Headteacher: Andrew Drury
Wanborough Primary School, The Beanlands, Wanborough, Swindon, SN4 0EJ
Tel: 01793 790269 Email:admin@wanboroughprimary.org
International School Award
Last updated 12.09.19
Wanborough Primary School has once again been awarded the British Council's prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom. Our status is now extended until 2022 after a successful re-accreditation in August 2019.

The International School Award is for schools that do outstanding work in international education, such as through links with partner schools overseas. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council's work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need to live and work as global citizens.

The International School Award encourages and supports schools to develop:
  • An international ethos embedded throughout the school
  • A majority of pupils within the school impacted by and involved in international work
  • Collaborative curriculum-based work with a number of partner schools
  • Curriculum-based work across a range of subjects
  • Year-round international activity
  • Involvement of the wider community
As a school we had to submit seven projects we had completed during the 2018/19 academic year as evidence for our re-accreditation. In our application we described the detail and impact of the following activities:
  • World Beat Day - our Eurovision style singing contest for all classes
  • European Cookery Club
  • Year 6 Residential Trip to St Cyr, near Poitiers.
  • Year 5 European Languages Day at Abbey Park School.
  • Visit from partner school to Wanborough involving Year 5 and 6 pupils.
  • European Maths Challenge involving Year 5 and 6 pupils.
  • Year 3 E-twinning project on 'Let Us Know About Where You Live.'
We also referenced the projects and training opportunities we have successfully applied for through the EU Erasmus+ programme. These projects are fully funded by the EU and ring-fenced accordingly.

  • In 2016 - 2018 eight members of staff have undertook French immersion training in Lyon.
  • We are currently in our second year of our 'Let's All Grow Together' project which is focused on Well Being, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness for all stakeholders as well as Language acquisition and Cultural Awareness for our children - culminating in a heavily subsidised trip to our partner school in France.
  • For 2019/20 we have successfully applied for six members of staff to receive Coaching and Leadership training through the INFOL institute based in Rome.
This was the feedback we received for our application:
"Well done to everyone at Wanborough Primary who have worked so hard in order to gain reaccreditation for the International School Award.

The International Dimension is clearly a strong strand running through all your development planning and you have maximised the funding streams available to enhance this work. The benefits from children travelling abroad and learning directly about a culture and using everyday language are immense and you have used Erasmus KA1 to enhance this experience.

Well done for managing to intertwine the use of etwinning so successfully, again a very enhancing experience for staff and pupils.

Having an international focus is a good story to tell both for children within the school, the wider community and prospective parents. Getting the younger children to produce posters as part of homework also helps secure the importance of this work. You have clearly met the criteria for spreading the work across the year, across age groups, involving language learning and collaborating on three activities.

As you have a strong French focus it is good that your World Beat Day expand on this by involving a range of languages.

Well done for getting KA1 funding for next year. It is difficult to know what will happen to Erasmus funding in the future but there is a strong representation for it to continue. In order to expand you work further afield you should consider British Council Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning; this links with schools in a range of non-European countries. It can be done just as 1:1 or as a cluster application. The advantage of a cluster application is that there is an entitlement to training as well as reciprocal funding for one teacher from each school to visit. This training and the suggested collaborative projects deal with issues highlighted through the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the training alone could give the school staff some new curriculum resources. You clearly as a school have strong links within the school community and this could be a worthwhile project to embrace together.

Good luck with your further work and enjoy the second year of the Erasmus project."