International School Award - Foundation Level
26th October 2016
Dear International Co-ordinator,
We are delighted to inform you that [node:field_school_name] has successfully met the criteria for the Foundation level of the British Council International School Award. Congratulations!
Here are the assessor’s comments on your application. Please read them carefully and take any constructive feedback into account as you progress along your International School Award journey:
"Dear Mr Campbell, Thank you for applying for the International School Award Foundation Certificate on behalf of Orrets Meadow Primary School, and the assessor is pleased to inform you that your application satisfactorily passes the necessary criteria. From the information in your submission it is clear that you are in the process of establishing a sound platform for developing the international dimension within your school and community. You already teach French and German as well as ensuring that pupils are experiencing teaching related to culture and lifestyles. Your highly successful European Week activity clearly promoted considerable intercultural awareness and enthusiasm because of the wide range of projects which were undertaken, and it is very evident that there is now a desire to include more internationally themed work within your curriculum. You also have a number of potential school partnerships which might offer curriculum enrichment and staff professional development. If you consider it appropriate, your school is now in a position to progress towards the Intermediate certificate. This will entail ensuring some of the formal infrastructural arrangements connected to international policy and coordinator are up to date, a survey of pupil and staff understanding of themes and education, plus the development of curriculum projects with a partner school for at least half of the pupils in the school. In addition to this, you may feel it appropriate to investigate the possible advantages to be gained from taking part in programmes such as eTwinning, Erasmus+ or Connecting Classrooms. Similarly, the usage of online training and resources available on the British Council website might further support the development of the international dimension in your school. Congratulations on achieving the International School Award Foundation Certificate. "
We will send you a letter and certificate by post to formally recognise this achievement. Please let us know, within the next five days, if there are any changes in the school's details: new headteacher, school name or address.
Next steps:
Now that you have successfully reached the Foundation level the next stage for you to work towards to is the Intermediate Certificate.
Schools at Intermediate level work closely with at least one international partner school. They are now gaining experience of working on multiple internationally-themed projects and are increasing their impact on the school curriculum.
There is no deadline for submitting an application for the Intermediate Certificate and we are happy to accept applications throughout the academic year. Like the Foundation level, you simply report on activities that have happened in the preceding 12 months (from the date of application). You can learn more about the Intermediate Certificate on our website.
Alternatively, if your international activity is sufficiently developed, you can apply for Accreditation without first achieving the Intermediate level. This involves reporting on activities conducted over the course of a particular single academic year. More details are available here.
If you need advice or support with your international partnership, please contact schools@britishcouncil.org or call our Customer Services on 0161 957 7755. Alternatively, the ISA team will be happy to advise on the progress of your activities against your plan. Contact us at isa@britishcouncil.org or 020 7389 4620.
We wish you the best as you continue with your international journey.
Kind regards,
The International School Award team British Council