This European Solidarity Corps (ESC) volunteering placement with Léo Lagrange Animation puts one volunteer at the heart of an inclusion project supporting children aged 3 to 11 in the after-school services of Nantes' public schools, France, from 2 November 2026 to 2 July 2027. The volunteer sets up activities for children with disabilities and runs adaptive sports, in a mission focused on health, well being and physical education. The application deadline is 2 September 2026.
About Léo Lagrange Animation
The city of Nantes has entrusted the management of after-school services in its public schools to the association Léo Lagrange Animation (LLA). LLA's educational project aims to promote the development of all children and their educational success. After-school care is a place for sharing common values and a space and time for children to flourish, contributing to the enrichment of social bonds, the fight against inequalities and the exercise of parenthood.
The scale of the mission is significant: across the 2025-2026 year, LLA runs 115 after-school sites for 19,950 children aged 3 to 13, with 8 sector coordinators, 74 site directors, 865 activity leaders and 4 project officers working on inclusion, pedagogy and quality, family mediation and the scheduling of partner activities.
🌍 New to the European Solidarity Corps? Start here for the full picture of how it works: What is the European Solidarity Corps (ESC)? → https://youthworkshub.org/esc
Your Role as a Volunteer
LLA, the Nantes after-school mission, is looking for one ESC volunteer from EU countries who is motivated to support an inclusion project with children aged 3 to 11. Based at an after-school site, the volunteer sets up activities for children with disabilities and implements adaptive sports activities. The work sits within the themes of health and well being and physical education and sport, giving the volunteer a hands on role in making everyday after-school life more inclusive.
A Volunteer's Story: Teja
To picture the mission, it helps to meet a previous volunteer. This year, four European volunteers, Teja, Emma, Valentina and Marina, joined the Nantes after-school mission for the school year, arriving in November and taking active part in varied projects across several sites. Teja, 18, comes from Germany and is engaged in inclusion and work with children with disabilities, supported by Trysha, the inclusion project officer, across the after-school centres of Les Châtaigniers, then Camille Claudel and George Sand.
Teja has volunteered with children with special needs since she was 13, a commitment rooted in her own family and reinforced by helping run musical activities for children with special needs at a music school. Drawn to travel while working with children, she discovered the European Solidarity Corps online and found the Léo Lagrange mission a perfect match: childhood, inclusion, and all in France.
On arrival, she began by observing the animation team to get familiar with the French school system, working two weeks with nursery-age children and two with primary-age children, and organised a creative activity around the theme of difference. She has several projects in mind: creating sensory spaces, calming and stimulating environments for children who need moments of calm; disability awareness workshops, such as a blindfolded activity to raise awareness of blindness or activities in sign language; and helping children recognise and manage their emotions, including handling anger. With plenty of pedagogical resources from Trysha, she prepares her workshops actively, and after her volunteering she hopes to study psychology at university and keep leading inclusion projects.
💛 Love working with younger children in an inclusive setting? Here's a French placement in the same spirit: ESC Volunteering in 🇫🇷 France: Discovering Europe through Play with Children → https://youthworkshub.org/21583
Accommodation, Meals and Transport
🏠 Accommodation: the volunteer is housed in a shared accommodation with 5 other European volunteers (boys or girls) and has their own room.
🚌 Transport: the volunteer receives a monthly bus pass to travel from the accommodation to the Nantes mission headquarters or to the after-school sites.
🍽️ Food: the volunteer has lunch in the school restaurant on the days of their intervention during the school year and receives a monthly allowance for other meals.
Training and Support
The volunteer takes part in on-arrival and mid-term seminars organised by the French National Agency. They can join French group classes (subject to availability at certain periods), as well as other training related to inclusion depending on their level of French. Learning French is an important part of the experience, as it allows for better interactions with the children.
💰 Wondering exactly what an ESC placement covers? This guide breaks it down clearly: Is ESC Volunteering Fully Funded? What Is Covered → https://youthworkshub.org/is-esc-fully-funded
Who Can Apply
The placement is open to young people aged 18 to 30 who are residents of the eligible ESC countries. LLA expects the volunteer to be motivated, willing to discover and learn, open minded and ready to try new things, with a sincere interest in the activities and in learning French for better interactions with the children.
The eligible countries for this placement are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain.
💛 Also drawn to inclusion and disability support? Take a look at this ESC Volunteering in 🇮🇹 Italy: Supporting People with Disabilities at Casa Colombo → https://youthworkshub.org/22092
Interviews and Timeline
The volunteering runs from 2 November 2026 to 2 July 2027, based at 19 bd Gaston Doumergue in Nantes. The first interviews are scheduled to take place between 7 and 17 September, so applying before the deadline gives you the best chance of being included in that round.
Deadline
⏳ 02 September 2026
Links
🔗 Official project page: https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity/opportunity/54008_en
🌐 Léo Lagrange Animation (Nantes after-school mission): https://www.leolagrange-periscolaire-nantes.fr/
📌 Project code: 2026-1-FR02-ESC51-VTJ-000401635
⚠️ Important Notice
Youth Works Hub is not the organiser, partner, or representative of the listed projects. This listing is shared for information only, based on details from the source. Deadlines, eligible countries, dates, and other details may change or be withdrawn at any time, and all funding, reimbursements, and allowances are set by the project coordinator or National Agency. Applications go directly to the coordinator or hosting organisation through the official link. Listings may include third-party links (ESC Portal, infopacks, forms) that Youth Works Hub does not control. Always verify the details on the official project page before applying.
