Sharples School has been awarded the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom, giving pupils a global perspective in whatever they do. The award recognises the work we do with other schools abroad and to broaden our pupils’ sense of identity in a global world. At Sharples, we are proud to have sustained partnerships with schools in France, Spain, Latvia, Denmark, Germany, and Algeria. We strive to create new links every year, so that staff and pupils alike have the opportunity to experience more of the world.
We have also been awarded over £50,000 in Turing Scheme funding over recent years. The Turing Scheme was introduced to replace Erasmus+ in 2021; this has funded trips to partner schools in Spain and Latvia. Visits to Spain have been a continuation of pupils’ pen pal exchanges with pupils in our partner school in Seville, Spain, and these experiences have allowed pupils to develop their Spanish language skills. Turing funding also allowed pupils to visit our partner school in Latvia on a cultural exchange visit which allowed them to experience a different culture, education system, as well as make new friends in another country.
Sharples has become a host school for international guests with pupils from our partner schools in Spain and France having visited on multiple occasions. One of our German partner schools will be visiting Sharples to meet their Year 9 pen pals later in 2026 and our 2nd German partner school will be welcoming a group of our pupils to visit later this year also.
Our staff have also benefitted from our international links with many teachers having visited schools in Latvia, Finland, and Sweden as well as sharing best practice through CPD sessions in conjunction with our partner schools in Spain, France, and Germany. These exchanges have allowed Sharples staff to improve their own practice for the benefit of Sharples pupils.
As a school, we seek out every opportunity for funding, to ensure that we provide all our pupils with new experiences. All these opportunities for staff and pupils contribute to our commitment to International relations and to ensuring that our pupils leave Sharples with an open-minded perspective of the world and all the possibilities it has to offer. This includes opening our pupils’ minds to opportunities that they may not have considered such as attending university abroad and pursuing international careers; something which we do through our careers and raising aspirations programme here at Sharples.
