Students at Hummersknott School in Darlington have become truly international citizens since beginning a project which breathes new life into the concept of the school exchange. Linking with schools in both Germany and Russia, this cross-curricular project gets the whole school exploring what it means to be a citizen of the world.

Each year since 2006 students from every age group have taken part in four major international events. The theme of this year’s project was ‘Our Heritage’, creating strong links with the history, geography and ICT departments. After collaborating in multilingual groups to research the heritage of Britain, Germany and Russia, students present their project to an audience of parents, governors and local press – all in the language of the country where each event takes place.

This is a truly whole-school project - while some students from Year 7 to Year 11 take part in the exchange, everybody gets involved in the research. The school also organises international days at its feeder primary schools in Darlington, and some pupils even go on exchanges to Russia from Year 6. One keen Year 10 student is spending several months in St Petersburg – the school is providing her with online support so that she doesn’t fall behind.

The project – which also receives the German Embassy Language Prize - is constantly developing; next year the school plans to involve science and bring in links with France and China. The great success of this project can be seen in increased uptake for Russian and high exam results in modern languages.

Language(s): German, Russian

Hummersknott School and Language College is a community school with 1200 pupils aged 11-16 from very diverse backgrounds. The school has a wide catchment area within the suburbs of Darlington. Hummersknott provides language expertise to other schools in the area, the local community and local businesses