Hi °C | Lo °C Nine schools from Northern Ireland have been presented with the British Council's International School Award.
The award, accredited by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, is the national scheme that gives recognition to the international dimension in the curriculum.
The schools honoured were Fleming Fulton, Grosvenor Grammar, Stranmillis Primary, Taughmonagh Primary, Ballymena Primary, Limegrove, Loreto Convent Primary, Omagh High, and St Mary's Girls Primary.
There was particular delight at Fleming Fulton, the Belfast based special school serving disabled pupils from all over Northern Ireland, as this was its second international school award, following on from its first success in 2003.
Fleming Fulton has a long and successful history of international work. Among many past activities, pupils have conducted research into wheelchair access in major cities across Europe, hosted other disabled teenagers at a European pupil summit, created animated films about the experience of being disabled for an international film festival, sung and given musical performances in Boston, Paris and Cologne, and attended and competed in the Paralympics at both Atlanta and Sydney.
The good practice at the school has not gone unnoticed by other educational bodies.
Jeremy Taylor, deputy head and co-ordinator for the school's international programme, was recently seconded to the Education and Training Inspectorate with the brief of identifying the benefits of international links for schools.
"What I discovered when on secondment to the inspectorate echoed our own experiences at Fleming Fulton," he said.
"Every single school I visited testified to the enormous benefits from international links both for pupils and for staff. Without exception, everyone spoke in the most positive terms about what had been gained from international involvement.
"Importantly, the benefits are seen throughout the whole school community - pupils, teachers, and school leaders. The biggest winners of course are the pupils - they get a chance to practice lots of the skills that are so central to the Revised Curriculum, particularly writing and ICT skills and they get to do so for a real purpose and to a real audience.
"I also found that pupil values and attitudes are positively affected. Teachers too benefit. There are great opportunities for professional development.
Anyone interested in finding out more should log onto www.britishcouncil.org/nireland or www.globalgateway.org - or contact the British Council on 028 9024 8220.
