Denmark – Germany – Greece – Italy – Lithuania – Norway – Austria – Poland – Portugal – Romania – Sweden – Spain – United Kingdom
On 22 September 2025, the time had come: in the historic Peace Hall of Osnabrück’s town hall, the Ubbo-Emmius-Gymnasium Leer (UEG) received its recertification as a European School in Lower Saxony. With this, the UEG reaffirms its strong commitment to European values, cross-border learning, and intercultural education.
What does recertification mean?
The title “European School in Lower Saxony” is awarded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Education. It recognizes schools that demonstrate a clearly developed European profile, for example through bilingual teaching, exchange programmes, or projects on democracy education.
With its successful recertification, the UEG underlines that it will continue to actively promote these core elements.
The ceremonial moment in Osnabrück
At the central ceremony in Osnabrück, the theme “Learning without borders, living values, strengthening Europe” was at the forefront.
Our delegation, represented by deputy headmaster Tom Lünnemann and the school’s European coordinator Frank Pauer, accepted the honour together with representatives of many other Europe-oriented schools.
The photos show, among others, Mr. Frank Pauer and Mr. Tom Lünnemann, who represented the UEG at the ceremony. They proudly hold the certificate in their hands; a visible sign of our continuous European orientation.
Why is this so important for the UEG?
A thank you to everyone involved
This success is the result of the joint efforts of the school leadership, teachers, student council, parents, and staff; a true community project. Without the dedication of many people who bring the European idea into our school life every day, this achievement would not have been possible.
Outlook
With the new certificate in hand, the UEG is well-equipped for the coming years as a European School. We look forward to future projects, new partnerships, and further opportunities to bring the European spirit to life; in lessons, on school trips, and in our everyday school life.
Congratulations to all of us, and here’s to new European horizons!
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The UEG’s first international school project funded by the EU’s Comenius programme was hosted by our partners from the small Dodekanean island of Lipsi (Greece). The other partners were from Brønnøysund barne- og ungdomsskol (Brønnøysund, Norway), (Pajuris, Lithuania), and (Copenhagen, Denmark).
The project lasted three years and took place from 2006 to 2009.
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Our project „A sustainable life cycle of clothing“ was shared by seven partner schools from Eskilstuna (Sweden), Birmingham (Great Britain), Suchy Las (Poland), (Austria), Caldas da Rainha (Portugal), Winsen-Roydorf and Leer (Germany). Each school concentrated on one or two of the following aspects of clothes consumption: production, working conditions, fair trade aspects, transport, distribution & marketing, social images, redesign, recycling, and generation of energy. The sustainability of the processes in each sector was the main focus of the project.
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In our third Comenius project, „Euronited Pupils,“ four schools from Kvicksund (Sweden), Suchy Las (Poland), Noto (Sicily), and the UEG are presenting their school life and learning experiences to one another. The aim is to learn about and compare daily school life and the sense of community at schools in other European countries from various perspectives. As a result of this exchange, we have published three Comenius magazines in English, the project’s common language. The first issue focused on „Our lessons and our learning environment“, the second explored „School beyond school,“ and the third, entitled „The Comenius Experience,“ offered a retrospective look at the project at the four schools.
This short-term project showed our pupils how to find new pathways to a sustainable life. Here, we can show you the publications in our local newspapers.
