Select Page

International Links

International Policy 2022

Rosa Street School works hard to introduce our children to the wider world around them, including places in other countries. Being involved in projects such as Connecting Classrooms has enabled links with other schools and from these links children have gained a better understanding of the context of each school including cultural norms, school setting, children’s interests and how people in other countries live. Children at Rosa Street are encouraged to become global citizens and take part in regular activities to champion children’s rights around the world.
Here is a link to our action plan:

Festival of Languages

Pupils at Rosa Street were chosen to participate in recording their version of Pharell’s ‘Happy’ in Spanish. They visited Collingwood College at Durham University to record in a state of the art facility. Their recording will now be shared with other school in the North-East to support them to learn the song too.

After learning about how New Year is celebrated in China, we were lucky enough to be sent some information from our partner school in Sri Lanka about their New Year. New Year in Sri Lanka (where the main religion is Buddhism) falls on the 13th or 14th of April .Both Sinhalese and Tamils celebrate this festival and  follow a number of rituals on and after this day. This is celebrated according to the transition of  Zodiac signs. Sri Lankans buy new clothes and new furniture to adore themselves as well as preparing traditional food items.

The children across school were fascinated by the difference between the two cultures and we’re grateful to our Sri Lankan colleagues for taking the time to help us learn more about their culture.

Wesak decorations- Sri Lanka

Wesak Full Moon Poya Day- Sri Lanka

Gran Canaria Residential

Our Year 5 and 6 pupils were lucky enough to travel to visit our partner school in Gran Canaria in May. We were greeted on our first day with a formal welcome ceremony before spending some time with the Spanish children in their classroom. We were also lucy enough to spend time learning traditional Canarian games at the beach which we then taught other children from our school once e returned home. It was also loveyl to spend time exploring Gran Canaria and and learning about the history of the island from our tour guides.  We are looking forward to hosting some teachers and pupils from our partner school in the coming year.

Culture Day

We held a culture day in school to develop our children’s knowledge of cultures around the world. Each class chose a different country and spent the day taking part in a range of activities that linked to their chosen country. The children then shared their work with the rest of the school in an online assembly.

Christmas in Gran Canaria

We’ve been working closely with our partner school in Gran Canaria and as part of our project work both schools have prepared presentations about Christmas in their respective countries. Staff shared the work sent from our Gran Canaria partner school with the children and we all learnt so much about how Christmas is different in the Canary Islands. These are a selection of the presentations sent from the children in Gran Canaria.

Christmas In Gran Canaria
Christmas in Gran Canaria 2
Christmas in Gran Canaria 3

Chinese New Year

Year 5 and 6 have recently held a zoom call with Zhihan from Durham University. She explained all about the traditions that take please around Chinese New Year in her native China and the children were able to ask questions to deepen their understanding. We can’t wait to work more closely with Zhihan in the near future on an upcoming project.

 

British Council International School Reaccreditation Award success for Rosa Street Primary School

Rosa Street Primary School in Spennymoor has been awarded the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom.

The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life work in today’s world.

Rosa Street’s international work includes:

  • The international dimension is firmly established in our school’s curriculum and whole-school ethos, promoting citizenship and foreign language learning, and celebrating cultural diversity across the school and wider community.
  • We have active links with schools in Sri Lanka and Kenya which are providing rich learning opportunities for both pupils and staff.
  • Weekly teaching includes the requisite element of foreign language learning (French) supported by our local secondary school and partner school in France.
  • The international activities cover a range of subject areas and age groups, with international work taking place throughout the year. This is well managed and coordinated so that it is an integral part of our annual curriculum, dovetailing neatly with the topic-based learning approach.
  • Our pupils are developing important citizenship skills and attributes such as tolerance and respect.
  • We acknowledge the benefits of international work for staff professional development, in terms of increased awareness of issues and how to address them in the curriculum.
  • We are proud to be able to involve local community members and parents/families in our multi-cultural activities and celebrations.

On hearing the news that Rosa Street had received the award Mrs Ashton, Headteacher said “We are absolutely delighted that the hard work of staff and students has been accredited and recognised by the organisation. The work we do promotes an understanding of a variety of cultures, languages, and traditions and in doing so we aim to enrich the lives of both our students and those who we work with for a globalised world.”

 

 

Partnership Schools

Midigama Maha Vidyalaya

We have been working with Mr Patabengai, Midigami in Sri Lanka since 2014. It is located on the south coast of Sri Lanka in the Matara District, southern province and lies 23.5km from the city of Galle. The school has approximately 800 pupils aged 5-16. I was already working with the school in Sri Lanka when I changed schools. The Sri Lankans were keen to continue our working relationship when I joined my new school, Rosa Street Primary in 2014. Over the years we have developed a collaborative and supportive relationship working on action plans and joint projects. Reciprocal visits each year has enabled different members of staff to visit each other’s school which has been very beneficial to the work undertaken and has strengthened the link through first hand experiences. Our teachers have visited the school yearly and the Sri Lankan teachers have visited Rosa Street Primary. We work on joint projects and our children are able to learn about Sri Lankan traditions and customs.

Ecole Elementaire Jean Racine

We have worked with the school “Ecole Jean-Racine elementary school in the Chateauroux region in France since 2015. since then we have visited the school with our pupils while on our visit to Paris. We have worked on joint projects such as “Our school” and “Festivals”. The partnership has befitted our pupils as it encourages them to speak and write another language and to visit another country where they can experience everyday life that is different to their own. Our children have visited the school and enjoy working together.

Rangenya Primary School
Rangenya Primary School is a state primary school situated in a rural region, within Ndhiwa Sub County. Ndhiwa Sub County is situated within Homa Bay County, in Western Kenya. Schools in the region have typically been neglected by the Kenyan government. As a result, schools have poor academic facilities, dilapidated overcrowded classrooms, limited infrastructure and a shortage of teachers.

 

Sri Lanka 2020

Mrs Ashton and Mrs Lazenby had a fantastic time when they visited our twin school in Sri Lanka early this year. Please have a look at some of the amazing photos taken during their exciting visit.

 

Kenya 2019

Mrs Wilson received a warm welcome when they visited our twin school in Kenya in October 2019. Please have a look at some of the wonderful photos taken during their exciting visit.

Mrs Wilson’s Trip to Kenya

 

France Residential – 2019

Year 5 and 6 children had the opportunity to participate in a visit to France and meet up with our local partnership school. The children visited places of cultural interest, such as the Effiel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Norte-Dame, other religious buildings from other cultures and Montmartre as well as a visit to local markets and a local school. This visit allowed children to realise how people from different cultures live and provided pupils meaningful opportunities to practise French languages skills.

 

Water

We chose to use the Gobal goal no. 6 “Clean water and sanitation.” Initially, the Year 5 and 6 worked on the activities then the whole school became involved during Water Week. We wanted to highlight to our pupils the importance of water (something they take for granted). We also wanted to link this activity in to our Rights Respecting initiative. The pupils learned that water is at the heart of sustainable development and it is important for the process of social and economic development, energy, food production, healthy ecosystems and for human survival. It is also a rights issue as all communities have the right to have enough water for their needs, not only to drink, use for cooking but for sanitation. Children investigated water-related challenges in the world’s poorest countries: – drinking water; sanitation facilities; collecting water from contaminated sources; water scarcity; wastewater contaminating rivers or sea; water used for irrigation; number of deaths due to water and sanitation related diseases and most of all why it matters to have clean water and sanitation and what is being done about it, for example World water week The whole school participated in World Water week and concluded our event with a celebration of water on World Water day 22 March 2019 – focussing on importance of water for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite Traditional Stories 

Year 6 pupils spent time during English lessons researching their favourite stories. They then worked on acting out the stories and discussing any moral dilemmas. They then retold the stories and wrote their own version. These were sent to Sri Lanka. The pupils from Sri Lanka sent letters of thanks and asked when Mrs Harrison visited the school she would read the pupils the original stories. While Mrs Lazenby, Mrs Hilton and Mrs Atkinson were in Sri Lanka they not only read the stories but taught a series of English lessons to the pupils, giving them the same learning experiences as their counterparts in the UK. From this the pupils tried writing their own stories which were then photographed and brought to the UK. Not finished Year 6 pupils spent time in English researching favourite stories. They then worked on acting out the stories and discussing any moral dilemmas. They then retold the stories and wrote their own version. These were sent to Sri Lanka. What was to be a one off teaching experience Mrs Lazenby, Mrs Hilton and Mrs Atkinson worked with the children giving them the same learning experiences as their counterparts in the UK. From this the pupils tried writing their stories and doing drama work.

 

International week – Christmas around the World!
As part of our Christmas celebration we have shared Christmas cards over the last few years with Sri Lanka. This activity was initially instigated by the pupils. This year each class planned work for the week before we broke up for Christmas. All classes selected a different country for activities to be based around. These included: Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, Brazil, India, Mexico and Australia. Work was shared in assemblies at the end of the week and used to make a lovely display. It was a fantastic opportunity for all pupils to find out more about when and how Christmas is celebrated around Europe and the rest of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First World War Armistice Centenary 2018
The whole school have been learning all about the events of the world wars this week. A World War re-enactment company joined us in school and children brought items of interest into school. 

Sikhism in Year 4/5 – Autumn 2018
This term we have been learning about different religions including Sikhism. We have explored the beliefs of Sikhs and how these beliefs can be expressed. We had lots of interesting questions for our special visitor Cloud Singh which helped us learn lots about the religion.

London Visit 2018
Children had an exciting itinerary that included a West End show, visit to the Tower of London, a river cruise, Natural History Museum visit and the London Eye experience.