View the photos of the 'Parlez-vous Rugby' project at the British Embassy

Sport is an international language of communication that breaks down barriers. It has huge potential to reach young people, develop teamwork, nurture leadership skills and promote good citizenship. Sport therefore represents an imaginative way to add an international dimension to education, promoting language learning and intercultural awareness.

Parlez-Vous Rugby?
In celebration of the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, the focus of our work in education and sport is a project called 'Parlez-vous Rugby?'.

This project has been developed in partnership with the French Ministry of Education and with the support of HSBC



What are the key activities within this project?

Activities will take place before, during and after the 2007 Rugby World Cup until 2008 and beyond. The key elements are:

			School partnerships 18 secondary schools from the UK and the Republic of Ireland will be linked with French partner schools to carry out joint curriculum projects around the theme of rugby and the Rugby World Cup. Find out about an example of partnership project between the 'Académie' of Strasbourg and Leicestershire (only in French)
			Sports leadership training programme 60 pupils from the linked secondary schools will take part in a 4 day sports leadership training programme in the lead up to the final (October 2007). The intention is to equip the participants with the necessary skills and confidence to organise a sports festival.
			Sports festivals The highlight of the project will be a sports festival in Paris in October 2007, involving 200 primary school pupils. This event will be organised by the young leaders involved in the sports leadership training programme. In spring/summer 2008, the young leaders will have a further opportunity to test out their leadership skills by organising sports festivals in their own communities, together with pupils from their French partner school.
			Youth conference 70 6th form students from France and the England met in Leicestershire in March 2007 for a conference on the theme of ‘Sport, media and ethics’.

Who is involved?

We are working with 16 collèges from the following 13 académies Versailles, Créteil, Paris, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nancy-Metz, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Aix-Marseilles and Reims. All the schools involved are from education action zones and do not have a long tradition of playing rugby.  

Who are the Partners?
This project would not be possible without the support of a wide range of partner organisations, namely:

			French ministry of Education, the Department for Education and Skills in England and the Education ministries in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland;
			Rugby Football Unions for England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the French Rugby Federation
			School sports associations in France - USEP and UNSS and the Youth Sports Trust in England
			Local/regional authorities and their partner académies in France
			British Embassy in Paris

How can you find out more?

- Read the attached information brochure

- Contact the DARIC in the participating academies

Teaching Resources

- Rugby poster exhibition

- Survival kit

- Teaching Resources from the French "Education Nationale"

- Sport Zone on the site of the Globalgateway

- Dreams and teams on the British Council web site

- Rugby players during the 2 World Wars