Pitsford School has Full International School Award accreditation which is a real badge of honour. The International School Award rewards schools that have shown a commitment to embedding international awareness and understanding within their class or school. The British council encourage this by supporting schools in completing collaborative, curriculum-based work with a number of international partner schools and involvement of the wider School community.
Pitsford will be applying for reaccreditation later in 2023. It requires a lot of work to get full accreditation and Dr Cabrera-Alvarez, teacher of Modern Foreign Languages co-ordinates the application.
The International School Award is available in 16 countries and is well-regarded by school inspection bodies and ministries of education globally.
In order to achieve accreditation there is a rigorous process in which action plans and impact evaluations are submitted and reviewed. The evidence submitted has to show that Pitsford School has international partner schools and to evidence that the majority of the students were involved in at least seven international activities.
International activities at Pitsford School are ongoing but some of the activities evidenced in the action plan for reaccreditation include:
- A week of languages across the School; Within the Junior School students learned how to say hello and goodbye in lots of different languages and learned about European countries in assembly including languages spoken, currency and landmarks. Within the Senior School students carried out assemblies about different languages and a treasure hunt around the School which involved finding the answers to some questions about international people, inventions and words in different language. The treasure hunt became a whole school competition with points for the winning team
- An ongoing international languages blog that can be found here: https://pitsfordinternational.school.blog/
- Maintaining relationships with several international partner schools using video conferencing, padlet, and writing to pen pals. It’s a great way of practising language skills and learning about other countries
- Multilingual magazine that is put together by the languages team and students
- International school trips abroad to encourage our students to use their language skills including a trip to Morocco for Years 11, 12 and 13 and a trip to France for J6
- Cultural and awareness and diversity events led by students in Year 13 which included assemblies, a whole Senior School dance and food sharing from other cultures
The International School Award demonstrates that international awareness and languages are really important to the culture of the school and that benefits both teachers and students alike.
