Aycliffe Village Primary School is celebrating after gaining an International School Award for its promotion of modern foreign languages and development of links with overseas partners.
The award has been given by the British Council for the work done by the school in forming links with France, Denmark, Russia and Sri Lanka, as well as its teaching of European languages. French is taught to all pupils and German is taught in years five and six.
The school has also worked on joint cultural projects with Greenfield Community College and three County Durham primary schools.
Headteacher Jed Gargan said: “We are delighted to have gained the award. Pupils and staff have worked hard over the past few years to develop our links with all of our partner schools.”
The school is also celebrating the opening of two new classrooms and additional space for the Early Years Foundation Stage, at a cost of £75,000. This has covered the design and building of the extra rooms, as well as improvements to ICT and the school grounds, which now includes a vegetable garden.
Mr Gargan said: “The new classrooms have made a huge difference to us. We now have our youngest pupils at one side of the school, with single year groups in each class. In the key stage two area, the extra space is being used for groups of pupils.”
The extra accommodation has allowed for an increase in the admission limit from 22 pupils this year to 25 in 2013.
