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Extracurricular activities, sports and artistic workshops, introduction to swimming and Paralympic disciplines… Paris is taking advantage of the upcoming Games to make sport an educational and civic priority.
Putting children and young people at the heart of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games is a priority for Paris. This major event is an opportunity to raise a generation of open-minded Parisians thanks to Olympic values. Sport is more than just another subject on the national curriculum, it can be also be a lever for success.
Extracurricular activities
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Sophie Robichon/Ville de Paris
For the 2022-2023 school year, more than a third of the extracurricular activities were are linked to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
These educational projects have four objectives:
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Learning about citizenship through sporting values, with an emphasis on cooperation, team spirit, commitment and surpassing oneself;
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Inclusion in and through sport, to overcome obstacles linked to gender, disability, beliefs or prejudices;
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Sport as a vehicle for well-being, to raise young people's awareness of health issues, nutrition and relaxation methods, and encourage a more balanced lifestyle.
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Learning about history, sporting values and Olympic disciplines through education.
Back in 2017, Paris created an early-learning scheme for toddlers thanks to motor skills workshops based around Olympism. At the time, more than 30 Parisian crèches took part in this "Games Fortnight for young children". The city has also set up a number of initiatives in Parisian schools, such as the Olympic Games educational "schoolbag" for CM2 classes. Developed in conjunction with the Ligue de l'enseignement, this tool makes it possible to use Olympic and Paralympic history and values as learning aids in classrooms.
Schools committed to the Olympic and Paralympic Games
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Laurent Bourgogne / Ville de Paris
"Generation 2024"
The "Génération 2024" is a certificate for schools involved in promoting the Olympic Games. It is awarded to volunteering schools by the French Minister of Education. The City of Paris and the Académie de Paris are aiming to certify 80% of middle schools by 2024 (currently 50% of middle schools in Paris have obtained the certificate). Obtaining the label enables :
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Partnerships between schools and movements that encourage young people to get involved in sport
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Participation in Olympic and Paralympic promotional events with educational support
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The awarding or validation of projects linked to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Key figures
- 215 schools with the Génération 2024 certificate as of September 1, 2022 (i.e. 20% of all schools in Paris):
125 schools - nursery, elementary and comprehensive, 38 "collèges", 42 "lycées", "cités scolaires" and school groups, 8 ESMS (medico-social establishments and services that support people with disabilities), 1 EREA (établissement régional d'enseignement adapté)
>>All Génération 2024 establishments
125 schools - nursery, elementary and comprehensive, 38 "collèges", 42 "lycées", "cités scolaires" and school groups, 8 ESMS (medico-social establishments and services that support people with disabilities), 1 EREA (établissement régional d'enseignement adapté)
>>All Génération 2024 establishments
Building the citizen's games: mascots help with education
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Paris 2024
To introduce students to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, cardboard panels featuring the two Olympic and Paralympic mascots have been deployed in 654 Paris schools and leisure centers. Didactic booklets for school and extra-curricular teams are also available, helping to explain the historical symbolism of these mascots. In this way, all schools are encouraged to work on citizenship at the heart of the Games.
Promoting civic values: the pupil's Olympic Museum and the Olympic Truce
Two examples illustrate the promotion of civic and Olympic values in schools:
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Pupils' Olympic Museum: created by pupils from the Épinettes and Kellner schools (17th arrondissement), it was inaugurated last June.
The Students' Olympic Museum is located in the 17th arrondissement.
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Sophie Robichon/Ville de Paris
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The Olympic Truce, a symbol of peace and fraternity through sport
At the end of 2023, the United Nations General Assembly will adopt a resolution calling on UN member states to respect the Olympic Truce - a period of temporary cessation of conflict and hostilities from July 19th to September 15th, 2024. The adoption of this resolution, and the symbolism of peace and fraternity through sport that it embodies, are a unique opportunity to promote and engage young people around the principles of the Olympic Truce.
To celebrate the adoption of this resolution, the City of Paris, the Academies of Créteil and Paris and Paris 2024 will be organizing a Model United Nations (MUN) that will simulate the negotiation process and the adoption of the Olympic Truce resolution by the United Nations General Assembly.
Around 160 4th graders from Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis will meet for two days before the summer of 2023 to play the role of diplomats. Their aim will be to agree on a draft resolution on the Olympic Truce, which can be submitted to a senior representative of the Olympic Movement and/or the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.
New horizons with art and sport
Camille Regneault. 4 Parisian secondary schools take part in an artistic project based on the discipline.
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Clément Dorval / Ville de Paris
For the 2022/2023 school year, over 2,700 extracurricular activities are linked to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The links between art and sport being particularly strong.
"L'art pour grandir" and artistic residencies combining art and sport in middle schools
The City of Paris finances artistic residency set ups in Parisian secondary schools. This program is part of the " L'art pour grandir " program, which aims to develop links between schools and cultural institutions. The aim is to give young Parisians to opportunity to familiarize themselves with artistic practices and while enabling them to learn production, creation and sharing processes.
These residencies enable teenagers, especially those with limited access to culture, to discover inspiring artworks and artists. Artistic practice workshops involve artists, students, teachers and families in a variety of disciplines: digital arts, photography, writing, circus, music, theater, dance, cinema, urban cultures, etc. To extend the reach of these artistic residencies beyond schools, they are also presented to a wider public, including families and local residents.
These artistic residencies are part of the Cultural Olympiad, which has been reinforced since the start of the 2022 academic year with thirteen projects combining art and sport, based on Olympic values. To deepen the links between the City of Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis, a new cross-residency will also be developed between the "département" and the Carreau du Temple cultural establishment, with the Cultural Olympiad as the common thread.
Emancipation through the break-dancing
The Paris 2024 Games has elevated breaking or break-dancing to the status of an Olympic discipline. A project has therefore been initiated around this sport with different angles:
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Citizenship through the values of dance (fairness, teamwork, equality, discipline, perseverance and respect): emphasizing cooperation, team spirit, commitment and surpassing oneself.
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Inclusion in and through dance: overcoming obstacles linked to gender, disability, beliefs or prejudices: the project plans to approach break-dancing through the toprock style, which is an accessible component of break dancing and is essentially performed standing up.
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Dance as a vehicle for well-being: raising awareness of health, nutrition and relaxation methods; encouraging a more balanced lifestyle. To this end, specialists will be brought in to these areas to talk to young people.
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Learning about history, sporting values and Olympic disciplines through education. The project includes a dance conference on the history of breaking and its evolution up to the 2024 Games.
This year, the project is happening at four Parisian middle schools with the prospect of extending it in 2023/2024 to at least another fourteen middle schools.
Inclusion and equality through sport
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Joséphine Brueder / Ville de Paris
15,000 students at the School Sports Games
The "Jeux Sportifs et Scolaires" (School Sports Games) is a sporting and cultural event that forms part of the Olympic and Paralympic Week. The aim is to organize a sporting event bringing together primary and secondary school pupils from Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis, encouraging the participation of young people from all over the world.
This year, the School Sports Games were organized to coincide with Olympic and Paralympic Week from April 3rd to 7th, 2023.
On the theme of inclusion, 550 classes for 15,000 fourth and fifth grade pupils in 27 sports facilities took advantage of this opportunity:
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Educational resources with a Games "schoolbag" for each student
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A sports course with one individual sport, one team sport and one para-sport activity
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A cultural journey under the banner of the Cultural Olympiad around Olympic values
A ceremony gave the children a similar experience to the Games: they were able to parade and then light the School Sports Games flame. At the end of the ceremony, they were presented with their medals on the podium.
Combatting school dropout
Fencing at Collège Colette Besson (20th arrondissement)
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Clément Dorval/Ville de Paris
The " Education through Sport " project aims to combat school dropout through sport by relying on sports clubs and associations. Alongside families and schools, sports clubs are places where students learn civic values, commitment and respect for others. In some cases, they also offer support and mediation for schoolchildren.
Each year, a group of sports clubs and schools is selected to work on projects to :
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developing new programs for education through sport, helping to reduce inequalities at school and prevent school dropouts;
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bringing schools and sporting movements closer together.
Last year, these projects enabled 519 children from 23 schools to participate in a sports program designed to promote educational success. For the 2022/2023 school year, 28 new projects will be implemented across almost 50 schools.
Swimming, walking and Olympic vacations!
Learn to swim : swimming open to all children
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Mairie de Paris - Gérard Sanz
The City of Paris, Paris 2024 and the French Swimming Federation are driving a new project to reduce inequalities when it comes to swimming, enabling all Parisian children to take to the water by the end of fifth grade.
The "Savoir nager" (learn to swim) scheme, co-financed by the Paris 2024 Endowment Fund, aims to encourage children, teenagers and adults to learn to swim, preventing bathing hazards and averting the risk of drowning, by opening new slots during school vacations.
In the summer of 2022, eight swimming clubs enabled 500 beneficiaries, including 448 children, to benefit from the supervision of sports educators in learning to swim. In 2023, the scheme will be extended to all school vacations so that it can benefit over 1,200 children.
Walking is a fun way to stop physical inactivity among young people
Students from the Paul Valéry middle and high schools (12e) hiked the GR75 as part of Olympic and Paralympic Week 2021.
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Laurent Bourgogne / Ville de Paris
Walking to raise awareness about disability
On April 5th, 2023, a number of walks were organized in the 8th and 14th arrondissements with children as part of the School Sports Games. The aim of these walks was to raise awareness among youngsters on the difficulties that disabled people face in the city.
Since September 2021, the City of Paris has been participating alongside the Paris Hiking Committee in "Marchons à Paris", to combat physical inactivity. The aim is to encourage children and young people to get moving with hikes every Wednesday afternoon at elementary leisure centers, and with three half-day walking routes for middle school students. A goody bag is given to registered groups, containing a bag, pedometer, compass and topoguide for walking in Paris.
Over the 2022-2023 period, the project has already involved 48 young people from middle schools and over 430 children from six arrondissements.
School trips focusing on sport and Olympic and Paralympic Games
During the summer of 2022, the City of Paris organized its first Olympic stay: some 50 schoolchildren were able to leave Paris for a stay on the Ile d'Yeu, giving them an opportunity to learn about cycling and the values of Olympism (performance, sharing, etc.).
The Olympic Village welcomed more than 3,500 children over the two summer months at Parc du Tremblay. The French taekwondo team also offered numerous workshops for the youngsters in attendance.
Numerous schemes enable children to discover and practice a variety of sporting activities during vacation. For example, "Paris Sport Vacances" offers sports camps for children aged 7 to 17 during the school vacations; in 2022, over 600 children benefited from this scheme.
"Bougez malin" in the spirit of the Games
Preventing children from being overweight and encouraging them to take up sport is the aim of the "Bougez malin " sports challenge organized each year by Paris.
2,000 children from leisure centers will take part in 40 sporting activities at the Georges Carpentier Sports Center (13th arrondissement) to raise awareness of the problems associated with obesity, overweight and sedentary lifestyles. The 2024 edition will be hosted in the official Games' colors.
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