International Programme
Muntham House School has been committed since 2008, to working alongside The British Council developing Global curriculum projects and international partnerships. This work is developed through the British Council’s ‘Connecting Classrooms’ Programme.
We are committed as a school to recognise and teach the importance of global themes to our pupils with the guidance, support and collaborative working of our education peers from across the globe.
Muntham House School is also part of a local cluster of schools in West Sussex who support one another on international projects and partnerships.
We have had partner schools across East Africa, sharing curriculum projects, good practice, ethos and reciprocal visits that have included both staff and pupils. Our partner schools have included Auxillium School in Ethiopia, Lumuli School in Kenya and more recently with Regina Pacis in Rwanda.
We aim for the pupils to gain a greater understanding of one another both as individuals and culturally. We aim to raise awareness of pupils rights, dispel stereotypes, and introduce different cultures and new ways of thinking, particularly regarding developing friendships, a shared voice and the development of global skills.
Action Plan
These are curriculum activities which have already been used and shared with our partners, and how they will be developed and inculcated into our school curriculum in general and in focus.
The themes are as follows:
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Design & Art
- Technology
- M.F. Languages
- History and Geography
- ICT and Media
- PSHCE
- Pastoral/ Life Skills
Outcomes
We began in 2007 with meetings with local partners in West Sussex who had experience of working in Kitale through one of their own programmes, we had ours in Bukeada in Uganda. These discussions developed and we joined with them in applying as a partner federation, and because as a special school we believed that this was an excellent inclusive opportunity. Our partnership with Lumuli Primary School in Kitale, Kenya, arose from our initial contacts and has built since then to annual reciprocal visits, online connections and a Co-operative. The subsequent work with Lumuli School and others in the Kitale region has proved a massive boost to our curriculum and in particular to the horizons of our SEN pupils and staff. Through the use of comparative curriculum work at both Muntham House School and Lumuli we have forged a Cooperative programme which has many curriculum and life skills aspects and is very popular. The most important aspect is that we feel like an international school with an outlook that is inquisitive and inclusive. For our work we were judged as runners up in the Link to Learn Awards in 2010. We now seek to expand this work with our partner school Auxilium Catholic School in Addis Ababa.
Moving forward 2014 pupils will begin to understand the links between international trade as a way out of poverty through aspects interdependence, and mutuality. Pupils are working on website that will include an online shop:
- Pupils will have to learn how to deal with stock taking,
- Supply and demand
- Packing and shipping
- Posting and packing
- Dealing with feedback
- Meeting deadlines, inviting local partner primary and secondary schools into the partnership works as a way of highlighting positive senses of identity and inclusion as a special community in parallel with other settings.
- Workshops
- Contacts Sharing practice/expertise
- Shared stalls at fairs
- Speaking and sharing ideas via social media African schools partnering with their local schools/community
- Sharing practice
- Sharing co op values
- Promoting Global issues
- Sharing ideas and practice via social media Partnering with schools in the Middle East and Eastern Europe to build Curriculum co-operative projects
- Linking practice
- Linking culture
- Expanding our understanding of Global issues Creating a youtube channel
- Co op meetings are recorded and aired
- Each country does 15 minute pod casts each week to speak about social issues/current affairs in their country and how it directly impacts on the pupils Project Countries. Muntham House School then Lumuli, Auxilium are aware but they need to develop this within their own resources.