Zambia - Connecting Cultures

From humble beginnings, where a donation of £200 allowed the school to remain open, we have continued to develop our link with the Mawanda School in Zambia, and are delighted to be sending two staff to Zambia in February 2018.

Having successfully applied for a British Council Connecting Classrooms grant, our staff will visit Mawanda School to deliver the start of a project focusing on collaborative learning. This represents the next natural step in a long standing and successful partnership which encompasses the local community as well via vital church links.

With a focus on a 'Zero Hunger' collaborative project and critical thinking skills, prior to our visit to Mawanda School staff will work with our own students to challenge their perceptions of life in Zambia, and students in Mawanda will be completing the same challenge regarding their perceptions of life in the UK. We will explore perceptions of food, housing, schooling, transport, employment, weather, land use, charitable support, clothing and levels of happiness.

The objective of our partnership is to exchange resources; develop knowledge, learning and achievement and share teaching skills which empower teachers to teach in new and different ways. This includes working collaboratively on current and future projects, as well as learning from each other about our different communities, cultures and countries. Our current desired outcome is to continue developing the teaching and learning of critical thinking skills as a result of the Core Skills training undertaken by staff at both schools and to look at embedding these skills and the ‘Zero Hunger’ unit into our curriculums.