Not surprising considering the exciting developments at Wellington at the moment in Modern Languages, the School has just been awarded full International School status by the British Council in recognition of its work to bring the wider world into the classroom.
We have a Comenius project running that involves cooperation with schools from 4 other European countries (where all the conferences are held in French) and we are 1 of only 5 schools in Scotland to have a Comenius Assistant (Anita Bugovits, Hungarian) this year, appointed by the British Council.
The school’s success in the international dimension has also been noted by the national press and articles highlighting Wellington School’s achievements have appeared in The Sunday Times and the Guardian, including the provision of rugby tours and regular pupil exchanges with schools in both France and Germany.
Languages have always been strong at Wellington, and pupils derive great benefit from the opportunities to perfect their language skills whilst getting a taste of other cultures.
The three key criteria for the International School Award are: ‘year round international activity’; ‘an international ethos embedded throughout the school’; and ‘a majority of pupils within the school impacted by and involved in international work’.
The International School Award seeks to celebrate, develop, recognise and accredit outstanding practice in the international dimensions of teaching and learning. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need to live and work as global citizens.
For a week before October half-term Wellington became a true multilingual and multicultural environment. Pupils from our partner schools in France, Germany, Hungary and Slovenia arrived to work on the next stage of our Comenius project.
During the four days of official activities, pupils from all five schools wrote articles for our forthcoming newspaper on life in Europe during the 1960s. Our visitors also visited Glasgow, Edinburgh and Arran. On the final evening our guests were treated to a Scottish meal followed by a Ceilidh and they enjoyed learning new dances.
For our European students, the highlight of the visit was the warm hospitality provided by so many Wellington pupils from P6 to S6. Our visitors enjoyed learning about life in Scotland by living with families. Pupils in the senior school are now looking forward to their visit to Berlin, Weimar and Munich next spring.
In January, Mr Hakim Din, HMIe, returned to spend a day at school to learn more about how International Education has been successfully embedded in the school curriculum. He was particularly interested in finding out how the school had achieved the International School Award and interviewed groups of staff and pupils about their work. The pupils talked confidently about their experiences within the classroom, as part of the Comenius project and on trips, exchanges and conferences in Europe and beyond.
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