We are currently recruiting groups of schools and their local authorities/co-ordinating bodies from England, Northern Ireland and Wales to form partnerships with schools and districts in China.
Schools in Scotland have opportunities to develop partnerships through headteacher visits to China via the Confucius Classroom Hub initiative developed by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) and Hanban.
With a population of over 1.3 billion people and the second largest economy in the world, China has a leading role in the global society of the 21st century. Partnerships with China offer UK schools an exciting opportunity to engage with this very important country to explore the rich Chinese culture and to discover and improve Mandarin language skills.
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The opportunity to work with partner schools on collaborative curriculum projects which enable learners to interact across geographical boundaries - enhancing their understanding of each other’s societies, languages and cultures, and preparing them for life and work in a global society. |
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Professional development for teachers and school leaders, which builds capacity to integrate an international dimension in the curriculum, support international partnerships and work in an international environment. |
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Eligibility for International School Award accreditation, which recognises a school’s commitment to forming international partnerships and developing global citizens. |
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Advice and support in the use of ICT tools that develop and sustain partnerships, including a range of online teacher forums. |
Read more about the programme.
In each partnership, nine schools from England, Northern Ireland or Wales, supported by their local authority or other co-ordinating body, will work together with a district and group of nine schools in China. We are looking for up to five clusters of nine UK schools in this recruitment round. We recommend that the UK clusters include at least two secondary schools and would strongly encourage the involvement of a special school. It is usually beneficial if participating primary schools feed to the secondary schools in the cluster, but this is not essential.
Each cluster of schools will be supported by their local authority, which will be expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the partner district in China. In most cases, the local authority will also co-ordinate the cluster of schools but if this is not possible, the co-ordinating body can be a federation of schools, lead school, or other suitable organisation. However, if the cluster is co-ordinated by a body other than the local authority, it is essential that the cluster also obtains local authority approval for their involvement in Connecting Classrooms prior to submitting their application. The co-ordinating body must have the capacity to bring new schools into the partnership in the future, and the local authority must be prepared to delegate authority for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the partner district in China.
Please note that, in the interests of widening participation, we are looking for clusters of schools that do not already have a link with China. It is also important that the schools and local authority/co-ordinating body are committed to working with Chinese partner schools and districts in the longer term, and to initiating or increasing the teaching of Chinese language and understanding of Chinese culture in their schools.
Successful applicants will be matched to a suitable partner district in China and the partnerships will begin with a group visit to China, by head teachers and partnership co-ordinators, in the autumn of 2011. Only schools whose head teacher is able to take part in this visit to China should apply as part of a cluster. We will confirm the visit dates as soon as possible but they are likely to be Saturday 15 - Sunday 23 October 2011. Each co-ordinating body should also be ready to send a representative on this visit. If this is impossible, they must be willing to delegate authority to a head teacher in their cluster to lead discussions and sign the Memorandum of Understanding with the partner district on their behalf.
We anticipate that partnerships established through this programme will, in future years, have the opportunity to apply for funding to support joint curriculum projects - but it is expected that the partnerships will be self-sustaining and that schools will agree collaborative work with their partners and take this forward independently.
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5 May 2011: Application deadline |
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Mid- to end May 2011: A selection panel will assess all applications and we will inform all applicants of the outcome of their application by the end of the month. We will match approved clusters to suitable districts and schools in China using the information provided in the application forms. |
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15-23 October 2011 (tbc): The head teacher from each approved school and a representative from each approved local authority/co-ordinating body will travel to China to meet their partners. The purpose of this visit is to establish the partnerships, to plan for future collaborative work and to gain ideas on the teaching of Chinese language and culture. We will make all arrangements and cover travel, accommodation and subsistence costs for participants. |
If you are in a local authority or co-ordinating body that is interested in applying, please read the Application Guidelines and complete the Application Form. You will need to give details of all nine schools in your cluster. To download these documents in Welsh, click on the following links: Application Guidelines (Welsh) and Application Form (Welsh).
If you are a head teacher or teacher and would like your school to get involved, contact the international co-ordinator in your local authority/co-ordinating body to see whether they already have plans to apply. If you do not know who to contact, visit the Global Gateway website for contact details, or get in touch with the Global Gateway team for more information.
Schools in England, Northern Ireland and Wales are eligible to apply. Schools in Scotland have opportunities to develop partnerships through headteacher visits to China via the Confucius Classroom Hub initiative developed by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) and Hanban.
Your cluster must meet these requirements:
• You must apply with the right number and combination of schools in your cluster, i.e. nine schools, which may be made up of any combination of primary, secondary and special schools. However, we recommend that clusters include at least two secondary schools, and strongly encourage the involvement of a special school.
• All schools in the cluster must have at least Foundation level of the International School Award. To register for the Foundation ISA download the ISA Statement of Intent, then follow the instructions on the ISA website.) All schools accepted onto Connecting Classrooms will be expected and supported to work towards the next levels of the ISA during the course of their involvement in the programme.
You should also ensure that your application has:
• Support from your local authority - to confirm this support, the form must be signed by the Director of Children's Services (or equivalent, or nominee) in your local authority.
• A named partnership co-ordinator - to complete the application and co-ordinate the UK schools in the partnership. This is usually an official from the supporting local authority but could be a representative of a federation of schools, lead school or another suitable organisation.
• Commitment from the headteacher of each school in the cluster - including commitment to participating in the initial visit to China to establish the partnership.
• A Connecting Classrooms co-ordinator in each school - to manage the project in their school. This role may be taken by the head teacher who participates in the initial visit, or another member of the school.
• Commitment from all nine schools and the local authority/co-ordinating body to establishing a long-term and sustainable partnership with a Chinese partner school or district, and to initiating or increasing the teaching of Chinese language and understanding of Chinese culture in their schools.
For more information please contact us.
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