St Catherines Catholic Primary School Web Site | Homework - Year 3

St. Catherine's Catholic Primary School

Homework

Class Page

Year 3

Miss Booth

ST. CATHERINE’S RECIPROCAL VISITS TO ZAMBIA

Since Autumn 2006 St. Cath’s & Niza have had a Y3 class link. Maggie Bweupe, the proprietor of Niza Trust School , Choma, Zambia visited the Y3 class to begin the partnership. Both schools believe that the partnership will strengthen the Global Curriculum and assist students to become more responsible global citizens.

The Y3 Geography Curriculum is taught mostly through this link with a partner school and attempts to raise awareness of global citizenship, diversity and the importance of social justice in sustainable development. This is a unique and exciting opportunity for the children to learn more creatively. The Y3 classes that have experienced this link have benefited from a rich and purposeful global friendship. They have learnt about world issues such as water shortage and the impact they can have on places far away.

To build a more purposeful and effective partnership both schools applied for a British Council Reciprocal Visit Grant funding for £1900. The BNDFC also provided an additional £500.

These applications were successful and the Maggie and Amon, a teacher at Niza, visited St. Cath’s in March 08. During their visit to St. Cath’s Maggie and Amon met our School Council and talked about pupil voice in their and our school. They took part in classroom-based activities with Y3 and compared our local area with Niza’s. They found, in particular, the regular interventions that teaching assistants ran interesting and helpful. Amon explained that for most of their students English is not their first language so learning to read and write is extremely challenging.

The headteacher at St. Catherines, Mrs. Fiona Rigby, and the Y3 class teacher, Miss Miriam Booth, are due to visit Niza Trust School in June 2008 to follow up on joint curricular projects and plan future sustainable activities. They are exploring also the possibility of using ICT to connect classrooms with Niza.

The cost involved in such a venture meant that the funding from the BNDfC was invaluable and very much appreciated.

Castleton