Aims & Partners

Overall project aim: to use collaborative partnership and the inspiration of global issues to raise standards in writing.

Our World in Words has brought together four primary schools based in the UK, Poland, Italy and the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe.   This booklet presents the activities, achievements and outcomes of our project.

The partnership has benefited from the support of Chris Williams, British Council Ambassador in Lincoln, UK and Mariola Chodakowska-Malceiwicz, an advisor in European education and an Erasmus+ and eTwinning ambassador from Elblag, Poland.   The guidance and advice offered from both as been very much appreciated by all involved and we are grateful for the support they have provided throughout.  I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work alongside the three coordinators, Damian Podolski, Sylvie Choisi and Anna Zarbano and their colleagues in the partner schools, and hope that this booklet will give you an insight into the work involved in Our World in Words has covered and the outcomes it has produced.

Project Outline

Over the course of our project we have held meetings based at the four partner schools, focusing on each occasion, on a different element of the pedagogy of teaching writing, the sharing of national expectations and of best practise. Additionally, children in each school have been involved in completing specific written tasks which have helped to support their writing, whilst also developing their knowledge and understanding of a range of global issues. This writing has been shared between pupils at all four schools, providing a ‘real’ audience and purpose for writing on each occasion. Children have shared the writing of their peers in participating schools and responded to this in several ways, including verbal and written feedback, Skype meetings and emails.

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THE PARTNERS

Branston Junior Academy Branston, Anglia

Branston Junior Academy is a community junior school for children aged seven to eleven with approximately 140 children on roll.  It is situated in a large rural village four miles south of the cathedral city of Lincoln.  We teach the full range of academic abilities. Most children come from middle class backgrounds in owner-occupied housing. Approximately 93% of our children are of White British ethnicity. Branston Junior Academy teaches to the National Curriculum and is, as are all state schools in England, subject to OFSTED inspections.  

 

Ecole Marcel Lacoma, Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, France 
Marcel Lacoma is a French primary school with approximately 170 students aged seven to eleven years old and 9 teachers. The School is situated in Dothémare Les Abymes which is an urban area with an important part of people coming from the under-privileged social class and an increasing rate of immigrants coming from the nearby more poor Islands. this particular social background allows the school to benefit from a special programme called REP (zone d'éducation prioritaire - education Priority area) which seek to increase access to education and improve its quality. Two of the main school's objectives are prevention of school failure and citizenship strengthening education. Of course, encouraging speaking (language proficiency) and writing is a constant concern.

XIV Instituto Comprensivo Karol Wojtyla Syiracuse, Włochy 

The school "Karol Wojtyla" is located in Siracusa, Sicily. It's a big school in a relatively new area of the town, that includes the first three educational cycles of the Italian Education system: kintergarden (pupils from 3 to 5 years old), primary school (from 6 to 10 years old) and middle school (from 11 to 13 years old), for a total of more than 900 students. The urban area in which the school is located offers a middle class social context.  The school is an educational institution specialised in the study and training of music and is also an ECDL test centre. Collaborative learning opportunities, such as this project, are provided to have students use different learning formats, develop and address their potentials, acquire a deeper awareness of themselves in an international context. 

Szkoła Podstawowa nr 9 im. Józefa Piłsudskiego in Zespół Szkół nr 3 Elbląg. Polska 

Primary School no. 9 in Elblag is a medium sized school with about 300 students aged 5—13 and 30 teachers. We have got pre-school group for 5 year old children.  We have sports classes that practise handball. Our school is on the outskirts of Elblag, surrounded by blocks of flats inhabited by 10 thousand people.  There is a high rate of unemployment and migration of the members of our community. 8% of parents of our students work abroad permanently. Students in our school come from a range of social backgrounds and some of them are at risk of social marginalisation. Moreover, in our school, there are few students who represent other nationalities than Polish. As a result, we see the need to help our students feel that they are important European citizens.