This is a strong action plan from Countess Gytha Primary School, which builds on previous good practices and is easily approved. The summary shows the extent of all the International and Global teaching and learning that takes place and internationalism is at the core of the curriculum. There is a vast range of opportunities for each child to engage in the arts, and to develop a deep understanding of other cultures, languages, and countries. You have presented 7 exciting and fun activities which will be carried out throughout the school year by the majority of the pupils. All of these enhance the teaching and learning of both foreign languages and global issues. You have 4 partner schools both in Europe and worldwide. You have presented some interesting collaborative activities with each of the partner schools covering the required language element as well as topics including traditional games, multiple faiths, food and climate action. Alongside the listed 7 activities you have also included a further 4 which include, Fair Trade, recycling, language ambassadors ( also on your school website) and World Book Day. The evidence you have stated for each activity is exemplary and I am sure the summer assessor will be interested in reading these. It is very helpful and useful that the International tab on the school website is comprehensive which provides a useful tool for both the wider community and the assessors of this application. Good luck with all your global and international work!
Recycling
Eco Warriors are a team of children passionate about protecting and saving our planet. They understand how important our planet is and that we must do our best to care for it. The Eco-Warriors work together as a team to make positive changes to our school to make it a more environmentally friendly place and think about how we can help our community become more green. They raise our awareness about sustainability and encourage everyone to be good at recycling and saving energy. We encourage good habits for the future and our planet.
They actively promote:-
Recycling:
Saving energy:
Conserving energy:
Care for the environment
Whatever our age, we all loved dressing up on Thursday for our annual World Book Day! We shared our favourite books and stories and participated in the Eco book swap organised by The Eco Team and Mr Gallagher. The children loved sitting down in the 'reading lounge' to enjoy a quiet read and some classes even had hot-chocolate and biscuits a d read books from around the world.
Thank you so much to the PTFA for gifting the books for the prizes for the Best Dressed in each class. The costumes looked incredible. We even had a special visitor to give out the prizes! Bookman commented on the outstanding efforts from the children.
We were delighted to be able to donate £60 to School in a Bag, which has enabled us to purchase three school bags for three worthy children in Tanzania.
This Sunday marks this year’s Lunar New Year and our Language Ambassadors welcomed all to an assembly on Monday, highlighting the event of The Year of The Rabbit and what it means to those in China and around the world. Merlin class also prepared a tasty treat of Egg-Fried rice that they had prepared and shared with Mr Gordon. Xié xié!
This week we received the news that we have achieved the British Council Intermediate International Dimension Award. Since September, the school has worked hard to further embed international work into the curriculum, thereby making their students more aware of global issues.
We have gained experience of working on collaborative projects with schools in Spain and France, deepening the impact of learning and increasing levels of collaborative activities.
The British Council commented, “As a school, Countess Gytha have an excellent range of activities seeking to develop and embed a whole school commitment to international teaching and learning. There is an evident commitment to make global connections and undertake and understand global challenges. The school’s commitment to support young learners, who are keen to take action to bring about a better world, is admirable. The work in your small school to highlight issues around the natural world and climate change are excellent, as are your projects highlighting international issues and looking at countries, flags, faiths and culture around the world.”
Well done everyone. We are looking forward to building on this award, throughout the coming year and we are aiming for full accreditation by July 2023!
The International School Award (ISA) celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life work in today’s world.