Links between Oakfield Primary School and Renmin Primary School, Chongqing began in May 2007 as a result of the British Council establishing the China – UK Bridging Project.
They established clear educational aims for the Partnership Project which included raising pupils’ awareness of Chinese language and culture and providing opportunities for professional development of staff.
The headteacher visited Chongqing in May 2007 and October 2007 as part of British Council Wales’s ‘Wales China Joint Curriculum Project’ to establish links with Renmin Primary School which proved highly productive and have led to a number of exciting initiatives for pupils and staff.
The school is engaged in a number of partnership activities for pupils and staff e.g. pupils exchanging information to learn about each others lifestyles and culture; exchanging work in art, sports and music; curriculum co-ordinators incorporating aspects of Chinese history, culture and language into the school curriculum. They also introduced Mandarin lessons into the Year 5 and 6 curriculum. Beyond the school parameters they established contact with representatives of the Chinese community in Cardiff to consider methods of further raising awareness of history and culture. Additionally they were visited by a group of pupils from Chongqing Renim Primary school, and hosted a teachers from Chongqing for nine months. They are now in the process if developing teacher exchanges (for two week periods) to teach in their respective schools.
A number of mediums have been used for sharing information and a number of approaches have been used for disseminating information e.g. a series of specific lessons and presentations for all children in our school adapted to address the age and ability of pupils, special assemblies for both parents and pupils, newsletters to parents and the local community.
David Pedwell, Principal of Oakfield said, ‘There are no challenges involved with international school links which cannot eventually be overcome. Sustainability of the link is a key issue, however. Whilst maintaining a certain level of communication with our partner school will not be a problem, ensuring high quality joint curriculum development undoubtedly requires trust, respect, friendship and understanding which can only be developed and sustained through repeated personal contact’.
International school links are a great benefit to any school as they provide a wide range of opportunities for both pupils and staff to widen their knowledge and understanding. They provide a wonderful vehicle for teaching and learning a variety of skills and stimulate considerable thought, reflection and self evaluation.
Successful international school projects require:
- the enthusiastic support of the headteacher/leadership team
- the commitment of a significant number of staff in the school
- the identification of key individuals in both partner schools who will lead the partnership links over a sustained period of time
Oakfield Primary School website
Wales China Joint Curriciulm Project website
