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 schools do in partnership with others abroad throughout the academic year. At Sharples, we are proud to have sustained partnerships with schools in France, Spain, Latvia, Denmark and Germany. We strive to create new links every year, so that staff and pupils alike have the opportunity to experience more of the world. For example, pupils across all year groups have pen pals to practise the language they are learning at school.
We have also been awarded over £50,000 in Turing Scheme funding in the past 3 years. The Turing Scheme was introduced to replace Erasmus+ in 2021, and Sharples has successfully gained funding to travel to Spain and to Latvia over the past 3 years. Pupils have visited their pen pals in our partner school in Seville, Spain, giving them the confidence and knowledge they need to sit their Spanish GCSE this year. Pupils have also visited our partner school in Latvia to experience a different education system and to become more open-minded and independent learners.
Sharples has become a host school for international guests too. Year 9 pupils receive a visit from their Spanish pen pals in June, and learn to communicate and share their culture. In addition, we have provided valuable CPD opportunities for teachers in our partner schools in Germany and France, and staff at Sharples have had the opportunity to learn about different education systems in Europe.
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.
