British Council
History
The school partnerships and international education programme at the British Council goes back more than 60 years. In 1999 the Council started the International School Award accreditation scheme, and this is now a framework that supports international work in schools around the world.
Schools Strategy
The British Council strategy for 2012 re-affirmed these commitments, with a particular objective to support sustained collaboration between schools. The British Council firmly believes this improves educational outcomes for young people globally as well as offering opportunities for teachers and school leaders to develop professionally and contribute to system reform in the education sector.
The British Council advocates global citizenship in young people worldwide. They are committed to recognising schools that equip pupils with the skills, understanding and outlook required to work in a global economy and contribute responsibly to society, locally and globally.
British Council Schools Online
British Council Schools Online is a web community with a variety of online tools designed to enable teachers to network with one another, seek and share advice, access professional development resources and updates and join or form partnerships with schools to work together on international projects.
Schools can use the community to discuss curriculum development and potential links with other teachers globally, and to access guidance from The British Council School Online Programme support staff about Connecting Classrooms and how it could work best for your school.
Partner with a school
The British Council Schools Online partner-finding tool, help find partners online, with over 40,000 registered teachers and 180 countries, is the start of a journey into internationalising schools.
Classroom Resources
This section contains a range of activities designed by education professionals to help students explore the world beyond their classroom.
The British Council School Online Programme has produced a series of classroom resources which one can utilize from the online website. Classroom resources are designed to lead students through increasingly advanced issues related to Global Citizenship.
Professional Development
'In a rapidly changing globalised world, schools, teachers and young people need the skills and values base to make sense of what is happening in the world around them. Connecting Classrooms professional development courses play an important role in supporting the development of an international learning community that equips educators to develop young people into global citizens.'
The courses are designed to suit the educators needs with respect to the current level of experience in international learning and global citizenship. With fully funded opportunities support schools to teach global citizenship and international learning in the classroom, and help develop ICT and English skills.
Both the online courses and face-to-face workshops draw on the experience and knowledge of education practitioners and experts from around the world. It provides an ideal opportunity for teachers to share experiences, increase knowledge, discover new ways of doing things, network and inspire one another.
1.1 What is British Council International School Award? The British Council International School Award (ISA) is a benchmarking scheme that accredits schools as having an outstanding level of support for : a. Nurturing global citizenship in young people b. Enriching teaching and learning ISA was introduced in India in the year 2003 and over 600 schools across the country have joined this exciting journey since then. The range of schools participating in ISA varies from the well-resourced private schools to government schools from rural areas and schools for the under privileged communities.
| Month/Year | What will you do ? | Who will participate ? |
| October2013 | Year 5- "Global Climate- The Soul Of the World's Flora and Fauna" The project will allow students to explore the facts about the climate, vegetation and wildlife of India and compare it with that of UK. A joint weather booklet will be made by both schools | Navneet Padda(UK) Gary Everett ( India) |
| October 2013 | Set up blog pages with year 5/6 for children to communicate with each other . | Navneet Padda(UK) Vinita Dautkhane (INDIA) |
| Autumn term | Year 5 We teach India as our main topic in Year 5.We explore the similarities and differences between the two countries and challenge stereotypes. Both schools will challenge stereotypes and explore similarities and differences between the two countries. Collaborative activity -Research facts about both countries | Navneet Padda(UK) Giriraj Chundawat (India) |
| December 2013 | Foundation Stage- Joint CD of nursery rhymes AND Christmas sing –a-long nursery rhymes Joint Jolly phonics songs DVD will be made by both schools | Emma Blackwell(UK) Sara Ball(UK) Indu Kapoor (India) Kanak Bali Singh (India) |
| December 2013 | Year 3 Joint child rights calendar will be made by both schools .Both schools will be making a calendar for 2014 with each school designing alternate months based on the UN Child Rights. | Catherine Coop(UK) Veena Ghodgaonkar (India) |
| February2014 | Year 1 Joint Lunch Time Menu Book .Children from both schools will draw and write what we eat for lunch and will compare different foods. | Laura Poulteny(UK) Namita Rathore (India) |
| March 2014 | Year 4 Cultural tradition in cooking Children will be making a joint traditional recipe book | Kattherine (UK) Vanessa Scott (India) |
| March 2014 | Year 5 ‘Segregation’ .Both schools will focus on segregation within their own countries and globally too.(links will be made to Black History Month and the Caste segregation in India ) Drama activities will take place and a joint book of Pioneers will be made .(Black and Caste Pioneers) | Navneet Padda(UK) Jeremy Gibbard(uk) Pritha Lahiri Giriraj Chundawat (India) |
| May 2014 | Year 2 Year 2 will make information booklets about our lives in England which we will share with our partner school.They will do the same, which we will then present in our class assembly. | Georgie Jones(UK)and year 2 Neerja Luthra (India) |
| June 2014 | Foundation Stage A joint Dvd of traditional dances will be made (May Pole dancing )and Traditional Indian Dance | Emma Blackwell(UK) and foundation stage Indu Kapoor (India) Kanak Bali Singh (India) |
| June 2014 | Eco Warriors Packed Lunch survey-A packed lunch survey will be conducted by eco warriors in both schools to see 1.whether children are eating a healthy packed lunch . 2.To see eco friendly the packaging in lunch boxes. | Catherine Coop(UK) Kanak Bali Singh (India) |
| June 2014 | Year 6 Aspirations-comparing the aspirations of children in both schools | Mark Hughes(UK) Deepti Kapur |
| Year 3 fact sheet India-A joint fact sheet for both countries will be made. | Veena Ghodgaonkar (India) | |
| In addition to all these activities Christchurch Primary School 1.will be celebrating Earth Day in April 2014 2.We will be celebrate Interfaith day which takes place on the Friday 22nd of November coinciding with the Interfaith week that is celebrated nationally throughout England 3.will take part in the ‘We day’ project | Navneet Padda Catherine Coop Kattherine Singleton Gary Everett (India) Ranjeet Singh Rajput (India) Veena Ghodgaonkar (India) |
The British Council - Connecting Classrooms Programme regularly conducts Core Skills workshops to support teacher development in the following six core skills and competencies :
1. Critical Thinking & Problem Solving,
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Creativity and Imagination
4. Citizenship
5. Digital literacy
6. Student Leadership and Personal
Development.
The workshop is conducted in three sessions spread over a period of 5 months. It includes a One-day Introduction to Core Skills session, Two-day Advanced Course on any one core skill and a One-day Reflection Session.
1. A workshop on Critical Thinking and Digital Literacy Core Skill was attended by Ms. Sarita Badhwar, Mr. Gary Everett, Mr. Yogesh Shukla, Mr. Rajneesh Sharma and Mrs. Vinita Daudkhane at Delhi.
2. Another Workshop on Collaboration and Communication Core Skill was attended by Mrs. Rashmi Ahuja, Mrs. Asma Ansari and Mr. Giriraj Singh Chundawat at Delhi.
3. The Workshop on Creativity and Imagination Core Skills was attended by Ms. Priti Sable and Mr. S.K. Kanchan at Delhi.
