Burnham Grammar School has been awarded the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom.

The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. 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 for life work in today’s world.

Burnham Grammar School’s international work includes students in year nine  engaging in letter writing with a French partner school in the south of France; this partnership began in 2010.  Students from the partner school continue to visit Burnham Grammar School annually and Dr Gillespie and his counterpart at the Lycée Louis Feuillade in Lunel correspond also. 

Our students regularly travel internationally as part of the school’s educational visits programme, which includes sports tours to Australia and New Zealand in addition to the Ski trip to Boston, USA.  Visits to Europe are regular and recent locations include: Paris, Murcia and Berlin.

 The school develops pedagogy through its partnership with Teikyo School in Stoke Poges, by welcoming teachers from mainland Europe through the Erasmus+ scheme and through an embedded link with a school in Lagos, Nigeria which has resulted in a teacher visit and shared lesson plans within the Geography department.  Such activities enable teachers to bring their subjects alive. 

The 2016-17 academic year culminated in a whole school collapsed timetable day during which the academic departments from across the school worked in collaboration to enable students to learn about and to remember the events of the First World War during the period of the Battle of the Somme to Armistice; the art work from this event remains a poignant display in school.

Burnham Grammar School is delighted to have been awarded the International School Award for 2017 – 2020 and this shows our on-going dedication to the development of our students as future leaders in the 21^st Century.  Our work towards the reaccreditation of this prestigious award has worked synonymously with our ethos of “Embracing Challenge” in everything that the young people in our school community do.

Sir Ciarán Devane, CEO of the British Council, said: ‘The school’s fantastic international work has rightfully earned it this prestigious award. The International School Award is a great chance for schools to demonstrate the important work they’re doing to bring the world into their classrooms. Embedding an international dimension in children’s education ensures that they are truly global citizens and helps prepare them for successful lives and careers in an increasingly global economy.’

The award is now available worldwide in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Pakistan. Around 5,500 International School Awards have been presented to successful schools in the UK since the scheme began in 1999.

The International School Award encourages and supports schools to develop:

• An international ethos embedded throughout the school
• A whole school approach to international work
• Collaborative curriculum-based work with a number of partner schools
• Year-round international activity
• Involvement of the wider community