Sam in Year 1 got things off to a good start though as he presented a cake to his class.

The Olympic week was about being healthy and getting the pupils to try something new. And that’s exactly what they did.

Pupils aged 9-11 got a master class in sky diving from the Team GB Sky diving team, while younger children had a go at fencing.

Organiser Alison Harrison said: “The aim of the week was to get the children healthy. All of our 21 classes tried out three or four new sports, in the hope that all children would be inspired to get active and take up a new hobby after the week was over.

Some of the children put on a Taekwondo demonstration with their club teachers; another assembly had Paralympic swimmers and future Olympic swimmers talking about their training and there was also the chance to take up Judo."

Alison added: “They got the chance to have a go at sports there is no opportunity to do in this area.” 

There were also five different dance schools that came in to teach ballet, modern, hip hop and Zumba in the lunchtimes, as well as other martial arts.

Instead of running, children in reception were even asked to dance too - Havana Salsa style!

All of the school's classes adopted an Olympic country, and throughout the week learnt about its culture, music and language; plus many visitors came in and brought food for everyone to try.

Alison said: “The kitchen staff also did a super job making the week's menu reflect food from around the world.”

The two weeks of healthy eating and trying a new sport took place between 11^th – 22^nd June.

 

Hemel Hempstead School in the UK have begun singing with the Mgezwa JSS School choir in South Africa in five separate concerts over two weeks in June and July.

Hemel Hempstead School have raised around £10,000 to help the 13 strong Mgezwa choir make the 6,000 mile journey to the UK for these events.

In an amazing experience for the group of teenage singers who are all 14 or 15 and have never travelled outside of their own town of Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape before.

Megan Botha who has helped organise this coming together of cultures said: “The pupils from South Africa are fantastic, they live life with such enthusiasm and we get a great deal from our visits. For our students, South Africa seems more tangible to them because they are interacting with real people from the country. And for us teacher’s we are reminded how much more to life there is when our two world’s come together.”   

Arriving for the first time on Tuesday 26 June, Mgezwa Choir had just three days to practice with the Hemel Hampstead School choir and be ready to perform at Hemel Hempstead’s summer concert on 29 June.

The visit of Mgezwa JSS School choir should also be one to remember for Hemel Hempstead School sixth form student Tom Durrant.

The young musician has composed a new piece of music called “Ukuhamba Kukufunda” (Travelling is learning) which both choirs will perform together for the first time as part of another concert on 4 July.

Travelling is learning includes lyrics in both English and Xhosa which is the first language of the Mgezwa learners, although all their lessons are taught in English.

Director of Music Debbie Bailey said of the piece: “It’s absolutely perfect, the composition grows and builds until both choirs sing together for the climax.”

On being asked to compose the piece Tom said: “I was really scared at first, but a massive privilege. The whole process has taught me the value and impact music has on everyone. 

The concerts are also a big moment for Tom because of where his song will be performed, Tom added: “The school has played one of my songs before in a concert but nothing as public as this. This is a real venue and anyone can come along.”

The performance of ‘Travelling is learning’ will take place at Watford Boys School on 4 July.

 

This month a teacher from Colegrave Primary School visits Ethiopia to see how their partner school works first hand.

Johanna Lawrence will visit Derara Elementary School, in Debre Zeit during half term, the school’s first visit to the school since their link began back in September 2011.

Colegrave is less than four miles away from the Olympic Park in London and pupils there have slowly watched the Olympic Stadium’s rise as we move ever closer to this summer’s games.

Johanna said: “Twinning makes the world a smaller place for the children here at Colegrave Primary School. They begin to see they have similarities with someone hundreds of miles away and for the pupils in Ethiopia they feel closer to the Olympics.”

Pupils from Colegrave primary school sent letters to greet their new found friends in October and received replies shortly afterwards and now it is hoped the two schools can build on their relationship with joint work based projects.

Johanna said: “We decided that as a school we would like to apply for accreditation as a fair-trade school, so the children can learn about fair-trade in a meaningful way and ensure that all the products we use are fair-trade. We thought this would make a relevant topic to investigate jointly, looking into the coffee trade in Ethiopia, and examining the impact on local people and farmers.”

The staff at Derara Elementary School would also like to share the importance of coffee in their culture and are keen to investigate issues surrounding coffee in UK and Ethiopia, including the impact of rising coffee prices in Ethiopia.

Speaking of her pending trip Johanna added: “I think it will give me a greater insight into what life is like in Ethiopia”.

A joint art project is planned for the future to reflect the schools interests in Fair-trade and coffee in the near future.  

 

To the sound of drums, pupils of all ages came together to discuss what mattered to them. in a garage under a backdrop of colourful banners and artwork depicting what is important in this world we live in, every pupil at Multikids Academy in Accra, Ghana were ready to begin their assembly.

Their assembly was hosted by Alex Jakana from BBC World Have Your Say, this pupil forum brought forward a range of thoughts and ideas. 

One pupil wondered how people catch malaria and learnt from his peers as they explained that malaria is caught as a result of mosquito bites and people die from malaria because they do not have access to medicine or cannot afford to see the doctor. 

Trees were seen as important because they provide oxygen and can be a source of medicine. The view was, if they must be cut down so roads can be built for example, these trees should be replaced. 

Multikids Academy is an inclusive school allowing mainstream pupils to learn alongside those with learning or physical difficulties. It is also a fee paying school and this privilege was not lost on the children, who see themselves as very lucky.

They have access to books, go to school and eat at lunch time, many people in Africa or even across Ghana, do not get such an opportunity. And this is what mattered to them.  

The World’s Biggest School Assembly on Tuesday 8 May aimed to give students a voice and saw hundreds of schools around the world talk about what mattered to them. 

Later the same day, pupils from Accra took part in a live radio broadcast with Alex linking up with schools in London, Washington and Jamaica listen to the highlights here.

Click here to find out more about what schools everywhere talked about in their assemblies.

 

But this is precisely what schools in Scotland and Malawi have been exploring.

 

Using resources from the charity Link Community Development, the pupils in Scotland looked at preventable diseases in their community and compared this with their partner school in Malawi, Kamtedza Primary.

The schools also reflected on the importance of clean water and a good diet.

Notable differences emerged in how the Scottish and Malawi pupils defined being healthy. Pupils in Scotland referred to keeping healthy as participating in exercise and not eating food with high fat or sugar content but rather foods that are high in vitamins.

Having a balanced diet with the recommended five-a-day portions of fruit and vegetables was thought of as important.

Children in Malawi thought not smoking or drinking alcohol was important in order to stay in good physical shape. They also thought that it was useful to know how your organs and body work in order to keep them healthy.

As part of their activities the Pumpherston pupils also put together a questionnaire looking at how HIV and malaria affect children’s health in Malawi. 

“The pupils were quite alarmed to see how widespread disease is in Malawi,” said Scottish teacher Carina Ramos.

“The pupils were shocked to hear that people who suffer from HIV become isolated in society because others are afraid of contracting it from them,” added Ms Ramos.

The pupils in Scotland now want to know about personal stories that some of the children in Malawi have and how they have been changed by these live events.

They also want to share experiences of occasions when pupils have been poorly at their own schools and how they were treated.

Ms Ramos said of the project: “The pupils have really taken the lead on this and are curious to know more. An insight into another country and how life is different in other parts of the world has really opened their eyes.”  

A busy classroom in Trinidad and Tobago

Picture a small room, partitioned with blackboards. These cubicles are your classrooms. Your school is in the Caribbean.

Five primary school head teachers from the London borough of Islington recently went on a study tour to Tobago and this is what they saw. 

With no walls to divide the space and different lessons taking place at the same time, these classrooms are noisy and it can be difficult to concentrate.  But this is normal and the children there are used to it.

The Islington Head teachers are part of the Maamulaha Network and as they entered a Tobago classroom for the first time, the children aged 5 were eager to show off examples of their written English.

“They write beautifully” said Yvette Allen of the charitable organisation Uel Network, who organised the trip.

“But not all of them can read what they have written,” she added.

For these primary school children in Tobago to read and understand what they have written comes later in the curriculum. The teaching style here is very traditional, the content of the lesson is written on the blackboard for the pupils to copy. 

“There is limited access to resources, but the Caribbean teachers are so determined to help their pupils succeed and really make the most of what they have,” says Yvette.

The school day usually started with Christian assembly which the children stand for, sometimes for up to half an hour, but this was something the visiting teachers were more than happy to do.

One of the head teachers Mark Miller said of the trip: “I enjoyed visiting the schools, talking to children and teachers to get a general feel for how schools were working and the challenges they face. This was one of the greatest experiences of my career.”

The head teachers made the trip to Tobago between 6-10 February. 

Highfields School in Matlock, Derbyshire will welcome the torch to the school on June 29^th when it comes to the area as part of the relay.   

Highfields is twinned with Australian swimmer Emily Seebohm’s former school, St John Fisher in Brisbane.

Teacher Jayne Allen said: “This is a huge honour for the school everyone here is really excited by the news.”

The day will also be one to remember for Hannah Rosenbaum in year 8 who has won a school competition design competition.

Pupils in years 7&8 (12-13) were asked to design a torch in their design lessons and Hannah’s winning design is now being made into a real torch and will be on show when the Olympic torch pays Highfields a visit.

Hannah said: “I’m shocked, it is so unexpected.”

Her torch design which includes the Olympic logo as part of its handle, will help open the school’s mini-olympics where Highfields will join forces with thirteen other local schools for the mammoth sports day.

Jayne added: “Each year group will adopt a country and compete against each other in sports like tennis and volleyball. The event is getting bigger and bigger and we are expecting nearly 1000 pupils to be taking part.”

This completes a double celebration for Team Seebohm after Emily clinched her place at the Olympics by winning the women’s 100m backstroke final at the Australian swimming trials in March.

Taking part in BBC News School Report with the help of the British Council yesterday were; Kabwe High School, Bwacha High School, Stephen Luwisha Secondary School, Nkwashi, St.Mary’s, Mukbeko and Neemtree Basic school.

School Report allows pupils to become journalists for the day, their classrooms become newsrooms and they report the news that matters to them. 

One of the stories the Zambian schools chose to report on was the fact that thousands of football fans lined up yesterday to get a rare peak of the African Cup of Nations trophy.

People queued outside the Kabwe Warriors Railway Stadium from 5am on Thursday to look at the silverware which was won by Zambia back in January.

A record 1,051 schools took part in BBC News School Report yesterday.

 

Team Ivan Ukhov

Fairland’s are twinned with Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov’s former school, School 108 in Ekatarinburg, Russia.  Take a look at their blog.   

These schools are part of the Olympic Dreams Network in partnership with the British Council.

 

Pupils at a school in Essex have got the art of recycling in the bag.
Year 5 pupils (aged 9-10) at St Cedd’s in Chelmsford made bags from reusable materials during their English lessons and sold them at their Christmas Fair to raise money for a slum school in India. 
Inspiration to make the bags came from students at Indraprastha World School in New Delhi after a teacher visited last summer and witnessed the conditions some children experience at a nearby slum school.
Twinned for two years, the schools joined forces to raise money and help improve conditions in the slum by holding sales of the bags both in the UK and India.
Rosie from St Cedd’s School helped make the bags, she said: “The handles are sturdy and strong and the bags are environmentally friendly. Everyone was very generous and gave us a lot of money.”
All the children made and decorated at least one bag and 75 were sold in total raising £73.43.
Indraprastha World School made greetings cards and other items to raise 9,300 rupees which is around £112.
The slum school will now send both schools a list of things they need and the students at St Cedd’s and Indraprastha will select how the money can best be spent.
Caroline Picking, teacher at St Cedd’s said: “This will be a great way for the pupils to use real maths, as they'll have to work out and prioritise what can and can't be bought.
“I am delighted with the enthusiasm and creativity shown by pupils at both St. Cedd's and Indrapratha World Schools, Caroline added.
“They are determined to help others who are living in poverty and I am very proud of the way they are working together as a team, despite being thousands of miles apart”.

 

Wells Cathedral School in Somerset has released a charity Christmas single to raise money for their partner school, Ballanta Academy of Music in Sierra Leone.
After setting up their own record label ‘Wells Cathedral School Records’, the pupils have been working since October to produce and record two tracks: ‘Hey Ho, It’s Christmas I Know’ and ‘While Shepherds Watched’.
The single went on sale on 1st December and over 500 CDs have already been sold.
The record label was the brain child of Richard Speller who joined the school in September.
“There is such a huge pool of talent here, music flows through the school and we wanted everyone to get involved. The pupils are a credit to the school,” Richard said.
The students from Wells Cathedral School which is a specialist music school have raised around £20,000 for the Ballanta Academy of Music since 2007.  The money has been used to sponsor pupils at the school and pay for a new music studio. The funds from the single will go towards paying staff wages.
“The students worked hard to produce the CD over the last few months in aid of our partner school,” Deputy Head Nigel Walkey said.  “I hope the Wells Cathedral School music videos spread joy around the world.”
The videos have received more than 4,000 hits on you tube. In the future it is hoped the pupils will produce, record and promote as many different artists as they can using social media.
Three students are currently running the label and when they leave the school, it is hoped other students will continue the good work they have started.
Involvement in the record company acts as an incentive for many pupils because if they fall behind with their work, they cannot take part.           
Richard Speller said: “This has given the students experience in how to promote themselves as artists. They cannot rest on their laurels, especially in the current climate.”

Within the murky water of a rock pool, hidden amongst the stones and pebbles you can find a whole other world deep within the sand. 

That’s what school pupils in Wales have been discovering, and at the same time they have been  opening their eyes to other landscapes across the Atlantic.

Broad Haven School in Pembrokeshire and the Southern Highlands Preparatory school in Las Vegas, USA are part of a pilot for a project called the Darwin Experience.

It is hoped young people will appreciate their surroundings more and learn from each other rather than from a teacher.

Broad Haven School have been looking at the different species which exist in rock pools and how they have adapted to their environment. They learnt that crabs feast on dead creatures at the bottom of the pools and use their claws to break food up into manageable chunks.

They then produced videos and wrote letters about their environment outside of school and sent them off to America.

Oswin from Las Vegas said: "I really enjoyed the crab removing its shell. We would never get the chance to see that here.”

The experience allowed the pupils to get outdoors and teach each other for a change.

Coleton also from LA said: "It was great to learn by getting outside the classroom. I really enjoyed the video and the letters from the students in Wales. Sometimes it is easier to learn from someone my age.”

The pupils in the USA focused on the pressures of climate and pollution on the ecosystem in Las Vegas.  

This included the air pollution caused by a high volume of traffic and also how the people of Las Vegas make sure they have enough water despite the lack of rain in the area.

Byron from Brook Haven said: "It was great fun finding out about the boys and girls in Las Vegas and how they learn. I would like to go there one day, it's so different."

Broad Haven Head teacher, Debra Phillips said: "You only had to observe the children and listen to their comments to know that the link with Las Vegas has extended their knowledge and understanding of a different landscape and culture.”

The pilot began in September 2010.

Marten Lewis from the Darwin Centre said: “Sharing things that are unique about where you live is a great way to install pride in your region and start to care for the things that make your area special.”

The Darwin Experience Education Project hopes to match the 60 junior schools in Pembrokeshire with schools across the world.

 

With the Moroccan flag proudly flying high outside, a school in Rotherham prepared to welcome some rather unusual visitors at a recent art exhibition.

A band of ‘recycled robots’ descended on Wales High School as part of a joint art exhibition with their partner school, College Ibn Sina in Casablanca.

The two schools have been producing work for this event since March under the theme of colour and texture.

While pupils from all years showed off all kinds of artwork, Design & Technology pupils in Year 7 produced robots out of recycled materials. They also thought up imaginative names and functions for them such as 'Chocolate Brownie Maker' and ''Professional Spectator'.

Teacher Daragh Swain said: “The students have been collecting household items that would normally be thrown away and re-using them to reinforce the work we have been doing on the environment and reflecting the message; ‘reduce, re-use, recycle’."

Wales High School welcomed a very special guest in the form of College Ibn Sina teacher Mr Abdallah El Mouden and the Moroccan delicacy of mint tea available for one and all to enjoy. 

Mrs Swain added: “it's been a real cross curricular and cross-community event.”

Harthill Primary School - also in Rotherham - joined in and showed their art work at the event which took place on Wednesday 16th November.  College Ibn Sina will put on the art exhibition in April.

Organiser Gareth Hughes said: "It was wonderful to see the whole community come together and celebrate the work of students both in Morocco and the UK. The students have worked so hard and the quality of work on display is a testament to the strength of our partnership with College Ibn Sina."

Wales High School has been twinned with College Ibn Sina in Casablanca, Morocco since April 2010.

Year 10 pupils from Audenshaw School were taught Mandarin Chinese by Lily Ong, a teacher from Honolulu.

The future looks bright for the Manchester - Honolulu partnership and Ms Ong is now setting up a setting up a scholarship for two pupils from Audenshaw to study at the Hawaii Chinese Immersion School for a month.