There is a clear path to becoming an accredited European Parliament Ambassador School (EPAS). Follow the simple steps below and ask if you need any help.
On this Page
Roles
Senior Ambassadors
The lead member of staff in an EPAS school or college; their primary role is to recruit Junior Ambassadors.
Junior Ambassadors
Learners who will carry out most of the activities to enable your school/college to become EPAS accredited.
In total your team of Junior Ambassadors may be 4-20 people (some schools even have more).
We suggest that some of your Junior Ambassadors become a Communication Team (2-4 members). Their role is to write up, take photos and make videos of all of your EPAS activities and upload them to your website and social media channels. In so doing, they will spur on the activities of the rest of the Junior Ambassadors.
Other Junior Ambassadors should be in small Action Teams (of 2-4 people), with each Action Team running one or two activities. In this way, you can have lots of people involved, without any of them burning out.
criteria
There are several things you need to do to complete your accreditation, but we are eager to support you in this process. If there are any you do not understand, or think won’t work in your school/college, please contact us and we will work something out.
| EXPLANATION | EVIDENCE | |
| 1. APPOINT SENIOR AND JUNIOR AMBASSADORS | Senior Ambassadors are any staff working on the project. Junior Ambassadors are the young people running the events. Activity guide >> |
Letter of Intent. List of Junior Ambassadors. |
| 2. INFO POINT | Set up a physical or online place where your college/school community can find out more about Europe, the European Parliament, and/or the work of your Ambassador Schools team. Activity guide >> |
Photos of or links to your Info Point. Examples >> |
| 3. EUROPE DAY | Organise an activity on the occasion of Europe Day on or around the 9th of May to raise awareness of its core message of peace. Activity guide >> |
Photos and a short write-up of your Europe Day events(s). Your social media posts about it. Examples >> |
| 4. BOOK AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME OFFERED BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT | Participate in an online youth seminar provided by the visitors’ team in Brussels, engage with the tools of the Digital Journey to the European Parliament, or book an in-person educational session at school or Europe House. | Photos and a short write-up of your educational session(s). Your social media posts about it. Examples >> |
| 5. SHARE EUROPEAN CULTURE | Junior Ambassadors run an event or activity that celebrates an aspect of European culture. Film screening activity guide >> |
Photos and a short write-up of your cultural activity. Your social media posts about it. Examples >> |
| 6. PROMOTE DEMOCRATIC ENGAGEMENT | Junior Ambassadors run an event or activity that encourages democratic engagement. Debate activity guide >> |
Photos and a short write-up of your event promoting democracy. Your social media posts about it. Examples >> |
| 7. IF SELECTED FOR A STUDY TRIP | If you participate in a trip as part of the Ambassador Schools programme (Euroscola, Transnational EPAS, seminars) we ask you to briefly share your experience. | Photos of the event and a short write-up of your key takeaways.Your social media posts about it. Examples >> |
Timeline
EPAS accreditation should be completed within one academic year. We bring one cohort through per year, so we can support you and you can get support from other schools and colleges going through the same process.
This is a suggested timeline, you may choose to do more, or fewer activities, and at different times of the year, you can still get accreditation.
| Step | Example activity | Carried out by |
|---|---|---|
| October | ||
| Introductory seminar | Senior Ambassador(s) attend an introductory seminar, run by Involver and the EPLO. | Staff member (who becomes a Senior Ambassador) |
| Autumn Term (November/ December) | ||
| Recruit Junior Ambassadors | Use Sessions 1, 2, 3 or 4 from theLearning Resourcesin Citizenship, History, Social Studies or Politics lessons; offer the opportunity to those who seem interested to become Junior Ambassadors. Run yourfirst Junior Ambassador meeting. | Senior Ambassador, other interested teachers |
| Set up and maintain EPAS social media channels | Set up a dedicated EPAS social media channel; share information of your school/college’s EPAS activities. | Junior Ambassadors (with support from school/college IT team) |
| Organise an event or activity | A European Christmas Fair, sharing Christmas traditions and greetings from across the EU. | Junior Ambassadors |
| Spring Term | ||
| Use learning resources to organise an event or activity | Run a debate on the EU using Session 5 from theLearning Resources.Debate activity guide >>
Run a European Parliament role play game using theDigital Resources. |
Junior Ambassadors |
| Establish an EP/EU Info Point | Create a section on the school/college website and/or social media linking to EP/EU information and materials. Set up a physical display where EP/EU materials are shared.Activity guide >> |
Junior Ambassadors |
| Organise events and activities | Host a LUX Prize cinema screening.Film screening activity guide >> | Junior Ambassadors |
| Summer Term | ||
| Organise an event for Europe Day (9th May) | Online meeting with students from other school(s) around Europe. Organise for an MEP (or former MEP) to give a talk.Activity guide >> |
Junior Ambassadors |
| Feedback on the scheme | A cross-section of the school community fills out an online survey to see what they have learnt from being part of an EP Ambassador School | Involver |
| Awards | Schools that have uploaded links to evidence of all of their activities will be accredited as a European Ambassador School and will receive a plaque and logo to use. | Involver and the European Parliament Liaison Office (EPLO) in the UK |
Assessment
Assessment is primarily carried out through this website. All you need to do is:
- Take a couple of photos of your event or activity.
- Log on to this website and upload them along with a short description of what you did, and an estimate of the number of people involved.
- If you’ve posted about your activities on social media (you should) you can add links when you submit your evidence.
- We’ll check it and approve it as part of your evidence. (With your permission, we’ll repost it here and on our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook).
Each school or college going for EPAS accreditation has a private dashboard on this website showing exacty where they are in the process: what they’ve done and what they still need to provide evidence for.