The Towards the Olympics project promotes sport, learning and the Olympic ideals in schools in England and China. Links have been established between English sports and language colleges and schools in Beijing, using video recordings and online communities to establish regular contact. There will also be student exchange trips, a youth sports festival in Beijing in summer 2007, and possible visits to the Beijing Olympics.

32 English secondary schools are taking part in the project, and are linking with more than 40 schools in China and Hong Kong. Students will work together to create online resources in Chinese and English about the Olympics, sports and everyday life in their country. This will promote cultural understanding and give students opportunities to practice the languages they are learning in an exciting international context.

The 2008 Beijing games are the immediate focus (students in Beijing will give Hong Kong and English students regular updates on the preparations), but the project will also look forward to the 2012 games in London. Schools in other countries will hopefully form links with English schools, using the Olympics as a catalyst for students to interact and find out more about each other's cultures.

Project objectives

• To promote international understanding about the impact of sport on the lives of young people in different cultures;
• To promote the social values of wider participation in sport;
• To enable exchange visits during the Chinese Olympic Year, 2008;
• To motivate students in China and England to learn English and Chinese respectively;
• To enable teachers to exchange ideas on the development of sports education in schools;
• To develop a range of electronic learning resources in English and Chinese to aid the teaching of sport and sports studies.

Sponsorship opportunities

In China the project is sponsored by the Li Ning Company, one of the largest sports and leisurewear companies in China.

Involvement in this project will give phenomenal publicity in conjunction with both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Companies will have the opportunity to align themselves with a project for young people that promotes physical wellbeing and the quest for excellence in sporting performance, and take advantage of a range of national and international marketing and publicity opportunities.

For further details of how your company could sponsor Towards the Olympics, please contact Kathryn Davies, on 020 7802 0860 or kathryn.davies@ssatrust.org.uk.

News

Over 140 Children recently visited Beijing for the Towards the Olympics summer camp.

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The project recently featured on the BBC World Class website.

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Read about some of the participating schools

Chinese Schools

• Beijing Huija Private School
• Beijing Jinsong Vocational School
• Beijing No.57 School

English Schools

• Leigh City Technology College
• Queens' Sports College
• Wildern School