The following article comes from Sally Bowker, PSHE/SMSC lead at On Track Education.
Why is global education important to you and your school?
Global Education is paramount to me and our school, we needed to raise awareness of different cultures as our school is small and we do not have a mixture of many cultures within the school. We think it is so important for our students to have a rounded awareness that we all have similarities and differences and know that in their future they can make a difference with their knowledge and experiences.
How has the Global School Alliance benefited you as a teacher and the opportunities for your school?
The Global School Alliance has given us opportunities to link with other schools and form amazing relationships with others. It has widened our knowledge and understanding of how other countries educate their children. We were worried at first that we might not be able to work with global schools as we are a small independent school and we will never be able to do the exchanges abroad, BUT we knew we had to try to introduce more culture and global importance into our curriculum.
When I joined and went on to the platform, it was soon apparent that the Global School Alliance was available to anyone for any type of interaction and a lot of schools like ours could start off small. There are so many ideas for projects that you can be as small or big as you like, it’s fabulous.
What benefits do you think this award will have on the whole school community?
This award is a massive achievement for us, we are honoured to have taken part and to be able to broaden our understanding of others with visuals, actual people, and direct answers, which helps validate and enhance our teachings.
How will you use this award to motivate students and staff?
This is the first step to new things, we are looking into different projects that can involve a lot more staff members and involve more subject-specific experiences, which in turn give them the motivation to teach the children new things. This award gives us other ideas for improvements and gives us an exciting new chapter of embracing something new.
What are your plans to develop your international work?
We already have plans to get together with our partner school to work on things around the environment and UN rights of the child and how we differ also how we are planning to contribute to change. We cannot wait to expand on this new journey. We are on a roll now and will continue to complete projects that enhance our curriculum.
To learn more about the Global School Awards, visit: www.globalschoolalliance.com/global-school-awards.
