On 3rd September 2012, the British Council opens applications for Connecting Classrooms, providing an excellent opportunity for schools in the UK and China to develop partnerships based on mutual learning and collaborative projects.

For partnerships with China, Connecting Classrooms is sponsored by the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), China’s nationwide not-for-profit organization conducting international educational exchanges.

Please note that for Chinese partnerships, Chinese schools will be contracted by CEAIE and UK schools will be contracted by the British Council.

Your partnerships will benefit from grants for travel to help you work together with your international partner school, free resources for partnership projects and an easy-to-follow framework for building and developing your partnership.

The deadline for this funding is 9 November 2012.  Partnerships between schools in the UK and schools in China will receive a fixed grant of £1500,

To apply for the partnership funding with schools in China schools must adhere to the global guidance with the following additional criteria;

     •Priority will be given to those partnerships centred on the themes of Rights and Responsibility, Sustainable Living and particularly around the Climate 4 Classrooms resources. Applications based on the remaining four Connecting Classroom themes will be considered afterwards
     •We do not accept applications of single school partnerships. We can only accept cluster applications.
     •We would encourage schools in the UK and China to apply in clusters of three, double clusters (6) or triple clusters (9) and will prioritise clusters with more schools. Clusters should be from the same local authority/area.