As part of ‘Connecting Class Room’ programme, organised by British Council, teachers from the United Kingdom, visited schools in and around Chennai during February this year to know the educational system followed here. In Kattankulathur block, seven schools which participated in the programme were chosen and awarded for the good collaborative work.
Representatives of Panchayat Union Middle Schools, Guduvanchery, Nallambakkam, Venbakkam and Kalvoy, Panchayat Union Elementary School, Kamarajapuram, Government High School, Hasthinapuram, and Government Adi Dravidar Welfare Higher Secondary School for Girls and Boys in Kilambakkam Village near Tambaram, were invited and honoured on November 19, at Mumbai in a function organised by British Council Co-ordinator Ramesh and Senior Consultant Malathi.
Booma, Headmistress, Panchayat Union Middle School, Guduvanchery of Kattankulathur Block, who was among the recipients expressed happiness and satisfaction over the initiatives by the schools and British Council. She attributed the success to the awareness among the parents and the coordination of teachers in bringing out the knowledge amongst students. A team comprising Lesly Welsh from Manor College of Technology, Hartlepool in England, and three others — Rosie Merifield (Greatham Church of England Primary School), Anne Barberi (Grange) and Amy McGee (St. Bega's Roman Catholic) — were in Chennai for a week as part of the programme. Four teachers from Kattankulathur and St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Unions had earlier visited England as part of an exchange programme.
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The ISA supports schools to develop the following: an international ethos embedded throughout the school; a majority of pupils within the school impacted by and involved in international work; collaborative curriculum-based work with a number of partner schools; curriculum-based work across a range of subjects; year round international activity; and involvement of partner schools and the wider community in the UK. Over 10,000 international school awards have been presented to successful schools since the scheme began in 1999.