International Links
International School Award
We are absolutely delighted that we have been awarded the International School’s Award coordinated by Mr Barton and supported by Miss Frieria and Madame Dale. This is a great achievement and something for which we take great pride. Our school has been accredited the award from 1st September 2021 until 31 August 2024. Not only were we delighted with the accreditation but also the feedback we received from the assessors.
“This is a strong application from Welton St Mary’s C of E Primary Academy and meets the standard for International School Award Accreditation in 2021. You have provided excellent evidence of eligible activities which have taken place between September 2019 and July 2021. Several of these activities are collaborative with one or more of your overseas partner schools in France, Uganda and Bermuda, and several have a foreign language element. Well done! Summarised in other ways the activities have engaged the whole school across the last two years. In the words of the co-ordinator, “we are thrilled with the impact that our international activities have had on the children; they have sparked genuine interest across the school.” This enthusiasm can be seen both in informative descriptions on the website and in some sparky comments in the Impact Evaluation e.g. A child in Year 4 asked, “when can we play another game with them like Battleships!” The Impact Evaluation demonstrates your resilience in the difficult and on-going period of the pandemic. There are multiple fine examples of innovative thinking and interesting activities within the international framework. The assessor was attracted to the forward thinking such as when the ‘Sound Postcards’ activity with Ecole Guillaume Apollinaire might have been placed in jeopardy by a French government decision on lockdown and the Welton alternative being a Ugandan potato curry for the Lincoln Show! At a different level “working towards achieving our vison is addressed at every GB meeting. The school is connecting with the Sustainable Development Goals in a very holistic way. “‘This year we have looked at Responsible Consumption and I am meeting with the Headteacher this term to choose a focus for 2021-22. I have been impressed with how our staff have embraced the projects we have completed and have planned” Accreditation is well-deserved. Please congratulate everyone involved in this successful application. Congratulations on working so hard to co-ordinate such an impressive range of work as an International Co-ordinator! You are a credit to the school and the wider community.
We will be continuing our international opportunities this year and beyond. It is part of what we are as a school reaching out to our international community and learning both from and with them.
Our Partner Schools
Ntolomwe UMEA Primary School
This partnership was initiated by Chris Williams as part of the Two Countries, One World project where 10 British and Ugandan schools have been linked in pairs. We have been working together since October 2021. Since then, we have sent each other pictures of our school, sent each other information about what makes us happy, sent letters and even sent assessment papers! We talk weekly with the Headteacher Zaamu Namiiro. Recently we held a non-uniform day and cake sale to raise money to buy sports equipment for our friends in Uganda. With the money raised, 2 sports kits and some balls have been bought. The Headteacher has said ‘We managed to purchase sportswear for two teams and two balls. The learners are very excited to wear them for the first time. We have been borrowing from other schools when going to friendly visits in games. May God bless you and whoever contributed’.and are currently looking at how we can share some of our sporting equipment and resources with them to give them the same opportunities that we are fortunate to have.
Ecole Guillaume Apollinaire
This is a partnership that has been maintained for a number of years. Welton St Mary’s has a specialist languages teacher who teaches French as a Modern Foreign Language to the children in Years 3 – 6. As she is a French National, she has links with a number of French schools, including Ecole Guillaume Apollinaire, 72250 Parigne L’Eveque, France. This year, we have spoken to the children on Zoom and discussed the pandemic and lockdown restrictions in both countries and how it has affected us and played a game of Guess Who! We looking forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship in the years to come.
Dear Father God,
We pray that the children in Uganda are able to get back to school soon to continue their education. Thank you for the benefits of education across the world. We ask for your help and strength so that the people of Uganda get their vaccinations as soon as possible. Please help anybody living in poverty to be warm, fed, and safe, particularly in this difficult time of COVID. We pray that the infected, across the world and in Uganda, will get well with the help of your healing hand.
In Jesus’ name
Amen
Dear God
Please help the children to have a better life, go back to school and be happy.
Amen
Dear Father God,
Please help the children in Uganda get better from all the germs.
Amen
French Breakfast
This year, we were fortunate enough to be able to host our French Breakfast once more! The children have been working hard with Madame Dale to develop their conversational French so they were prepared to order their breakfast from the Café de Saint Marie entirely in French. We were so proud at the confidence with which they spoke and, as you can imagine, there were very few leftovers. The children enjoyed some cacao lait, belvita, grenadine, juis d’orange and juis d’pomme and some delicious croissants. Well done Year 6.
