British Council International Education Week

International Education Week was a great time to start planning new international activities for your class. Next year marks the 200^th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth. 

Get the Dickens 2012 celebrations started with our exciting international resources, including free CPD workshops, grants to support Dickens project work with a Chinese partner and additional template resources. International Education Week may be over but there's still time to register for a workshop, sign up here.  

eTwinning continued British Council International Education Week with a series of workshops entitled 'Raising standards through International Links’ in London and Manchester. 140 school leaders and local authorities came together to explore the wealth of opportunities offered by the British Council to support schools raising standards. 

In London, we heard from Head teacher Kevin McCabe (Jervoise Primary School) illustrating how schools in special measures have been transformed through international linking programmes.  In Manchester, assistant Head teacher Rob Ford (Wootton Bassett School) showed how they became the first state school in England to receive an ‘outstanding’ across the board under the new OfSTED inspections as a result of their embedded international dimension.

Thanks to all the speakers for their valuable input and to all the delegates who attended. Visit our blog for more information. 

The 2011 Link2Learn Awards were celebrated in the unique surroundings of HSBC Canary Wharf as a centrepiece event of International Education Week.

The Awards support and recognise outstanding school partnerships which have impact across the curriculum and the wider community. The five categories recognise excellence across the primary, secondary and special sector as well as the important work undertaken by international co-ordinators and local authorities in developing and disseminating a whole range of enriching international activities. 

Simon Martin from HSBC congratulated the eight winners at the British Council event which highlighted such an incredibly diverse and inspirational range of work from across the UK. 

Students from around England had the opportunity to showcase their debating, negotiating and lobbying skills in front of a film crew during the 2011 Mock Council of the European Union. The event was set up to simulate a real meeting of the Council of the European Union, with the students tackling topics relating to the Arab Spring and EU growth.

Participants debated topics from the position of their allocated EU member state, the European Commission or the General Secretariat, giving them a taste of what international politics is really like.

“I was extremely pleased to play a key role in my debate! It was a hugely insightful and exciting experience, which I would love to repeat.” - Participating student

Visit the Mock Council page on our Comenius website. 

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