESC), leisure time activities for and with disabled people, campleaders trainings… CBB is active within the different European Programmes of volunteering and non-formal education since 1997 and also hosts ESC volunteers each year.

CBB’s role as support organisation is to:

Promote the project and to link local and the international networks
Support the selection and coaching of European volunteers before arrival
Manage administrative matters: budget allowances, bank account creation and enrollment at the municipality, insurance (if not done by sending organisation), activity agreement
Provide pedagogical support for the volunteer and the hosting organization: ensuring the participation in the National Agency seminars, organising auto-evaluation meetings with the volunteer and hosting organization to reflect on learning outcomes
Handle practical arrangements: information about health insurance in Belgium, French lessons, online language tools, etc.
Create networking activities between all ESC volunteers of the hosting organisations they support

Activity 1 : KINDERGARTEN

This activity involves the work with very small children from 2 years and a half until 5 years old. 1 out of the 4 volunteers is involved into the kindergarden. He or she supports the kindergarten teacher in taking care of the children from Monday to Friday (8:30-16:00, except on Wednesday 8:30-12:00) and help supervising the children during breaks.

Tasks are:

Welcoming the children at the school in the morning
Participating in art workshops (painting, drawing, weaving, story-telling, singing, modelling clay)
Supervising the children during breaks and helping them eat their snacks, get their shoes and coats on…
Participating in outdoor activities (visit at the farm, walk in the forest, maintenance of the building)
When the volunteer feels able to, implementing a personal initiative with the kids

Outside kindergarten activities, you may also participate in weekend events organised by the collective in association with other organisations. This is a great opportunity to integrate well within the local community and to become aware of such initiatives as local markets, evening events and small concerts.

Activity 2 : PRIMARY SCHOOL

This activity involves the work with children aged 6 to 12 years old. Three volunteers work in the primary school. They support the primary school teacher in taking care of the children from Monday to Friday (8:30-16:00, except on Wednesday 8:30-12:00) and help supervising the children during breaks.

Tasks are:

- Making a pedagogical plan and setting up learning goals
- Participating in art workshops (painting, drawing, weaving, story-telling, singing, modelling clay)
- Participating in outdoor activities (visit at the farm, walk in the forest, maintenance of the vegetable garden, cooking workshops)
- Implementing a personal initiative with the kids

Outside school activities, you may also participate in weekend events organised by the collective in association with other organisations. This is a great opportunity to integrate well within the local community and to become aware of such initiatives as local markets, evening events and small concerts.

We plan volunteer gatherings and networking activities in order for the European Solidarity Corps to gain visibility and to encourage the cooperation between local associations through cultural events. This experience will allow the volunteers to enlarge their cultural and social scope, improve their teamwork skills, learn and discover pedagogic activities, practice French and spend time taking care of children.

The house

The volunteers live in a fully-equipped shared house in the town of Rochefort or the village of Lessive with other ESC volunteers. Bedrooms are usually private, but you might have to share your room. Whether in Rochefort or Lessive, get ready to community life: sharing common spaces and maybe meals, a common fridge and common house rules… All this in a rural environment!

The village LESSIVE - The city ROCHEFORT

The “Collectif des Petits Chemins” is located in Lessive, which is a small village close to the city of Rochefort, in the French-speaking part of Belgium. Volunteer are fully immersed in a rural life style as Lessive is a VERY isolated place, with no big shops around. As most villages and remote areas in Belgium, there are buses only twice a day (and sometimes not on Sundays).

Volunteers live in Rochefort. It is a small town of around 12000 inhabitants with an active cultural centre, a youth centre, a library, a swimming pool during the summer, a few bars and historical landmarks, and some shops.

Nevertheless, the closest train station is 5 km away from the town. Buses run every weekday but not on Sunday. Hence, the volunteer must be aware that rural areas in Belgium are not very well connected, even though they remain close to the cities. Marche-en-Famenne and Dinant are the closest towns. You can reach bigger cities like Namur and Liège by bus and train.

The volunteer must appreciate that living in a quiet area such as Rochefort and Lessive will be resourceful, and will give you a break from your usual urban routine.

The country - BELGIUM

Squeezed between the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France, Belgium is one of Europe’s tiddlers. The north is flat, with a beach of 65km along the North Sea full of resorts, except for a few patches of windswept dunes. In the south you will not find mountains, but the hilly forests of the Belgian Ardenne. We have 4 seasons well contrasted, cold winter and sunny summer… But be ready to look up to a grey sky at least half of the year.

Despite the rainy clouds, Belgian people are usually warm. A lot of cultural and free events happen during the year, which makes your journey in this little country entertaining.
This project will take part in the south of the country where we speak French. Be therefore ready to learn and speak French! Especially as this project involves kids.

Specialities : FRIES and BEERS and FESTIVALS
AREA: 30,518 sq km
POPULATION: 11.420.163 million
CAPITAL: Brussels (pop: 1.191.604)
REGIONS: Flanders (North), Wallonia (South), Brussels – Capital
COMMUNITIES: Flemish, French and German speaking community
LANGUAGE: Dutch (±59%), French (±37%) and German (±1%)
CURRENCY: Euro

Working Hours

Working hours are flexible and involve participation in evening events, as well as during school holidays and weekends. You will work 5 days per week on average. Days off will compensate the extra shift hours to keep an average of 38 hours a week (French lessons included). The volunteer will generally have two consecutive free days per week except in case of special events. You have the right to two days of holiday per month.

Food

You receive a budget and take care of your own meals.

Pocket money

Participation in the European Solidarity Corps is free of charge, except for exceptional contribution to travel costs.You receive free board and lodging during the whole activity. In addition, you receive pocket money for personal expenses throughout the duration of the activity, including holidays.

Language course

EU Academy + French lesson. We provide an online language course as part of the budget from the Commission. You will need to complete a level test before the activity starts. We encourage you to join free French lessons given in the municipality or around if possible. We recommend that the participant starts practicing French prior to their arrival in Belgium and that they participate in as many activities as possible in order to get better at the language.

Insurance

You get covered, throughout the activity period, by the obligatory European Solidarity Corps insurance plan (Henner) that the European Commission sets up. This coverage is only complementary to the mandatory coverage of the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which you must obtain prior to departure.

In certain cases, when national rules deprive participants from coverage under EHIC for the duration of the placement, Henner will provide full coverage. However, you must provide proof that obtaining the EHIC in your case was not possible. You should contact your National Agency for advice on your specific circumstances. You must read carefully the insurance-related information here.

Aged 18-30 years old
Prior to departure, being in contact with a support/sending organisation in order to receive information and preparation
> Look up for a support organisation in your region via this link
Project open to everyone, regardless to their nationality, religion, believes, diploma, professional experience
Highly motivated, open-minded and pro-active
Able to show a benevolent attitude towards kids and interested in active and cooperative pedagogical approaches
Interested in spending time outside in the nature
Because the kids do not speak English or other languages, basic knowledge of French is a plus
Able to provide a copy certificate of good conduct related to the work with minors before starting the activity

Laia, volunteer from 2022-2023

Laia documented her volunteering project on Instagram, go have a look!

Francisco, volunteer from 2019-2020

Hello everyone! My name is Francisco, I’m a 24 years old volunteer from Spain. I started my project in September and it will finish at the end of June. While I was doing my volunteer project I lived in a little town called Rochefort. At the beginning of my project I had a flatmate from Turkey, so I learned a lot about her culture and I had the chance to try a lot of new food. Then she left in February and two new volunteers arrived, one from Italy and one from Turkey. We did a lot of things together, such as hiking, cooking and playing board games.

The name of my project was: “École des petits chemins” and, as you can imagine it was a school, but a very special one. The school only had 30 kids, 12 of them were on primary school (from 5 to 12 years old) and the others were in kindergarten (3 to 5 years old), this was very cool because in primary school were kids of all ages, so watching them interact with each other was very interesting. The school building was a house which was adapted for a school but it still had a kitchen, dinner room etc. that we could use. Every day was different, for example every Monday we would make bread, Tuesday we used to go for a walk into the forest, we also had a little greenhouse at the school so the kids could learn about how it works. For me a typical day would be: Arrive at 8.30, during the first 15-30 minutes we would do some activities to express our feelings, maybe we would discuss the activities of the day or talk about what we have done during the week-end. Then the kids would work on their exercises until 10:30 when we ate a little snack. Then we had a break until 12:00 when we ate lunch and after we would go back to the class and keep working until 15:30. But for example, every Friday we used to make soup, so from 10:00 to 10:30 two kids and me would go to the kitchen and cook some soup for everyone, so, as I said earlier, everyday was different and I had no time to get bored.

My role at the school was to help the teacher with anything I could, for example when the teacher divided the group in two groups I had to stay with one of them and help them with the activities they had while the teacher was explaining something to the other group. Also when it was Monday I would help two kids to make bread while the teacher was working with the others. It was a really amazing experience.

I chose this project because I studied primary education at college I have always been interested in alternative education, so this was the perfect opportunity to learn first hand about it.

The best thing about my project was that everyone was super familiar, because there was only 30 kids at the school and it was in a very little town, everyone knew each other and I even went to have lunch with one of the kids and her parents and they were very nice with me.

My advice for future volunteers would be to be bold and take advantage of this opportunity, you never know what is going to happen. Look at me, now I have a friend in Turkey who offered me a room if I ever go there.

Efnan, volunteer from 2019-2020

Hello! My name is Efnan. I am 29 years old. I come from Turkey. I have started this Project in September. Our school name is L’école des Petits Chemins. It isn’t a traditional school. The school is situated in a small village called Lessive. And I also live in Lessive.

The goals are to raise the children free and active. I have different responsibility for each of them. I play with the children, I help the children and the teachers, I organize some kind of small activities.

I chose this project because of I want to learn different education methods. I’m interested in child education.

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We, the volunteers, can share something with the children. For example, I play the violin to them sometimes. I teach them little songs in my language. The teachers prepare these type of activities, everyday.

And my volunteering life… Everthing is perfect for me. Here, everybody speaks French so I can learn easily. It is a great chance for me because I want to speak a new language. I haven’t lived a negative situation. Only in Europe, the cleaning and the food are so strange for me. But I get used to it now. My goals are to learn different methods of education, to be able to speak French, to be active, to develop my personal abilities. And now, I started doing all of them.

If you want to be volunteer, you must choose the best project for youself. Because most of your times, you spend it at work. You should be motivated for your project. I hadn’t known even one word in French before the October. But it isn’t a problem, I have already started to learn with children. If you want to choose this kind of project, you need to like children, nature, rural life… And I can say that certainly: you must be calm everytime.

How to apply ?

No Deadline : First come, first served !

BEWARE: given the very short time before the project is starting, we will work on the “first come first served” basis and will select the volunteer without waiting for the deadline to pass.

1. To join the European Solidarity Corps programme, create a profile on the European Youth Portal (click on “register” at the bottom)

2. Answer the questionnaire below (you will be asked to attach a CV at the end of the form)

3. If you’re feeling creative, feel free to send us any additional material related to your application to esc@compagnonsbatisseurs.be (optional)

The creation of a profile on the ESC portal AND fulfilling the form are compulsory for us to take your application into consideration.

In the days following your application, we will contact the pre-selected volunteers for a zoom interview.

ESC Ecole des Ptits Chemins / Apply form and motivation letter

Step 1 of 4 - Personal Data

Personnal data
By filling the information below, you provide us with personal information. You are aware of the fact and agree that the pieces of information will be used in the frame of the call for candidates for this European SOlidarity Corps volunteering project. Your personal data will be used by the persons in charge of the selection of volunteers in the sending and coordinating/hosting organizations. Each part mentioned takes the responsibility of erasing the documents containing your personal data once the selection procedure is over.
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If you already have it: it’s a super long number you receive when you get registered into the PASS
Birthdate*
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Current address*
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Languages spoken*
Please specify which level you have whenever possible.
Availability period for the project*
Preference will be given to the volunteers able to join the project for the all period.
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If yes, what was it ? How long ?*
Sending organization (Name, Accreditation or PIC number, post address, phone number, contact person’s name and email address)*
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