Case Study: Wellesley Park Primary School

Wellington, Somerset

Global Teacher's placement and the Link Schools Programme

An Alphabet of Linking:

a for andinkra ... symbols of culture and friendship,

b for bagpipes ...

c for conkers ...

What possible connection can the three words above have in the context of North - South school linking? In the process experienced so far by Wellesley Park pupils and their link with Idyoki Public School, they are entirely relevant.

Headteacher, Allan Strange, was one of 25 UK teachers selected to go to South Africa for the second round of the Global Teachers Millennium Awards in 2002. His placement was in a large primary school of 2000, in the rural location of Ugie in the Eastern Cape. Whilst there, amongst many other contributions, he established an internet connection to enable email contact in the future. Despite frequent interruptions caused by an intermittent electricity supply, communications have flourished.

Almost as soon as he returned Allan convinced his staff that a more permanent link would be of immense value to the pupils of this very rural school in Somerset. Wellesley Park has 370 children in classes of about 25, from reception to Year 6, a huge contrast with Idyoki's large classes of up to or exceeding 50 and where the age range in any class might span five years.

Within months he had secured some funding from the British Council to bring two members of staff from Idyoki to Wellesley and to organise a reciprocal visit by two of his staff later this year.

Activities and benefits

This is a school link very much in its early stages and yet already all the children at this rural, white, mono-cultural school have had the experience of meeting and learning from two black, Xhosa speaking visitors from the Eastern Cape. In March 2003, Jabu Mandukwini and Dtutu Fana, two members of staff at Idyoki Public Primary School arrived to spend two weeks as Allan's guests both in his school and in his home.

The timetable of preparation activities started in January 2003 and was designed to include a range of interested parties in and around Wellington. A day's INSET was planned and held at Beech Grove Primary School in March, with a contribution from the Deputy of Crispin School, the only school with international status in Somerset (so far.) and contributions of artefacts brought by Lynn Cutler, herself a Global Teacher in 2001 and who now works for GLADE in Yeovil.

From the very beginning, the planning of the INSET day was focused on the ways and means by which Global Citizenship could be included in the curriculum so that it supported existing school policies and enhanced its ethos. It was designed to challenge teachers' mind-sets and experiences whilst also aiming to provide a stimulating and memorable process by which children's skills of empathy and their knowledge of other cultures could be developed.

The resulting document headed "Revised Countdown to Africa Week" should have warned Allan and his staff that they were already into "African time" and that the mammoth range of activities they had planned just would not fit into five school days. The subsequent cross-curricular planning sheets showing how each year group would be involved further confirmed that the week would become a fortnight.

During the months leading up to Jabu and Dtutu's visit the children were involved in making books about their part of the world and their experiences for the visitors to take back to Ugie to share with their learners. Looking at Allan's slides of the location (township) would have given them some insights into the differences between the two environments, but it was an important aim of the process to show how many similarities there are too.

Amongst the activities of Africa Fortnight, universal concerns and interests were explored including food, homes and clothes: the common basic necessities. The children were given opportunities to find about other ways of living. Board games, dancing, music, singing, art and story-telling as well as scientific curiosity are also global activities and all were undertaken with the energy and colour of Africa woven into every strand.

Six months and a long summer holiday later, some of the children reflected with enthusiasm on those experiences:

"Jabu and Dtutu taught us some Xhosa words and we sang a Xhosa song about a scorpion."

"Making the jewellery was good fun out of the beads."

"Making the Oware boards was fun. We painted egg boxes and used butterbeans. It would take a long time to explain the rules!"

One of the more unexpected outcomes of this process was the children's admiration for the way in which their South African peers made good use of every scrap of re-useable material.

"They used a lot of recycled things to make toys and they made drums out of animal skins."

They too were challenged to try to design costumes, masks and toys in a similar fashion - which was not without its frustrations.

"We made outfits out of recycled things: I brought six thousand margarine cartons."

"If milk tops were money I'd probably be rich!"

And the experience seems to have been wide-spread:

"Since we've been linked with Idyoki, I've noticed that the teachers seem much more interested in recycling. Perhaps that's because they're so good at it in Africa!"

Curriculum and citizenship

"They're so good at it in Africa" - such comments surely validate the aims and objectives of the more formally written statements of National Curriculum documents. They confirm the development of empathy and awareness in children as they are helped to dispose of unexamined stereotypes and prejudices and to wonder at the new knowledge that real people from 'far away' came to share with them.

One other key result of the visit was a performance of a musical item called "The Praise Singer", a story based on the role of a powerful and mysterious character in the African tradition. This was performed by Key Stage 2 children at the Brewhouse Theatre in Taunton to an audience of parents, governors and the general public. How Allan found the time to write it is one of the mysteries of the Global Teachers' tradition.

Nor will the global or international dimension be limited to Africa. Wellesley's children have been learning French for some time now and links are being sought with that country. Allan himself is a keen participant in the Teachers International Professional Development scheme (TIPD) and hopes to broaden the international context of the school to include New Zealand before too long. It may not be much longer before Somerset has another school with International status.

Future appointments will seek to highlight this aspect of the school's work to build up the strength of international knowledge and experience to offer the children.

Allan is keen to encourage Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for his staff that enlarges their horizons across the equator. One member of staff has already visited Zambia and showed photos to compare with Allan's from the Eastern Cape.

Wellesley Park Primary is well aware of the newness of this link and has already learnt much about the process of curriculum planning from the experience of welcoming overseas visitors. In its initial stages this was an 'additional activity' specifically for the visit. Among their targets for the future is the determination to ensure that global issues and activities are embedded firmly into the curriculum for each year group.

Connecting communities

Underpinning all Allan's hopes for this link with Idyoki is the wish for reciprocity and the development of a partnership at various levels that will extend the horizons not only of the children in his school but also in the wider community of Wellington.

Parents and Governors welcomed Dtutu and Jabu into their homes and churches and took them to watch football matches. As they visited different venues including Beech Grove School, while in Somerset, they were seen as very positive ambassadors for their country.

Whilst many children at the school travel quite widely in the UK and a few even further into Europe, Allan felt strongly that contact with a very different culture would help to break down stereotypes acquired through lack of knowledge rather than from any positive discrimination.

The involvement of the parents in their children's work also helped to extend the learning into the wider community of Wellington. For many it would have been their first introduction to anything to do with the African continent. The involvement of the Wellington Round Table in helping to raise money for the visitors is another connection that will help to ensure the link remains rooted in the community beyond the school. Acknowledgement of the difficulties of maintaining communication between such a remote rural area in the South means that fundraising will continue to be necessity if mutually beneficial visits are to happen.

The presence of the Mayor and local MP, Adrian Fluke, together with the school governors at the formal welcoming ceremony has given them all a taste of African culture and hospitality, as Allan modelled this special occasion on the unforgettable welcome that was prepared for him in Idyoki.

Sustainability for the future

Now two members of Wellesley's staff are planning for their visit to Idyoki. The Deputy Head is both awed and excited about the opportunity and the responsibility. Having heard the praise for all that Allan achieved whilst there and seeing how moved and humbled he felt by his experiences, there is a sense of challenge about how to strengthen and develop the link. The eagerness of Idyoki's Principal, Seth Gova, to continue to maintain the friendships that have grown between colleagues from North and South is a powerful encouragement.

Asked what challenges they would like to set for their teachers when in Ugie, Hannah, Chris and Jenny came up with the following:

"I'd like to know how they construct their homes."

"Do they have celebrations similar to our Wellington Carnival? It's quite African in a way as it's so bright and colourful."

And the longer term future? One of the key lessons learned from this early stage of linking has been the value of the process of planning for Jabu and Dtutu's visit. There was an energy and enthusiasm generated throughout the school which the staff are now channelling into other projects. Visits and visitors are being used as catalysts for work in all areas of the curriculum. "Africa Fortnight" was truly memorable - Wellesley is aiming for all its fortnights to be memorable.

The process of planning and the experiences of "Africa Fortnight" have been the starting point and centre of this new adventure across wider horizons and to new friendships. Pen-friend schemes have been established in Year 4 on a class to class basis and make the connections between children much more real.

Using Link Community Development's arrangement with DHL to deliver letters once a term will be important in maintaining reciprocity in terms of the children's letters and accounts of the similarities and differences in their lives.

Jenny's (9) comment is a succinct summary of what many at Wellesley have learned so far from the link with Idyoki:

"It means that they're very special friends because they're friends so far away."

And what about the adinkra, bagpipes and conkers?

The African andinkra symbol below is an example of many with significant meanings - none more so than for this school's link across the globe.

The bagpipes are accompanying Kirsty Moneagle, one of the staff going to share some British culture in Ugie .... and ...

the conkers are being threaded and sold by Wellesley children to raise money to support their link with Idyoki.

An alphabet of linking ... a ... b ... c ...

Compiled by Frances Hillier, Education Advisor, Link Community Development UK, Nov 2003