SALFORD SCHOOL ACHIEVES ?INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL? STATUS

Despite being three weeks into the summer holidays, not all staff at Salford City Academy have been able to fully separate themselves from working life. For they have been eagerly awaiting the British Council’s decision as to whether or not they’d been given ‘International School’ status – a prestigious award bestowed upon the most active schools in developing cultural relations.  

Well now they can rest easy. Yesterday, a letter arrived to confirm that for the next three years the Eccles School has achieved the status and would be allowed to exhibit the achievement on all its publicity and regalia. 

Language teacher, John Penney was understandably elated with the news. He said: “After breaking up in July, a few teachers including myself still had this one issue parked in the back of our minds. A lot of work went into applying for the award, so it’s been a nervous wait but one that’s been worth it now we’ve been recognised by the British Council. It’s fantastic news!”   

For years, the Eccles school has been enriching the lives of its students with trips to far off places and visits from schools and individuals it had forged links with. Only last year the school arranged individual and group trips to Paris, the Italian Alps, the European Parliament in Brussels, Ukraine, Korea, Japan and Tanzania as well as inter school projects with France, India and Canada.   

However, it wasn’t until School Principal, Elizabeth Haddock, attended an education conference that staff became aware that the Academy could be officially recognised as an ‘International School’ by the British Council. 

To achieve the OFSTED favoured award, schools had to carry out a minimum of seven international activities throughout the academic year and involve the majority of pupils. One of these must be direct links and communication with a partner school overseas and a curriculum based project linking up with them. 

On close inspection, Salford City Academy surpassed all the British Council’s criteria with not only one but three inter-school projects. The first being a community sports’ leader’s visit to the Moshi school in Tanzania for the promotion of sport and fact-finding mission on local eco-systems linked with Geography. The second inter school project was called ‘Our School’ and linked the Academy with a school in Narbonne in France and the third concentrated on religions in different countries and cultures with the Academy’s link school in Gwalior, India.  

And the international links don’t stop there. The Academy has taken part in a number of group and individual foreign exchanges and has a wealth of international activities embedded within the school curriculum through displays, newsletters, presentations and assemblies. 

The school applied for the award in June. There then followed a long arduous wait for confirmation but now that has happened the Academy looks forward to the next three years of association with the British Council and the benefits that will bring. 

“Building relationships with other countries and learning from them has always been a core value of Salford City Academy as it is invaluable to the development of our pupils. We are delighted that our work has been acknowledged by the British Council and are confident that our ‘International School’ status will last far longer than the three years granted this week,” added John.