5th iNet International Conference, 26 28 November 2008

In 2005 Farnham Heath End School was fortunate to be part of a week-long series of GMTV programmes focusing on a young African girl called Mathapelo, and the differences between her life and that of an English girl of comparable age. The programme also highlighted the needs of Tenyane School in South Africa.

We decided to build upon the opportunity we had been given to meet and work with a South African school. The connections made were too valuable to be lost, and we decided to form a partnership with the school. Our aims were to:

• Enable students in both schools to experience the values and cultures of different societies and develop understanding and respect for cultural differences;
• Form a powerful and sustainable partnership with Tenyane School, focusing on improving the quality of learning in both schools, and to enable a collaborative relationship committed to the sharing of good practice;
• Support the South African Government’s aim of extending the opportunities for education supported by technology by providing (with the support of our business partners and local stakeholders) a concept classroom to aid good communication. The emphasis is not on providing making learners computer literate, but to use the technology as a teaching aid to improve communication and curriculum delivery;
• Work with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) to support developments similar to the Khanya Project (highly effective in some of the Western Cape Schools), and to extend communications across the Limpopo Region;
• Work with Tenyane School to support the aims of the school as laid out in their school profile;

Objectives

In order to achieve our aims we will work with Tenyane School to:

• Establish an understanding of culture through citizenship projects;
• Establish strong management links, to include the sharing of leadership and management practices;
• Organise teacher exchanges and, in the longer term, student exchanges;
• Work with Sun Micro Systems, GMTV and The Royal Mail to build a concept classroom, which will act as a community centre. This will use solar energy, and has the potential to form a hub for further development across the region;
• Consider issues of sustainability, security of resources, and environmental preservation, and work as a team towards finding solutions to such global problems;
• Work alongside the South African Government in achieving their goals.

Progress

Mrs James, one of our senior managers, visited Tenyane School twice in the space of 9 months. Her first visit was as a member of the GMTV Television team, but her second was as an ambassador for Farnham Heath End School. Most English schools involved in African partnerships at first see a disparity of resources; Mrs James, however, noticed the similarities between African students - their day to day interests and aspirations - and our own students. It was evident that Tenyane School, like Farnham Heath End, was concerned with the progress, both academic and social, of all its students.

Between the two visits the partnership work has continued to develop:

School and staff

• A regular package of information is sent to Tenyane School containing, eg copies of worksheets, students' work, the school newsletter, and copies of our school development plans. In return, we have received a copy of the profile of Tenyane School and letters from students;
• Photographs of our sports day, activities week, and of our staff have been sent to Tenyane School. We have received photographs of Tenyane's headmaster and deputy headmaster, and they now form part of a large display in the school entrance;
• We are writing bids to the SSAT to raise money for reciprocal teacher visits, with a view to planning more in depth curriculum projects;  
• Our local confederation of 6 schools wishes to become part of the partnership with Africa.

Students

• Letters have been exchanged between students of both schools;
• A textile wall-hanging made by our students has been sent to Tenyane school;
• The students of Tenyane School took part in a competition to design a logo for our school stationery. The three winning logo’s are being converted into computer graphics and will soon be sent back to Tenyane School for a winner to be chosen.

Concept classroom

• The concept classroom has been explained to the Tenyane School and its community, and they are ready and willing to receive the new technology;
• We have worked with The Royal Mail and Sun Micro Systems to find an ICT Solution to help narrow the digital divide between the two schools. The major planning of the project began in October 2006, with completion scheduled for July 2007;
• Fundraising activities have been arranged to raise the £15,000 for the classroom. (One of our events was based on 'Strictly come dancing' - we hired a professional dance team, and the students learnt about African dance rhythms);
• Delivery of the classroom's technology out to South Africa is being organised by the Royal Mail. Sun Micro Systems will then be sending a team to set up the technology and train the school and community to use it.

This is merely a flavour of the work that is going on. All staff and students at Heath End School are involved and fully committed to making our aims a reality.