A SCHOOL has received prestigious recognition for its “outstanding” international education programme. St John’s School and Sixth Form College – A Catholic Academy, in Bishop Auckland, has been accredited by the British Council with the International School Award (ISA).
The award lasts for three years and should strengthen future applications by St John’s for funding to develop its array of cross-curricular links with schools and communities worldwide.
The British Council, which promotes cultural relations and educational opportunities between the United Kingdom and the rest of the world, described St John’s application as “outstanding” and praised its “commitment and passion” towards its international programme.
Among the features singled out were partnerships with both local schools and others as far away as Spain, Chile, Peru and Bangladesh.
As an example of its commitment towards the programme, St John’s annual Project Peru campaign involves around 30 staff and students embarking on a three-week trip to the Amazon jungle to build vital facilities for residents in the remote city of Iquitos.
The British Council report noted: “Your links with Spanish speaking countries like Chile and Peru make the embedding of Spanish more interesting by combining language studies with topical global themes such as sustainable living, for example.”
Other initiatives include staff and student exchanges with a school in Zaragoza, Spain, with contact maintained on a daily basis so that the two schools can share resources and ideas.
Similar links have been forged with a school in Megeve, France, following a sustainability project looking at topics such as renewable energy and organic farming.
Another joint initiative with a school in Tubingen, Germany, involved students working tactfully and sensitively together to create part of an exhibition at St John’s to mark last year’s centenary of the outbreak of the Great War.
The school’s cross-curricular projects also involve feeder primary schools and other secondary schools as well as talks to pupils by Durham University students from countries as diverse as Brazil, Russia, Canada, Iraq and Pakistan.
Participation has extended to the wider community with families offering accommodation to exchange students and the public supporting ongoing Project Peru fundraising ventures.
The report also praised St John’s international co-ordinator and head of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL), Philip Robertson, for co-ordinating an “impressive array of work” and described him as “a credit to the school and the wider community”.
Mr Robertson thanked his department and the school as a whole, adding: “It is a massive honour for the school and means we are part of an elite group of schools to have received this status.
“As well as the kudos of being able to say we are an international school, it will hopefully unlock more doors for us to attract more funding and grants to continue our work.
“From the students’ point of view, the exchange visits have allowed individuals coming here to learn about British values and for our students to discover other cultures and customs.”
The ISA is seen as a guiding framework for schools to help them embed their international work within their curriculum and to prepare their students for life in a global society.
