William Hulme's Grammar School

Report on the Portfolio which we recently submitted for the

International Schools Award 2009-12.

John Hofton, International Director

P.S.

This is a long report, which is abridged on pages 1 – 4

For those of you who have time to read the whole report, please
read on …!

Background:

We have twice been awarded the International Schools Award: 2006-9, 2009-12
(both portfolios contained some twenty main international activities with pupil
evaluation and teacher evaluation.) Our global outlook has expanded: we have
had school links with El Salvador, France, Germany, Switzerland, and more
recently with India and Brazil. Some of these links have been in the form of pupil
exchanges, teacher exchanges and also email links, and pupils’ work uploaded
to our VLE. This has raised the profile of internationalism within the school. The
results of last year’s audit and action plan prove conclusively that
internationalism is fully embedded within the curriculum of all subjects: even
Maths had its own international project last year, as this comment by one of the
Maths teachers shows: ‘Pupils were very excited and enthusiastic when choosing
a country to investigate and I was impressed by the variety of countries they
came up with. The pupils were certainly happy to think of mathematics in a global
context.’
The following are examples of some of the work done in our school which
reflects the fact that the entire staff have been involved in our international work
(comments are from the teachers involved):

English: ‘the activity has allowed a wider appreciation of our students’ cultural
backgrounds’

Bilingual poster and Famous scientist project: Biology: This work was
displayed around school to show how the specialisms of MFL and Science are
working together. ‘Pupils enjoyed the novelty of using their foreign languages in
a science lesson. All the staff involved in this project commented on the
enthusiasm of the pupils and the quality of their work.’

Teach a Friend a Language project: -Arabic, Mandarin, Urdu, Dari, Pashto,

Gujarati, Finnish, Dutch, British Sign Language, Russian- pupils of minority
language backgrounds met and shared their language and culture with others.
Has promoted the importance of being a global citizen..

Maths international project: they investigated: India, Jamaica, Canada, Brazil,

Japan etc. Pupils compared relative cost of buying a games console in various
countries.

R.S.: Buddhism project: ‘A number of pupils also presented their projects in

religious assembly, therefore disseminating their newly acquired knowledge to
others.’

Spanish project on Spanish speaking countries done by year 7 pupils

working towards a PLTS inititiative.

French project on world citizenship.

All year 7 pupils were involved in a project to promote their awareness of

Chinese culture during Chinese New Year.

FLAGS – Manchester University 6 students studied Linguistics on-line. Cross-

curricular link with English.

‘Ecritures en partage’: A sixth form pupil at our school had a bi-lingual article
published by an association based in Brest which organizes the ‘Fête des
langues du Monde’

Main school assembly on Barack Obama’s inauguration speech: the

assembly focused on how his messages were both international and applicable
to our school. Year 9 assembly on Gambia.
Work which has been specifically centred on our international link schools:

Our year 9 pupils were involved in exchanging correspondence via Email with
two German speaking schools. One of our German teachers has personal
contact with the German school as her mother teaches there; she was delighted
because ‘the pupils were able to use their language skills and it also gave them
an insight into the lives of children in other countries and it allowed us to
establish a working relationship with another school in Germany.’ We have been
in partnership with TocH school, Cochin, Kerala, India for two years. Our pupils
have exchanged emails, answered questionnaires, done surveys, including one
on the China / Tibet issue during the Chinese olympic games, using the
Promethean hand-held devices (Active Expression.) The two schools have also
exchanged short video clips on their relevant schools. They have also been
involced in a science project on the environment; comparison of the culture and
religions practised by the pupils of both schools. We also did a joint project on
citizenship: during one of their PSHE lessons a group of our year 7 pupils
prepared posters on the theme: ‘What does it mean to me to be a British Citizen’;
they interviewed one another and recorded their interviews on this theme on Mp3
files. The two schools have also exchanged data and information on the theme of
global warming and environmental issues, renewable sources of energy. For
example, our ‘Eco-Warriors’ sent examples of the work they had done during the
year in school to promote Eco principles into the heart of school life and for which
they had won a bronze award. One of our pupils filmed her family at her local
Sikh temple which was sent to TocH school; their pupils reciprocated by sending
us pictures of one of their local gurudwaras.

International Partner Schools:

Siemens Gymnasium, Germany and with the Oberstufenschule, Wadenswil,

Switzerland.

Mrs Hilary Sackfield, Head of MFL Specialism

60 of our year 9 pupils were involved in exchanging correspondence via Email

and by normal Post with these two German speaking schools. Our pupils
prepared initial poster style letters, detailing personal characteristics and details
about their family members, which they sent via email. They were thrilled to
receive their personal replies and contacted their partners immediately. Year 9
were very proud of their new friends and soon spread word through the school.
This has encouraged others to get involved in pen-friend links. One pupil said: ‘I
liked meeting a new friend from another country and staying in touch with
another culture. I have learned about another culture and way of life in Germany.
One of our German teachers, Mrs Franziska Preston, has personal contact
with the German school as her mother teaches there; she was delighted
because ‘the pupils were able to use their language skills and it also gave them
an insight into the lives of children in other countries and it allowed us to
establish a working relationship with another school in Germany.’

TocH Public School, Vyttila, Kochi, Kerala, India

Mr John Hofton, International Director

We have been in partnership with TocH school, Cochin, Kerala, India for two
years. It is a large school whose pupils are aged from 3 to 18. Our pupils have
exchanged emails, answered questionnaires, done surveys, including one on the
China / Tibet issue during the Chinese olympic games, using the Promethean
hand-held devices (Active Expression.) The two schools have also exchanged
short video clips on their relevant schools. We have involved our pupils at both
schools in the following projects: a science project on the environment;
comparison of the culture and religions practised by the pupils of both schools.
We also did a joint project on citizenship: during one of their PSHE lessons a
group of our year 7 pupils prepared posters on the theme: ‘What does it mean to
me to be a British Citizen’; they interviewed one another and recorded their
interviews on this theme on Mp3 files. Copies of this work was sent to TocH
school who reciprocated by sending us examples of their work on a similar
theme: ‘What does it mean to be an Indian Citizen’. (They also sent us photos of
the children who had produced the work.) The two schools have also exchanged
data and information on the theme of global warming and environmental issues,
such as pollution management and renewable sources of energy. For example,
our ‘Eco-Warriors’ (organized by Dr. Aurora Gutierrez-Sosa) sent examples of
the work they had done during the year in school to promote Eco principles into
the heart of school life and for which they had won a bronze award. One of our
pupils filmed her family at her local Sikh temple which was sent to TocH school;
their pupils reciprocated by sending us pictures of one of their local gurudwaras
and of some of their local Sikhs. They told us all about the status of the Sikh
religion in Kerala, as a minority religion. One of the facts about TocH school that
our pupils were surprised to learn was that the school has mainly Christian
children and that their lessons are conducted in English. The pupils discovered
that they had certain things in common: for example, both schools are for pupils
aged between 3 and 18 and both have a House system. Thanks to a DFID
teacher exchange bursary one of their teachers will visit us in September and
one of our teachers will be going out to visit them in October, 2009, in order to
make long term plans for joint co-operation between the pupils of both schools.
International Activities, included in our Portfolio of Evidence:

Spanish project using ICT

Subjects: Information and Communications Technology, Modern Languages

Languages: English, Spanish

Miss Tahira Ali, ICT Department Co-ordinator

Internet Research on a Spanish topic: Year 7 pupils received a letter from a

Spanish family asking them for information about their proposed trip to London.
The pupils' task was to do their research using the internet and to write up their
findings using ICT. 30 of our year 8 pupils took part in this project. They were
able to identify key aspects about Spain as well as choosing different tourist
attractions in the UK which would be suitable for a Spanish family to visit. Pupils
worked independently, using the internet (safely and appropriately) to complete
this project.

Different Cultures

Dates: 13/10/2008 - 23/10/2008

Subjects: English

Languages: English

Ages of pupils: 15-16: 80

Mr Jonathan Wise, Head of English

Pupils studied a unit of work for GCSE entitled ‘Different Cultures’. The purpose
of this unit of poetry is to give an insight to the fact that English Literature is not
all by white, middle class male writers. The unit gives an indication that writers
from different cultures that include Indian, Pakistan, South African and Jamaican
all have something from which our students can learn. This was examined in the
final GCSE exam. Pupils analysed the poetic method and the thematic concerns
about living in a different culture. The whole cohort of our year 11 pupils were
involved. Mr Jonathan Wise, Head of English, said: ‘This activity has allowed me
to appreciate the need to offer a wider experience of world literature, something
we are aiming to do further down the school. The school’s population is very
multi-cultural and the activity has allowed a wider appreciation of our students’
cultural backgrounds generally.’

French art project

Dates: 10/09/2008 - 20/09/2008

Subjects: Art and Design

Languages: English, French

Ages of pupils: 11-12: 120

Mr Graham Bennett, Head of Art

Year 7 pupils researched examples of still life, looking specifically at the work of
the French artist, Cezanne. They also compared them to some Dutch examples.

Science International project

Dates: 10/11/2008 - 30/11/2008

Subjects: Biology / Science

Languages: English, French, German, Spanish

Ages of pupils: 11-14: 90

Mrs Uzma Asim, Science teacher

The pupils designed a poster or leaflet, with an NHS style template, outlining the
main sports injuries discussed one of their previous lessons. Part of the leaflet
was translated into a foreign language. Pupils used the language spoken in their
homes other than English, e.g. Russian, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi etc.
This work was displayed around school to show how the specialisms of MFL and
Science are working together. This work was enhanced in lessons by introducing
the 'science keywords' for the relevant topic with the words translated in the
languages being learnt in school. 28 of our year 9 pupils were involved in this
activity. One pupil commented: ‘I enjoyed writing in a foreign language about
Biology. I also learned Biology along with a foreign language.’ Mrs Uzma Asim
said: ‘Pupils were well involved in the activity and enjoyed the novelty of using
their foreign languages in a science lesson. I worked with one of our trainee
teachers on this activity which helped them achieving certain standards.’

Famous scientist project

Dates: 15/04/2009 - 25/04/2009

Subjects: Modern Languages, Science

Languages: English, Spanish

Ages of pupils: 11-12: 120

Mrs Uzma Asim, Science teacher

This was an independent task that our year 7 pupils completed over the Easter
break: to do a report on a foreign scientist. They needed to do a section in the
report about the country of origin of the scientist, which they translated into the
language of that country. This project involved the whole cohort of our year 7
pupils. Mrs Uzma Asim said: ‘Pupils enjoyed putting the report together, as it
gave them a longer, focused homework assignment to complete. It was open-
ended and differentiated by nature. As it was an out of school project, parents
commented on how enthusiastic pupils were about it. All the staff involved in this
project commented on the enthusiasm of the pupils and the quality of their work.
This will be incorporated across the year, again, next year as it helps with the
‘How Science Works’ elements of the Scheme and also due to positive response
of the pupils / teachers / parents to the project. This was another excellent cross-
curricular activity which brought our school’s two specialisms together.’ Examples
of the scientists chosen by the pupils were: Louis Pasteur, Albert Einstein,
Gustav Ludwig Hertz, Sir Isaac Newton,

BBC School Report project (G & T)

Dates: 21/04/2009 - 18/06/2009

Subjects: English, Modern Languages

Languages: English, French, German, Spanish

Ages of pupils: 11-14:

Miss Rachel Pegum, Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator

BBC School Report: a small group of our gifted and talented pupils in years 7 -9
took part in this project. They spoke to camera about various issues that they had
previously researched in English, French, German or Spanish. (Some also
made use of their knowledge of a community language.) The results of their
efforts were then streamed live on the CLC website and their reports were
included in part of ‘North West Tonight’s’ news items of that day. 15 of our pupils
from year 7 to year 10 were involved.

TAFAL project

Dates: 16/09/2008 - 20/05/2009

Subjects: Modern Languages

Languages: Arabic, Chinese - Cantonese, Dutch, Gujarati, Japanese, Russian,

Urdu

Ages of pupils: 11-16

Mrs Hilary Sackfield, Head of MFL Specialism

Teach a Friend a Language project: pupils who speak a second language at

home taught their peers in small groups at dinner time. Students whose mother
tongue is not English shared information about their mother tongue and about the
culture of that country: the following languages were covered this year: Arabic,
Mandarin, Cantonese, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Gujarati, Finnish, Dutch, British Sign
Language, Russian. Some 50 pupils from years 7 to 13 were involved. This is
what Mrs Hilary Sackfield had to say about this year’s TAFAL project: ‘This
activity is extremely popular with all year groups and the students are very
enthusiastic. This Sixth form has taken charge of most of the language teaching
and it has become a truly student-led project. I have never run such a successful
club. The teaching styles of the pupils is varied but all extremely good and it
helps me to see which language learning styles best suit children of differing
ages. It gives pupils of minority language backgrounds the chance to meet and
share their language and culture with others. It has helped promote the
importance of being a global citizen within our school. The most effective part of
this activity is seeing the success of pupils learning from their peers and older
pupils. Their use of the Interactive White Board is wonderful and they have
produced some fabulous resources during the year.’

One pupils said: ‘I most enjoyed using the interactive white board to make the
learning more interesting; I also enjoyed using the internet and other resources to
help the pupils understand what I was teaching them. I also enjoyed learning the
languages taught by the other pupils: e.g. I learned how to greet people in
different languages, how to count from 1 – 10 and how to introduce myself etc. ‘

We also offered two classes of Arabic and Urdu after school which allowed us to
cater for a wide range of ability: from beginner level through to GCSE and A-
level.

Mandarin and Spanish were also offered in after school classes, which were
attended by pupils and also by some of their parents.

Maths - International aspects

Dates: 25/03/2009 - 26/04/2009

Subjects: Mathematics

Languages: English

Ages of pupils: 12-13

Mr Duncan Whittaker, Trainee teacher

‘I wanted pupils to get an idea of relatively easy it is for families in the UK to buy
a Games console. Using ICT , our pupils found out the price of an Xbox, PS3 and
Nintendo Wii in a foreign country. They also found out the exchange rate in that
country and the average monthly wage. Using percentages and ratios, they were
able to get an idea of just how lucky they are, here in the UK! Pupils were very
excited and enthusiastic when choosing a country to investigate and I was
impressed by the variety of countries they came up with. Pupils were surprised to
see that even though the wages were very low, the cost of a console was still
relatively high in proportion to the wage. The pupils were certainly happy to think
of mathematics in a global context. The countries they chose to investigate were:
India, Jamaica, Canada, Brazil, Japan, USA, Australia, South Korea, Mexico and
Spain.’

One pupil commented: ‘ I was surprised to discover that in some countries it

takes up to half a year to pay for one of theses consoles. I was astonished to find
that some families in Pakistan take approximately 8 months to buy a Playstation
3. We are very fortunate in the UK’

Other programmes the school is involved in

Our Junior school also ran various international activities as
listed here: Mrs Sarah Galbraith travelled to Besançon in France for two weeks
on the Primary Teacher Placement Project run by the British Council. She spent
two weeks living with a host family, one week in college to improve her French
and one week teaching in a school. At the end of the placement a link between
Junior School pupils in France and England was made so that projects and pen-
pals could be arranged. At the end of the school year we received a group of
children from their school. Mrs Sarah Galbraith said: ‘they played outside with our
junior school children: they played so nicely and easily with each other! Following
this, four of Year 5 gave groups a tour of the Junior school where they stopped in
each class to ask and answer questions. At the end of the day, Year 5 confidently
pulled off their performance of a little French /English play which also went down
well.

Other activities: Eid celebration, Languages week.

Senior School:
We had visitors from Denmark on 22.10.08 from The Hjorring Gymnasium
Skolevangen Hjorring Denmark. They stayed for 5 days and were able to see
how an English school functions. 25 sixth form students aged 17-19 spent the
morning with our pupils, attending lessons and enjoying a typical English school
lunch. A number of our pupils exchanged email addresses and promised to keep
in touch with their new-found friends.

Other projects undertaken:

Commedia d’el arte project: year 10 pupils (7) a group of year 10 pupils studied a
topic on historical theatre, Italian ‘Comedia D’el Arte’ before acting out the roles
of the key stock characters. Mrs Rosie Hathaway, Head of Drama, said that this
had broadened their understanding and knowledge of theatre from other parts of
the world and from other time periods. She said: ‘I really enjoy teaching this topic
– it’s one of my favourites.’ The students developed their use of body language
and stylized movement through the exploration of the stock characters.

One of the pupils said: ‘the best bit was acting with a different accent (Italian) – I
would like to go to Italy to further explore and deepen my thought and
understanding’

Buddhism project: pupils were asked to research the eightfold path of Buddhism
on the internet as part of a scheme on suffering. They worked in groups to create
a powerpoint presentation for pupils of their own age. Pupils then presented back
to their own forms. The best presentations won prizes. The whole cohort of year
8 pupils took part. Miss Christina Stenhoff, a Religious Studies teacher, said that
they had developed their understanding of the principles upon which Buddhism is
based, through doing this project. They also developed their groupwork skills,
their ICT skills and their presentation skills. ‘It has given me the opportunity to
see what they are capable of when I stand back and tell the to work more
independently in groups. A number of the pupils also presented their projects in
religious assembly, therefore disseminating their newly acquired knowledge to
others. The most effective part was pupils working in groups on an ICT based
project. They enjoyed the competitive element of this project; there were prizes
for the winners.’

One of the pupils said:’I enjoyed creating the powerpoint and learning about the
eighfold path and having a further understanding of Buddhism. I also enjoyed
doing it with my chum. I have learned a lot about the eightfold path as I didn’t
know any before I started the project.’

Classical Civilisation project: A group of year 12 pupils studied a variety of

topics about the Greco-Roman world. They studied in particular Athenian
Democracy, the Iliad and the Second Punic War, between Rome and Carthage.
Their teacher said that they had come to understand the origins and nature of
democracy and this has helped them to clarify their own ideas about the English
system of government. The Iliad has inspired them to study war poetry from later
periods and to learn more about the Greek myths and the Punic War has
encouraged them to find out more about a society which came through so difficult
a time.

World Geography: Causes and consequences of rural urban migration in

LEDCs.

Mr G H Jones, Head of Geography.

One pupil said: ‘I enjoyed the activities because the topic was made easy to
understand. have learnt that in LEDCs such as Brazil, poorer people moving from
the countryside to the city have false hopes of what they might see.’

Spanish project on Spanish speaking countries: Working towards a PLTS

inititiative year 7 pupils were encouraged to create a full length project on any
aspect of Spanish or other Spanish speaking communitites. 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes
were awarded in year assembly as well as 9 runner up certificates. (The whole
year 7 cohort took part.) Pupils learned about their chosen Spanish speaking
country and their research let them find our in more detail about life and culture
and traditions about these countries. It also helped them develop their research
skills by taking advantage of the internet and library resources. ICT skills were
developed as pupils prepared their results in the form of powerpoint
presentations. Mr Tony Crane, Head of Spanish said:’I was pleased to see the
results of the pupils’ projects and that they developed their research skills. It was
positive to see that pupils used their own initiative and developed their
independent learning skills. The pupils’ work was displayed in the classroom.’

One pupils said: ‘ I have learned about Chile, my chosen country and I have
learned to use colour and pictures in my work. I have learned about culture and
food and politics.’

Another pupil said: ‘I have learned that Spain is a beautiful country and wonderful
to visit and it’s got many different cultures and beautiful monuments like the
‘Sagrada Familia’ and others and it’s a very creative, colourful country.’

French project on world citizenship: Pupils in year 8 designed posters in French

on the theme of: ‘I am a global citizen.’

Supplementary activities:

Chinese New Year Celebration: All year 7 pupils were involved in a project to
promote their awareness of Chinese culture during Chinese New Year. They
were taught by one of our librarians, Yin Doran, about Chinese culture and also
how to say and to write some basic words in Chinese. They also acquired the
skills of how to use chopsticks. They were able to articulate some of the Chinese
blessings in Mandarin and they understood more about the traditions, customs
and myths of the Chinese New Year. In the opinion of the teacher leading this
project the pupils were curious and highly motivated to find out more about the
relevant cultural events. The Chinese pupils from the school participated in the
project and sponsored fortune cookies. She felt that the event had raised the
profile of the Chinese New Year Celebration and awareness of the appreciation
of cultural events; she also felt that as the Chinese pupils from school were
involved in helping out and introducing aspects of Chinese culture and customs
to their friends, this has strengthened mutual understanding amongst pupils at
our school.

Romeo and Juliet performed in French by a visiting theatre group to the

whole of years 8 & 9 and to some of years 10 – 13. Mrs Hilary Sackfield, Head of
MFL Specialism, who organized the event said that all pupils responded very well
whilst watching the play particularly to the slapstick elements. This was the first
time this had been done in French at the school and it has made us in the
department aware of the value of letting more than one year group sit through a
French play for more than an hour. The members of the acting group were
impressed by our pupils’ response to their performance. The slapstick comedy
was used to good effect by the members of the acting group and they held the
audience’s attention very well. It was very good for our pupils to be exposed to so
much French language for a sustained period of time, in this way. The play
enabled our pupils to celebrate culture, internationalism and language. They
really enjoyed the performance and there was a great atmosphere in school. Mrs
Rosie Hathaway, Head of Drama, said that she felt the production had been
extremely effective as it had encouraged cross-curricular links within Drama and
MFL.

One pupils said: ‘I particularly enjoyed the comic element to this performance
which was the best part of the play. I was able to pick out bits of language and
have improved my vocabulary. I could not understand all the French spoken, but
it was still highly enjoyable. C’était super!’

Demonstration of ‘Real French.net’ by Dr Christopher Dawson: a visiting

lecturer from Manchester Metropolitan University gave a talk and demonstrated
his interactive French website to our L6 and U6 French pupils. Our pupils now
have the confidence to explore this site and to make full use of it independently
both at home and school. The visit has strengthened our link with MMU and Dr C
Dawson, which has been established since 2003. The latter commented that the
visit had given him a great opportunity to view the site in a classroom context and
that it had given him a lot of ideas for adaptation of certain areas. He added: ‘It
has been good to come to William Hulme’s again after 3 years, and I hope we
can exchange ideas and feedback to assist with the continuing development of
this and other language sites.’

French Department VIth form day: MMU:

One pupil said: ‘The lectures were all very interesting, well organized and
thorough. The day was well organized and hospitable with free drinks provided!
There was also some support from current students which encouraged interest. I
learned about the French film ‘La Haine’ and about French music – its influences,
contexts and meanings.’

Another pupil said: ‘I liked mostly the video clips and analyzing French films. It
was fascinating to discover an insight into France and other French speaking
countries. I was surprised that I actually understood what the French lecturers
were saying in French! I also picked up new words for my vocabulary.’

FLAGS – Manchester University 6 students studied Linguistics on-line. Cross-

curricular link with English.

Year 9 Routes into Languages visit to MMU – 25 pupils. (On of our pupils
entered a competition run during the event and won an IPod.)

Ecritures en partage: Akbar Sikder, a sixth form pupil at our school had a bi-
lingual article accepted by ‘Languages of Thunder’, an association based in Brest
which organizes the ‘Fête des langues du Monde’ – a celebration of languages.
Each year a multilingual book ‘Ecritures en partage’ is published for the occasion
which includes 30 – 40 texts in as many languages, each with a French
translation. The article was written by Akbar first in English and then he
translated it into French. For 2009 the theme was ‘Un lieu dans ma vie’ (This is
the second year running that Akbar has had his worked published by this
organization.

School Assemblies:
Main school assembly on Barack Obama’s inauguration speech: the assembly,
given by the school’s Principal, Mr Peter Mulholland, focussed on Barack
Obama’s inauguration speech and how his messages were both international
and applicable to our school. It was also linked to a competition to produce a
poster to represent all the different cultural and international aspects of our
school.

Year 9 Assembly: (Run by Daniella Geoghan) ‘My visit to Gambia’: following

on his recent visit to Gambia a year 9 pupil gave a power point presentation
about his trip.

Hindu / Sikh and Buddhist assembly: during one of our weekly religious
assemblies one of the pupils gave a powerpoint presentation on the eightfold
path. It allowed our pupils to explore more aspects of the Buddhist fait by finding
out more about the eightfold path to Nirvana. It allowed us to watch the
interpretations of pupils, to discover more about cultures and religions other than
our own. It has also encouraged a greater sense of pupil involvement and could
have increased the sense of tolerance in the school.

Future Plans:
1. Link with Toc-H school in Cochin, Kerala, India: teacher reciprocal visits
taking place (Sep / Oct 2009) to plan future projects in line with the DFID
grant which we received to this aim. We will formulate plans for joint
projects which are designed to further develop the ethos of global
citizenship within both schools, by increasing pupil knowledge of
important global issues e.g. a joint project which will enable pupils of both
schools to explore ways of improving the environment, particularly in
relation to renewable resources of energy in the respective countries. Our
pupils will also, jointly explore world religions , compare western music to
Indian music, the Tibetan-Chinese conflict, giving particular emphasis to
the refugee situation arising from it. We shall also use our reciprocal visits
to formalise our draft Partnership Agreement and then plan for our long-
term goals of reciprocal pupil visits to either school and country.
2. Reciprocal teacher visits will take place between our link school in Paris,
France and ourselves with a view to planning joint projects between the
pupils of both schools. Some of our year 11, 12 and 13 pupils will be
involved in cross-curricular activities and joint projects which will in the
long-term lead to pupil visits to either school.
3. Sixth form Expedition to the Himalayas (World Challenge expedition to
India – Himalaya and Rajasthan, 2010): pupils will spend one year fund-
raising to pay for their trip, will go on an expedition, do a cultural
awareness project whilst there, which may involve, for example, doing
some teaching and will spend in total 4 weeks in India.
4. 3 pupils from our school to take part in the 2009 sessions of the Mock
Council of the European Union
5. Developing links with a school in Gambia, via the uncle of one of our
pupils who lives there
6. Take part in the Languages Employer Engagement Project which builds
on the work of the Business Language Champions project which is run by
RLN North-West on behalf of CILT
7. Establish school links with St Nicholas school, and the Escola Britânica
de Sâo Paulo, both in Sao Paulo, Brazil
8. Ocotber, 2009: History trip to Poland run
9. Our Young Enterprise pupils will participate in the EJE international
enterprise scheme
10. Return visit from our primary school link in Besancon, France.