Joint history and science project with Ghanaian school earns award

The Cotswold School has once again achieved the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom.

The award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. 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 for life and work in today’s world.

Confirming the school’s international status 2022-2025, the British Council wrote to Miss Morgan, teacher of History and the school’s international coordinator, saying,

“Congratulations on working so hard to co-ordinate such an impressive range of work! You are a credit to the school and the wider community.

“We hope that the scope of your excellent international activities will continue to develop and benefit the school community; your support, commitment, creativity and innovative international work is greatly appreciated.

In her application for the international award, Miss Morgan had demonstrated that up to 13 international learning projects at our school are in process and meet the criteria for the British Council’s award, although only three are required to qualify.

The Cotswold School’s international work includes projects that link the learning and experiences of children in the Cotswolds with those of pupils in Ghana.

Miss Morgan said,

“It is brilliant to receive this award, which recognizes the engaging and varied learning projects we run, that bring the experiences of people across the world into our curriculum. The Cotswold School has won recognition for this standard for several years now.

“In the past, students at The Cotswold School and Achimota School in Accra, Ghana, have exchanged letters on similarities and differences between our countries and between our diverse rural and urban contexts. Last year, when preparing to apply for British Council ‘Connecting Classrooms’ funding, my counterpart at Achimota School and I started discussing possible collaborative projects that would connect our curriculums more explicitly and we decided upon the ‘Learning from a Pandemic’ project.

“We focused on the experiences of children in Ghana, contrasting them with our own in the UK, which helped students in Year 9 to see how history and science connect. We knew they would be interested to learn about and discuss the historical and global context for our national response to the recent Covid-19 pandemic, an event that affected them very directly.”

Scott McDonald, Chief Executive of the British Council, said: “The school has earned this prestigious award through its inspirational international work and links with schools abroad. The International School Award is a chance for schools to be recognised for their important work bringing the world into their classrooms. This is especially commendable when schools have been deeply affected by the global pandemic. The desire to build on their international work shines through and it is with upmost pride that we celebrate their achievements.

“Schools that are embedding an international dimension in children’s education, are preparing their students for successful lives in the UK or further afield, empowering them to be global citizens, and creating vital opportunities in an increasingly global economy.”