Understanding the world in which we live and enabling our pupils to become Global Citizens, is part of the Ethos of St Mary’s.

St Mary’s has had links to schools in every Continent (except Antarctica) through a variety of collaborative projects for over 25 years.

In 2017, The Academy was appointed as a Global Learning Programme Expert Centre to act as a global learning hub to help schools in the local area deliver effective teaching and learning about international development and global issues. http://www.glp-e.org.uk

Our new Curriculum ensures that this work continues throughout each pupil’s time at St Mary’s, with most year groups linked to a different country.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2015-2030 are fully embedded across the curriculum and are part of St Mary’s “Young Leaders Project”, with every class participating in a week’s work , three times a year linked to the themes of: Ourselves, Our Community and Our World.

In 2023 the school were awarded the British Council’s International School Award for the 7^th time which they have held continuously since 2005

The Award is an internationally recognised accreditation, awarded to schools which forge links with partners overseas and add an international dimension to the curriculum. Through working on joint projects and adding international elements to lessons, pupils (and teachers) are given a fresh perspective on the world and their place in it. 

Taking part in the Award:
• links schools with others around the world
• teaches pupils about other countries and cultures
• prepares pupils for living and working in the global economy
• enhances teaching standards through sharing best practice and teaching methods
• leads to a new outwardly facing perspective and ethos for the school as a whole

British Council International School Award

Message from British Council

Congratulations on your Reaccreditation of the International School Award – [ISA-20500]

Dear International Co-ordinator, Thank you for submitting your International School Award Impact Evaluation form. We are delighted to inform you that it has been approved by our assessors. Congratulations! Your school is hereby accredited from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2026. To ensure that there is no gap in your accreditation, you will need to submit your next action plan for reaccreditation in just over 2 years. The actual deadline will be announced on our website nearer the time. “This is an outstanding application from Folkestone St Mary’s Academy and, as in previous years, more than meets the standard for International School Award Reaccreditation. Well done! Eleven eligible activities between September 2022 and July 2023 are included. They are spread across the academic year and involve all year groups, most several times. They range from Earth Day to eSafety. The collaboration with multiple partner schools is remarkable with links in every activity, a tribute to the amazing and sustained commitment of the teachers in all the countries, not just at Folkestone St Mary’s. Classwork, research, language, and IT skills are interlocked in producing a remarkable range of outcomes, many of which can be followed through social media e.g., the Facebook page of DAV BRS in India shows pupils from both countries engaged in the dances and art project. There are many more mentioned in the application. The Impact Evaluations are very thorough. The final sections are final summaries, but they are prefaced by extensive use of the original Action Plan framework to which the school has added illustrations from each activity. I cannot list everything, and so, fairly exceptionally for what I write as an assessor, I have copied the next lengthy comment in full in this feedback because it encapsulates the best of what a collaborative project can bring to pupils in a partner school: “World weather watch: Y5 & Y6 at St Mary’s couldn’t believe how cold it was in Ukraine and how hard it was for the children to have to sit in an underground shelter with only candles for light until the all clear was sounded. They also thought it must be terrible to live in a country like Bangladesh that has so much destruction and flooding in the Monsoon season.” Collaboration is not only with schools overseas but also with FESI, six primaries in the Folkestone Ethos School Improvement group. St Mary’s website has an extremely strong ‘International’ tab through which the local and global community can read about its activities, although once your success with this current application has been formally confirmed, there will be some updating to be done and a new logo uploaded. My warmest congratulations to the staff and learners at Folkestone St Mary’s Academy, and also to your partner schools across Planet Earth. Spectacular. ” Congratulations on working so hard to co-ordinate such an impressive range of work as an International Co-ordinator! You are a credit to the school and the wider community. We hope that the scope of your excellent international activities will continue to develop and benefit the school community; your support, commitment, creativity and innovative international work is greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking part in the International School Award. Please convey our very best wishes and many congratulations to all staff and pupils both in the UK and overseas who have taken part in the scheme. Please also contact your local media to inform them about your successful international work – this is a great achievement and one that deserves celebrating and sharing widely. We wish you the best as you continue with your international journey. Kind regards, The International School Award team British Council

In March 2024, we were honoured that the British Council decided to use St Mary’s as an example of international work for their website.

They spent a day filming our work at the school.

https://www.britishcouncil.org/school-resources/accreditation/international-school-award

St Mary’s work closely with the worldwide Global Schools Alliance platform, which we joined in 2021. https://www.globalschoolalliance.com

They work with over 8,000 schools across 130+ countries. We have been awarded their prestigious Bronze and Silver awards for our collaborative international work with many of these countries. We enable our pupils to ‘Have a Voice’ by being part of their ‘World Primary School Council’ which meets 6 times a year to share their views on topics such as ‘Climate Change’ ‘Zero Hunger’ linked to School meals, ‘Favourite Books’ linked to World Book Day and ‘eSafety’ with other schools across the world.

The school regularly showcases their international work in monthly world webinars as well at live conferences.

Main Partner Schools for St Mary’s

1. DAV BRS Public School Ludhiana India

We started working with DAV BRS in Ludhiana in 2014 on a world collaborative project called ‘Barefoot Billion’ Since then we have embarked on many world collaborative projects. We communicate through eMails, Whats App, School websites, Facebook, eTwinning and face to face visits. 10 pupils and 3 staff visited our school in Folkestone in 2016 and in 2018, three teachers from our school spent 9 days at their school through Connecting Classrooms. Every year they participate in our World Weather Watch and collaborative Christmas Card project. We launched our ‘Zero Waste’ project whilst visiting their school, which has schools from over 30 countries participating and is linked to the SDG’s and Climate Change.

2. Shri Shikshayatan Girls  Kolkata India

We started our partnership in 2016, when we were asked by the British Council to host the principal and one other teacher for a couple of days during their visit to the UK. We communicate through eMails, Whats App, School websites, Facebook, eTwinning and face to face visits. Every year they participate in our World Weather Watch and collaborative Christmas Card project. They share the customs and traditions of India with our Year 2 classes on as part of their work learning about India.

3.  Peponi House School Nairobi Kenya

We started our partnership in 2007, through a colleague I’d worked with in Oman who moved to Peponi. Our first project was about the Weather followed by one on Sustainability. I first visited the school through Connecting Classrooms in 2008 and worked alongside the ICT teacher and pupils working together on a world collaborative project hosted by ‘Schoolnet Global, followed by Gridclub. I have now visited the school 4 times,, during my last visit in 2012, I was training Peponi & other schools in Nairobi on eSafety. In 2014 they were part of a world collaborative project called ‘Barefoot Billion’ Since then we have embarked on further collaborative projects and will be working them more closely from 2024.We communicate through eMails, School websites, Facebook, eTwinning and face to face visits. Every year they participate in our World Weather Watch and collaborative Christmas Card project.

4. SK Kimanis, SK Mandahan and Vision School, Borneo Malaysia

We started our partnership in 2009. Our first project was about the Weather followed by one on Sustainability. Since then our school has continued to work with Jasmane wherever she has been teaching. We communicate through eMails, School websites, Facebook, eTwinning and face to face visits. In June 2018, she visited our school along with 4 teachers from Sabah for a week so we could share teaching practice & methods & work on collaborative projects. I visited & trained teachers in these 5 schools during April 2019. Every year they participate in our World Weather Watch, Christmas Card, eSafety & RE project linked to Islam. They contributed greatly to our Zero Waste project. We are currently working closely with Sepilok the ‘Orangutan rehabilitation Centre’ close to Vision School.

6. Wufu Junior high. Taiwan

Started working together in 2017 when 21 teachers from Taiwan were hosted for a week, in the UK by the British Council for Global Learning and I led one of the day sessions. We communicate through eMails, School websites, Facebook and eTwinning. Every year they participate in our World Weather Watch and Christmas Card projects. They were one of the 44 schools participating in our ‘Zero Waste’ project and work closely with us on the SDG’s and Climate Change.

7. Heritage International School, Chisnau Moldova

We started our partnership in 2019. Our first project was about the Weather followed by one on Sustainability. Since then our school has continued to work closely with them and held numerous Zoom Meetings on a variety of subjects.

8. College Pilote, Sousse Tunisia

We started our partnership in 2019. Our first project was about the Weather followed by Sustainability. We have regular Zoom Meetings with this school and their teacher ‘Fethy Letaief’ they planted an Olive Tree for us and we reciprocated by planting an ‘Oak Tree’ Mr Fethy visited St Mary’s for several days in 2023 and brought gifts and cards from his students. We have also exchanged ‘Culture Boxes’ by post.

We have been hosting the World Weather Watch project since 2010 and the work is https://www.flipsnack.com/www20/world-weather-watch-2023/full-view.html now showcased in an annual online book and includes evidence of Climate Change.

https://www.flipsnack.com/www20/world-weather-watch-2023/full-view.html

Below, is an example of the range of work and subjects that are covered whilst participating in our International work projects.

World Weather Watch

Teacher Responsible:

Alison Johncock

Other Staff Involved:

Colette Cotton, Melanie Best, Denise Judd, Jo Arnold, Karen Mills

Between which dates will this activity occur:

01/10/2019 to 30/01/2020. This project is always done across the world in November.

Subject Area:

Art

Citizenship

Design

English

Geography

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

Language

Mathematics

Music

Science

Number of pupils in this activity, by age range:

<5: 28,   5-6: 60,   6-7: 2,   7-8: 2,   8-9: 60,   9-10: 2,    10-11: 2

Activities:

This world project is embedded into the school curriculum for IEWeek yearly. 44 schools from 22 countries were involved in this project in November 2019 Our Nursery children participated this year as well as Year 1 & Year 4. We email schools prior to the start to ensure they are able to participate and any new countries are then invited to join the project. All participating schools collect daily weather data at 12 noon on an identical template throughout International Education Week 2019 (18th- 23rd November) On completion this will be uploaded as an eBook for schools to compare weather data. Participating schools are encouraged to link any local weather sayings, poems, customs and children’s art about the weather. Schools participating for the 2nd or 3rd time are encouraged to see if there is any evidence of climate change from their data. A short project lasting just 6-8 weeks.

Aims and outcomes

• To record the weather from different parts of the world during IEW and see similarities and differences between countries weather patterns • Collaboration between schools • Using Languages • Cultural differences • Using scientific equipment Note any Geographical differences/similarities in the weather Use of ICT Skills • Know what equipment is needed to record the weather and how to read the findings • Knowing the terminology of weather related words in English • Communication skills • Recording data accurately • Making videos • Recording data daily at the same time Calendar of Activities Week 1 4th November begin discussion on the different types of weather Week 2 What equipment is needed to record the weather, what symbols are used , how do we read the findings Week 3 Art work, traditional sayings, poetry & stories about the weather in their country Week 4 18th November record weather for the week using the template Week 5 Is there any evidence of climate change, anything unusual about the weather? Week 6 Pupil and teacher evaluation Collaboration between students – (how will they work together?) • Pupils can see what other schools are doing through Zoom meetings and Global Schools Alliance web platform.. • Discussion between each other • Completed work posted on Project pages•
• Evaluation Evidence:

Evidence of work from the 44 schools in 22 countries across the world is on our school’s Face Book & twitter account. Data in from schools across the world can be viewed on our online book: https://www.flipsnack.com/Hsdgs/world-weather-watch-2019.html as well as the eTwinning project pages. Student evaluations visible on eTwinning site 1st Pupil wrote ‘ Loved doing the Skype meeting with school in Jordan, Portugal and Hungary..we learnt how to greet them in their own language & how to write the words as well, arabic writing is really strange to follow. 2nd Pupil ‘ it was exciting doing a Skype meeting with other schools especially as we’d come in with our coats, hats & gloves on as it was cold outside and the children in Jordan didn’t need any of these clothes as it was warm there’ Teacher evaluation visible on etwinning site Teacher 1 ‘My 5/6 year olds were interested in the different temperatures in countries & loved recording the weather daily.’ Jordan has been awarded 5 eTwinning Quality Labels for the project. We hope to see some schools again in November 2020, the 5th year for this project, which is always in November so we have some great data to look at it. Is there evidence of Climate Change in our countries over those years? u-Tube video of Taiwan pupils presenting their work on Weather Watch & Christmas card projects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZgW4vZStwc

Partner Schools Involved:

DAV BRS Public School. India

Shri Shikshayatan Girls India

Peponi House School Kenya

SK Kimanis, SK Mandahan, SK Papar Kimanis Vision School, Borneo. Malaysia.

Hakama Secondary School, Jordan

Wufu Junior High, Taiwan

Heritage School, Chisnau Moldova

College Pilote Sousse, Tunisia