At Northbourne we have a strong belief in the importance of international work and links with schools in other countries. We believe that this will help the children to develop an understanding of different countries and cultures. In turn this will help the children to understand their role as global citizens and help to promote international peace and harmony.
At Northbourne our international work has two main dimensions: the International School Award and the COMENIUS project.
International School Award
We have recently received The International School Award for the third time. There are very few schools in the country that have received this award 3 times and we are incredibly proud of the international work contributed by all members of the school. The International School Award is given to schools that have developed their international work by the British Council.
We are concentrating on embedding our International work within other areas of the curriculum, for example, using stories from other countries and cultures within Literacy.
Another aspect of the International School Award is developing staff development opportunities and allowing staff to observe schools and lessons in schools in other countries.
The final aspect of the International School Award is our continued participation in the COMENIUS project.
The COMENIUS Project
The COMENIUS project is a Europe-wide initiative that focuses on linking three or more schools from different schools and providing funding for them to work on a project together. We are currently linked with schools in Malta and Finland and have just started the first year of our COMENIUS project.
Our COMENIUS project is titled ‘Building Bridges Makes Us One’ and focuses on bringing Europe closer to the children and building an empathy and understanding of different cultures within Europe. We are in our 2nd year of our ‘Building Bridges’ project and have been joined by a school in Spain. Mrs Turner, Mrs Crellin and Mrs Burr visited Castellar in Spain in November to plan the 3rd year of the project.
All four schools have exchanged Christmas cards and have been working on traditional festival presentations to present to all our partners.
In March, staff and pupils from Finland, Malta and Spain will be travelling to England to experience life at Northbourne. Children will be accompanied by a parent and will be hosted by families from the school. This is a very exciting opportunity for all the children and staff to meet our Comenius partners and to make our project real.
Our Finnish partner is Korvensuoran Koulu in Oulu. To find out more information, look at their website: http://www.edu.ouka.fi/koulut/index.cfm?d=18
Korvensuoran Koulu, Finland, in the middle of winter
Our Maltese partner is Tumas Dingli Primary School in Attard. To find out more information, look at their website:
http://www.education.gov.mt/edu/schools/attard_pri_c.htm
Tumas Dingli Primary School.
Our Spanish partner is CEIP Román Crespo Hoyo in Castellar.
CEIP Román Crespo Hoyo.
