King’s Ely secures reaccreditation of International School Award

King's Ely is delighted to have achieved reaccreditation of the prestigious International School Award.

The British Council’s International School Award is a badge of honour for schools that do “outstanding work in international education”, such as through links with partner schools overseas. King’s Ely first received the award, which lasts for three years, in 2012.

Approving King’s Ely’s reaccreditation this month, a British Council spokesperson said: “All the sections of your Impact Evaluation, including the Impact and Ambassadorial sections, describe a school which is committed to embedding a global dimension into its curriculum and international work with its many partner schools abroad. Despite the challenges of Covid, King’s Ely has found creative and innovative ways in which to engage pupils in global work and projects, in school or at home, mainly through an increase in the use of various forms of technology. Good luck with your future plans, and congratulations on your success in achieving Reaccreditation of the International School Award in 2021.”

Just one example of how the pandemic and its associated lockdown and travel restrictions have not stopped students and staff working with friends overseas is an Erasmus+ project called ‘The Village’. Last Autumn, King’s Ely secured funding from the European Commission and British Council to deliver ‘The Village’ – a collaborative project involving King’s Ely students and pupils at two of its partner schools, IES Andrés Vandelvira in Albacete, Spain and College Chaloupe Saint-Leu in La Reunion, France.

The two-year project will involve dozens of students from each school and the aim is for participants to explore the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations through the creation of a unique virtual city, The Village, while developing cultural awareness and social interaction in order to create a real context to enhance their language skills.

In February, Year 9 students at King’s Ely who are involved in the project were meant to travel to Albacete to carry out their first mobility activities, but obviously that could not happen due to the current circumstances. Instead, all three schools organised and carried out a virtual mobility experience instead, using ‘Google Meet’ and ‘Breakout Rooms’ to communicate and work collaboratively.

Once travel restrictions have been lifted, exchange trips will be planned for students and staff involved in The Village project, enabling participants to meet each other, work together and learn more about each other’s languages and cultures.

In 2019, King’s Ely won a British Council eTwinning National Award in recognition of its “outstanding contribution to international school collaboration”. The award was for ‘United in Diversity’- another Erasmus+ funded project involving King’s Ely and the schools in Albacete and La Reunion.

To discover more about opportunities at King’s Ely, please visit: www.kingsely.org