A Relais teacher to consolidate the educational project of the geoparc La Hague

As part of the UNESCO Global Geopark project, Manuela Mahier, Mayor of La Hague, and Nathalie Dubost, Deputy Mayor in charge of Culture, welcomed Agnès Lelièvre, Academic Delegate for Artistic Education and Cultural Action of the Normandy Academy, on Wednesday, June 18, at Le Tourp, Maison de La Hague, to take stock of the 2024-2025 school year with the teaching team dedicated to the project.

The municipality of La Hague is leading a UNESCO Global Geopark project aimed at showcasing the natural, cultural, and intangible heritage of the region in order to promote education, science, and culture, while raising awareness of sustainable development issues. The municipality's two main heritage sites, Le Tourp and the Jean-François Millet Birthplace, are fully involved in this initiative.

The heritage department's activities team, comprised of ten staff members, works throughout the year to implement cultural and educational programs in these two facilities. These programs help to convey the keys to understanding local heritage, raise awareness of its preservation, and address the challenges of sustainable development.

The Tourp is the central facility of the project. In 2023, the heritage department published its first educational catalog, designed for different school levels using a multidisciplinary approach. The Jean-François Millet Birthplace, jointly managed by the Manche Department and the municipality of La Hague, pursues the same objective.

A liaison teacher made available to cultural facilities

To promote this offer to teachers and support them in their appropriation of resources within the framework of their educational projects, Basile Salmon, liaison teacher within the Academic Directorate for Artistic Education and Cultural Action, was made available to the two cultural facilities in October 2024.

As a professor of Life and Earth Sciences, he carries out this mission alongside his teaching activities, a few hours a week, within the heritage department of the cultural directorate of La Hague.

Working together, these education and mediation professionals updated and expanded the Tourp school program catalog, adapting it to all levels—from preschool to high school—to highlight the diversity of formats offered and the skills involved. They also supported numerous teachers in making use of this program.

A time for discussion to review the 2024-2025 school year

A discussion was held on Wednesday, June 18th, with elected officials, representatives from the La Hague heritage department, Mr. Salmon, and Ms. Lelièvre from the Normandy academy in attendance. The objective was to review this first year of partnership and consider future prospects.

During the 2024-2025 school year, 2,184 students were welcomed to the Tourp (48% from primary school, 26% from preschool, 20% from middle school, 5% from high school, and 1% from higher education), nearly 1,000 more students than the previous year. The site is now also attracting high school students: three high schools visited this year, compared to only one last year when the first educational catalog was launched. Programs focusing on environmental issues are proving very popular.

The objectives for the coming years aim to strengthen this momentum:

• Design new field trips (and associated educational tools) in the delegated municipalities of Biville and Vauville around cross-cutting themes: resources, biodiversity, natural risks…
• Rethinking the offering of the Jean-François Millet Birthplace in a multidisciplinary approach centered on the landscape (art history, geography, history, etc.).
• To propose a logical route between the different cultural facilities in the area.