For Schools, Europe Direct Leeds a collection of European Union material covering everything European in an information service, with free materials to take away
events and promotional activities to help spread the word and raise public awareness of the EU and its institutions.
Bulk Ordering Service
One copy of the free publications can be ordered or downloaded (by yourself) via the website. In addition, publications can be ordered in bulk if they are available and in print through Europe Direct Leeds for schools and libraries.
The titles can be used to support various topics e.g. citizenship, geography, climate change, culture, promotion of language learning etc and are delivered direct to your organisation. Some titles are aimed at younger children.
For what’s available, check out http://bookshop.europa.eu
For more information about this service, please contact John Armstrong at the Central Library, email europedirect@leeds.gov.uk, phone 0113 247 8282
Information about the Europa Diary 2010/11
The Europa Diary and religions: a mistake, not a policy (extract below)
“The Europe Diary is a teaching tool aimed at secondary school students in Europe. Since 2003, it has been published every year on behalf of the European Commission and distributed free of charge in all EU Member States to an increasing number of secondary schools that request it.
This homework diary offers to students, in a hundred pages of editorial written specifically for this target audience, a wide range of information and explanations on the European Union, how it works, the rights which it guarantees to European citizens and the impact of European policies on public health, the fight against pollution and climate change, promotion of sustainable consumption, etc.
The Europa Diary is also a practical tool and includes calendar pages that cover the entire school year, in which students can note their homework and other activities, their class schedule, exam timetables etc., and which also contain maps, country profiles of the EU’s Member States, etc.
The bottom of each diary page also features a note, citation, statistic or other short piece of information on a wide range of topics which may not be so widely known by European students. Some of these “page strips” refer to cultural, historical or religious events, although such events are not systematically covered.
This approach has led, with no deliberate intention, to the regrettable omission of important religious holidays and observances that are part of the European heritage, and in particular of Christmas and its importance in the Christian religion.
The European Commission whose attention has recently been drawn to this omission, have together with Generation Europe Foundation, expressed their regret. Actions have already been taken to correct this error in the 2010-11 editions and to ensure that this would not happen again.
The European Commission’s statement on this matter can be viewed on; http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/index_en.htm”
The list of omitted holidays can be found at http://www.europadiary.eu/docs/holidays/UK_corrigendum_holidays.pdf