International News
June 2010
Robin Hood International
Robin Hood Primary School in Rothwell has been playing host to teachers and students from ten European countries. The schools are linked through the European Union 'Comenius’ project, a three year project during which the schools share exchange visits, gifts, letters, information and photographs with the aim of teaching one another about their respective countries and cultures.
Robin Hood, holder of the International Schools Award, has links with schools all over the world. “Our International partnerships provide very real connections between our children and the wider world,” said Carol Wathen, International co-ordinator at Robin Hood. “This is part of our aim to help our children become aware, understanding and knowledgeable twenty first century citizens.”
Pictured are students from seven of the countries who met recently at the Royal Armouries for a celebration event to mark the completion of the project. Robin Hood will be welcoming delegations from Greece, Turkey and Hungary in the coming days.
Comenius Project
After disruption caused by the ‘Ash cloud’ from Iceland the planned Comenius meeting in April 2010 had to be cancelled. We eventually managed to reschedule the visit and Mr Wilson, Mrs Bailey , Mrs Wathen and Miss Darroch were eventually able to welcome Comenius Colleagues from around Europe at the beginning of June 2010.
We were joined by colleagues and students from France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Spain and Finland. We will also be joined at the end of June 2010 by colleagues and students from Turkey ,Greece and Hungary
We were all presented with a collaborative newspaper written by children from all 9 countries involved in the project it was about Fair Trade.
These meetings are the final ones in what has been a very interesting and exciting 2 Year Comenius Project and we would like to thank Elena and her team from Trento in Italy who were the Coordinators of this project.
May 2010
Connecting Classrooms: UK, Uganda and Senegal
Teaching staff from Robin Hood Primary School, Rothwell and Westfield Juniors, Yeadon, returned last week from a week long visit to partner schools in Uganda as part of a British Council-funded Connecting Classrooms project.
The Project aims to link UK schools with schools around the developing world, in this case sub-Saharan Africa. Helen Swallow (Yeadon Westfield), Paul Simpson and Mark Wilson (both Robin Hood) took their teaching skills to three schools in the Gayaza region of Uganda and met with fellow project leaders from the Ugandan schools and from Senegal to plan the next phase of their partnership.
So far, pupils from the schools have exchanged letters, gifts, photographs and art works and have learned about one another’s lives and cultures. The Project Planners hope that the next phase of the project, which will be led by the Senegalese team, will see video conferencing, email contacts between pupils and teacher exchanges.
Commenting on the trip, Helen Swallow said ‘A visit to Uganda is a truly memorable experience. I feel privileged to have been and to have represented both my school and the UK. We have formed lasting friendships with the staff, students and the schools that have hosted us in Uganda and we are very hopeful that the trip results in long lasting partnerships between our schools.’
Paul Simpson added ‘It was awe-inspiring to see teachers teaching classes of up to eighty pupils in which every pupil was eager to learn. What some Ugandan schools lack in resources, they make up in terms of commitment, enthusiasm and resourcefulness. We can add a great deal of value to the work our partners are doing. I am sure that our pupils will help us to enthusiastically build this relationship that we will all benefit from for many years to come.’
Mark Wilson, Headteacher at Robin Hood, summed up ‘Connecting Classrooms is about connecting our pupils with the wonderful and diverse world beyond their own doorstep. Through the spirit of partnership that this project embodies and through the use of communications technologies we aim to bring the world to our children to help excite and enthuse them and to help them gain the confidence and skills to explore, contribute to and make their mark on the world.’
April 2010
International Leeds
International Leeds coordinates and delivers international activity to the benefit of Leeds' citizens on behalf of the Leeds Initiative and Leeds City Council... http://www.leedsinitiative.org/international/
Etwinning Project
This Etwinning project/award is the foundations for our application for a new Comenius project (2010-2012) which if successful will be lead by Miss Thackeray (Robin Hood) as part of our Arts Team... read more
Staff and pupils from Leeds connect with classrooms in nine countries from around Europe.
Update: Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control the planned Comenius event has now been cancelled due to the problems with the Ash clouds from Iceland. Week commencing Monday 19th April. Staff and pupils from Robin Hood Primary School in Leeds will spend a week hosting over one hundred teachers and students from nine countries around Europe as part of their contribution to a three year project aiming to forge closer links and build greater cultural understanding between students in the UK and Europe... read more
November 2009
The third meeting in the Comenius project was held in Budapest, Hungary.
Miss Darroch, Mrs Wathen and Mrs Beetham met with colleagues to discuss the next stages of the project and the collaborative work which will be completed over the next few months. It was decided that each school will study Fair Trade and contribute a page towards a newspaper on this theme. At the final meeting in Leeds in April 2010, pupils will have the opportunity to share information about Fair Trade and the collaborative newspaper will be presented to each school.
April 2009
Miss Darroch and Miss Alvarado travelled to Montpellier in the South of France for the second meeting in the Comenius Project, which on this occasion involved both colleagues and pupils from each partner school.
The main focus of this meeting was to share and present work from across the schools which included the teaching of symmetry as well as how Numeracy is taught.
The French pupils welcomed and entertained the group by performing some dances and singing traditional songs.
Participating Schools in our Comenius Project 2008-2010
Stars of Europe, read more!
Italy
Click here to watch the video!
Logo Competition
Logo 5 is the winning entry and the country it comes from is Turkey:
March 16th - March 20th 2009
African Connections
Robin Hood Primary School recently welcomed visitors from Uganda and Senegal on a week-long British Council-sponsored Connecting Classrooms Project and introduced them to the British education system. The African teachers introduced themselves to our pupils in an assembly in which they shared songs, music, dancing and poetry. The teachers enjoyed a spectacular musical performance celebrating the Year 5 and 6 children’s appreciation of African culture through drumming and singing, and were also entertained by a Year 3 and 4 dance performance. The visitors were particularly interested in finding out about the use of technologies for learning in the curriculum. They were amazed by our pupil’s attitude and confidence with technology, even from the earliest years of their schooling. Following a traditional English school lunch of fish and chips, the teachers worked with our pupils on an art project portraying village life in Senegal.
During their day the African visitors met the Lord Mayor at an evening reception at Leeds Civic Hall. Our School Captains Charlotte Wade and Callum Musson attended the event and thoroughly enjoyed showing the guests their school and their city.
The visitors spent the rest of their week visiting Yeadon Westfield Primary and Royds High School to further their understanding of British education and enjoyed trips to the Yorkshire Dales and London. It is hoped that the Connecting Classrooms project will provide lots of opportunities for children from the two continents to exchange work and information about their respective cultures and for staff from the three participating English schools to visit to Uganda and Senegal.
November 08
Developing children’s appreciation of the International dimension, fostering an interest in and an enthusiasm for cultures and languages other than their own are key elements in our vision for pupils as technologically enabled adaptable learners who have the skills to thrive as citizens in the globally inter-connected twenty first century world. We are proud to be involved in a number of International projects with partner schools Comenius British Council-funded Project with partner schools from around Europe and a second British Council-funded Connecting Classroom project that links Robin Hood along with two other Leeds schools with teachers and pupils in Uganda and Senegal.
Mr Wilson, Miss Darroch and Mrs Wathen recently visited Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt in Germany to plan collaborative activities with Comenius colleagues from schools in nine other countries covering the length and breadth of Europe. We are partnered with schools in Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Finland and Greece in a highly innovative network that will involve pupils aged from three to nineteen years.
The aim of the Comenius project is to broaden pupils’ knowledge and understanding of European languages, cultures and history. Connecting Classrooms aims to continue this work and expand our International links worldwide. In working together with colleagues from Europe and around the world, we are forging important social, cultural and professional links that are of benefit to our pupils, schools and communities. As these projects develop during the next two years, pupils and schools within the networks will be linked via email, video conferencing and mail. Pupils in all of the schools will be making important contributions to one another’s understanding of life and lifestyles all around Europe and the world.
September 08
Along with Royds and Yeadon Westfield, Robin Hood Primary School is now partnered with schools in Senegal and Uganda as part of the Connecting Classrooms Project. the launch day for this took place on Monday 22nd September with the Mighty Zulu Nation. Click in to view the photos and film footage of the spectacular day.
The school has been accepted onto the Comenius Project with 9 other European countries including Italy, Spain, Greece, Germany Poland, Hungary, France and Turkey. Staff from Robin Hood will be attending a project meeting in Wiesbaden in Germany during the first week of November. The project will involve working on a joint project with these countries over the next 2 years. As part of the project, we will be welcoming colleagues from these countries.
January 08
We took part in a Christmas card exchange. The children learnt about the culture traditions and celebrations from countries around the world at Christmas including Spain, Canada , America, Ukraine and Russia. Here are some of the cards we received.
This is work produced by the children of Robin Hood School and it is now on
display in one of our link schools, in Ceuta in Spain. Here are the cards that were sent over.
November 07
The gold and silver christmas cards have been made by KS1 children to send to schools around the world including Canada, USA, Russia and Ukraine as part of an international Christmas card exchange. Robin Hood childrne will be receiving cards back from these schools and will also be learning about Christmas traditions in these countries. View the Christmas cards here.
November 07
These messages in a bottle have been produced by KS1 pupils during our friendship week and will be sent to our partner school and friends in Ceuta Spain. View the messages here.
November 07
Mr Wilson and Mrs Wathen met the Lord Mayor of Leeds, along with other Leeds International Schools, on 5 November 2007. This is an accolade that the whole city is proud of.
October 07
Robin Hood Primary School received its latest accolade at the International Schools Awards ceremony in London last week. The school was one of only four hundred in the whole of Great Britain to be invited to the event, hosted by the British Council and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
The International Schools Award is presented annually to those schools who have made outstanding progress in developing the theme of Internationalism in their curriculum. During the last year, pupils at Robin Hood have made links with children in Iceland, Turkey, Spain and France and pupils from the Nursery all the way through to Year Six learn to communicate in both French and Spanish.
“The International dimension is a key part of our aim to create healthy, happy, well-rounded, tolerant and informed world citizens. What with high speed Internet, twenty four hour news, cheap air travel, economic migration and globalisation, there is no question that the world is becoming a much smaller place. A knowledge and understanding of different languages, different cultures, different faiths and beliefs will help our children to become effective and successful adults in the connected twenty first century world,” said Mr Wilson, Head teacher at Robin Hood.
Mr Wilson is presented with the International Schools Award in London last week by BBC newsreader George Alagiah.
September 07
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In Summer 2007 we hosted a professional development visit for twenty three teachers from Vallaskoli School, Selfoss, Iceland. The connection between our two schools led to a visit on 11th September 2007 from Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland.
