Sint-Lambertusinstituut, a school in Heist-op-den-Berg would like to apply for a subsidy to realise a student traineeship for the academic years 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 for pupils Mechanical processes and Construction welding.As a technical and vocational school with future perspectives we constantly want to move on. The school is always accessible to new suggestions and innovation and we want to offer our students opportunities and have them participate in new projects. In other words we focus on the improvement of the quality of the education we offer. In that context the school commits itself to the European STEM-project.Just as the Minister of Education Hilde Crevits emphasizes, we want to give our pupils a means of realising their dreams in an innovative school building of the 21st century.In that way they get in touch with the innovating aspects of their future profession. The foreign traineeship we have in mind perfectly fits in with our vision of the future. Because it is important for pupils to attend lessons in the correct surroundings, we are now realising 2 STEM-classrooms. While doing so we want to take into account the needs of both teachers and pupils. We really want them to get involved. Therefore we have tried to find companies with expertise to support and help us: the designing and realisation of furniture (tables and picnic tables on the green roof top coverage, the making of a balustrade around the roof top and a mini router table which will be used in the STEM-classroom).Because of durability the tables and the balustrade will be made out of metal and therefore we have contacted 2 companies in Heist notorious for their know how. VSE is the place to be for the latest weldingtechnologies. Our pupils of the specialisation Mechanical Processes are welcome to learn more about the most advanced techniques and practises. For the realisation of the project we have encountered a partnership in with Baltimore Aircoil. The pupils of Mechanical Processes as well as those of Construction Welding will be allowed to take part in their production line. All those pupils will learn from one another and participate in this unique STEM-project.Thanks to the cooperation of the art academy of Heist-op-den-Berg (they designed for us and gave us advise concerning the use of colours) we extend this STEM-project to a STEAM-project. We add the aspect ‘art’ to strengthen the creativity of our students and their well-being in our school.The fact that the pupils are able to attend an apprenticeship abroad is a huge advantage for them. They will be introduced to a different corporate culture. They will get to know techniques which aren’t used in the Belgian branches.This apprenticeship will broaden their view of life and it will be an asset for their future professional career. Living and working in The Netherlands or Italy for a few weeks will widen their perspective on Europe and the world.Furthermore they will be involved with all the preparations: they will make contact with their housing, they will introduce themselves to the company and they will show their ability to live independently. They will get the chance to practise their foreign languages. The acquired experience will stimulate their social and communicative skills.We are sure that this project fulfils all the requirements of a contemporary STEM-project. For our school this means cooperation of teachers, pupils and our professional, external STEM-partners such as private companies from several sectors.