Earlier this year we recruited seven groups of schools and their local authorities to work with partners in Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. We are now recruiting a further 11 groups of UK schools and their local authorities/federations of schools to link with districts in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia.

Why Latin America and the Caribbean?

Partnerships with Latin America and the Caribbean offer UK schools an exciting opportunity for rewarding international work. Links with Latin America open up the possibility to explore vibrant Hispanic culture and discover and improve Spanish and Portuguese language skills. The Caribbean has a rich fusion of cultures and strong historical and cultural links to UK communities, both past and present, which provide the chance to actively engage with your local community in the UK.

What does Connecting Classrooms offer?

			The opportunity to work with partner schools on collaborative curriculum projects, which enable learners to interact across geographical boundaries and enhance their understanding of each other’s societies, languages and cultures.
			Professional development for teachers and school leaders, which builds capacity to support international partnerships and to work in an international environment.
			Eligibility for DCSF International School Award accreditation, which recognises schools’ commitment to forming international partnerships and developing global citizens.
			Advice and support in the use of ICT tools that develop and sustain partnerships, including a range of online teacher forums.

Read more about Connecting Classrooms.

How does Connecting Classrooms work for partnerships with Latin America and the Caribbean?

A group of five schools, supported by their local authority/federation of schools, will create a partnership with a district and group of five schools in their partner country. Each cluster of UK schools will also be co-ordinated by either their local authority/federation of schools, or another body, such as the lead school in a family of schools, the Youth Sport Trust or Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. Read more about co-ordinating bodies, roles and responsibilities.

We are currently looking for 11 clusters of UK schools, and their local authorities/federations of schools, to create partnerships with schools and districts in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia, as follows:

You will be able to express your country preference, and reasons for that preference, on the application form.

Funding

We will offer grants of up to £2,500 per year, for each partnership, to cover the costs of joint projects, travel and subsistence over the first two years of your partnership.

In addition, we will offer grants of £1,000 per year, over two years, for the UK local authority/federation of schools (or other co-ordinating body) to cover the costs of co-ordinating the project.

Timeline and activities

			15 December: Application deadline
			February 2010 (date tbc): Briefing meetings (UK) - UK participants will be briefed on how the partnership will work, travel arrangements for the contact seminar and what to expect at the contact seminar.
			15 March 2010 (tbc): Contact Seminar (Colombia) - Representatives from the schools and districts in the UK, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia, will come together in Colombia to meet and plan their partnership activity. Participants will include the partnership co-ordinator/representative from the local authority/federation of schools, and a representative from one school in each group. At the seminar, partners will decide the themes of the joint curriculum projects that the schools will work on and other areas on which the districts might collaborate, such as supporting schools in working towards the International School Award. We make all arrangements and cover travel, accommodation and subsistence costs for participants.
			April 2010: Partnerships will complete their grant application.

How do we get involved?

If you are in a local authority, federation of schools or other co-ordinating body that is interested in applying, please read the Guidelines for Application and complete the Application Form. You will need to give details of the five UK schools that will be involved in the partnership. A representative of one of these schools will be invited to attend the Contact Seminar with the partnership co-ordinator or representative of the local authority/federation of schools.

If you are a teacher or school leader and would like your school to get involved, contact the international co-ordinator in your local authority (or an appropriate contact in your federation of schools) to see whether they already have plans to apply. If you do not know who to contact, visit the DCSF Global Gateway for contact details, or get in touch with the Global Gateway team for more information.

If your local authority/federation of schools is unable to co-ordinate the application, your partnership co-ordinator can be a representative from the lead school in a family of schools, your local Youth Sport Trust, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, or another suitable organisation. The Global Gateway team can suggest alternative co-ordinators for you. However, your partnership co-ordinator will still need to get support and approval from your local authority/federation of schools in order to complete the application.

Eligibility

Your UK cluster must meet these three requirements:

• Schools in the cluster should not already be receiving funding (nor have applications pending for funding) from another source for work with the chosen partner country.

• You must apply with the right number and combination of schools in your cluster, i.e. five schools, comprising the right number of primary and/or secondary schools as indicated in the table above.

• All schools in your cluster must have at least Foundation Level of the DCSF International School Award. Registration for the Foundation ISA is simple – 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/federation of schools – to confirm this support, the form must be signed by the Director of Children’s Services (or equivalent, or nominee) in your local authority, or the head of your federation of schools.

• A named partnership co-ordinator - to complete the application and co-ordinate all the UK schools in the partnership. This is usually an official in the supporting body, or a representative from the lead school in a family of schools, the local Youth Sport Trust or the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.

• Connecting Classrooms co-ordinators – a named person from each school to manage the project in their school.

For more information, please email us at cc_lac@britishcouncil.org, or call us on +44(0) 20 7389 4665.