Whitefield Schools wins awards for its international work

Whitefield Schools has been awarded the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom.

One of Whitefield’s joint projects – cSOS – has also been given the European Quality Label for excellence – recognition­ at the highest European level, and has been shortlisted by the British Council as one of the UKs best eTwinning projects of the last year.

The International School Award 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 and work in today’s world.

Whitefield has a long history of international work. The Oceans SOS e-Twinning project saw it partner with The Brook school in Haringey and schools in Cyprus and Greece under the European Union’s Erasmus + e-Twinning programme. The project aimed to raise awareness about the plastic waste and pollution in oceans through role play and creativity and the end result was a collaboratively written, edited, and produced film.

Whitefield Schools has three other international collaborations underway:

• A new eTwinning project ‘Wikibrain for Mixtalent Students’ with The Brook school and Special Gymnasium & Lyceum of Athens Greece, and Agios Spyridonas Larnaka Cyprus. The program will run over two years and see primary and secondary students become Wikipedia authors by collaborating with other online encyclopedias of authors. The program is designed in the UNESCO Directive on 21^st Century Education.

• A two-year Erasmus + project with partner schools from Romania, Greece, Spain, and Portugal that aims to combine best practice from special and mainstream schools to create integrated methods of teaching that allow young people of all abilities to learn together in inclusive classrooms.  The project builds on the experience of sports and PE lessons –  that showed how pupils of different abilities can work together – and aims to extend these approaches across the rest of the curriculum.
• A new project, organized through the British Council, will see three SEN schools from the UK, namely The Brook, The Vale, and Whitefield, work with three Nepalese mainstream schools with SEN provision. This project focuses on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Sir Ciarán Devane, CEO of the British Council, said: ‘The school’s fantastic international work has rightfully earned it this prestigious award. The International School Award is a great chance for schools to demonstrate the important work they’re doing to bring the world into their classrooms. Embedding an international dimension in children’s education ensures that they are truly global citizens and helps prepare them for successful lives and careers in an increasingly global economy.’

The award, which celebrates its 20^th Anniversary this year, is now available worldwide in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Over 6000 International School Awards have been presented to successful schools in the UK since the scheme began in 1999.