Developing an international
ethos
Institution: Comberton Village
College
Comberton Village College is a mixed, comprehensive 11-16 school
of approximately 1400 pupils situated in a rural location, 5 miles
west of Cambridge. It has specialist college status in Sport,
Languages and Vocational and, in addition, is a Training School and
a Leading Edge School.
The college has held the full International Schools Award since
2004, and since becoming a second specialism Language College, it
has extended and developed its international work. One
chief aim of the college is for every student to have the
opportunity for at least one meaningful interaction with someone
from a different nation, different culture and a speaker of a
different language during their time at the school.
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Interviews with staff and students about international
work
Interview with Rachel Hawkes about international
work
In this interview, Rachel talks about the
development of an international ethos in the school since it was
designated a Language College. She talks about how the school set
up exchanges with other schools, linking not only the languages
department, but also music and PE departments with partner schools
abroad. She describes how the work is developing with schools
in a wider range of countries. Rachel describes the value of
exchanges and the strategies which can be used to convince both
students and parents of the importance of participating in exchange
visits. She also describes how staff from other subject areas are
involved in cross-curricular projects and how valuable this
involvement can be for staff in other disciplines.
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Interview with art teacher, Jane Driver, about a
cross-curricular trip to Spain
In this clip, Jane
Driver describes an art trip to Spain focussed on the study of the
artist, Salvador Dali. An exchange was set up with
students in a school in Figueras, where the artist studied. A
relationship is built up between the English and Spanish students
in advance using the online portal Rafi.ki, where ideas and work
can be exchanged in advance of a face-to-face meeting. A
virtual link has also been established for a large number of Year 7
students using Rafi.ki. Jane describes how even those who are
not able to participate in the exchange are motivated by virtual
links with the school in Spain.
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Interview with teachers from the music department,
Geoff Page and Ben Parker about the ‘Academy of Death’
musical
In this clip, Geoff and Ben describe how the
music and lyrics for the musical (composed by Geoff Page) included
some songs in German to be performed at a music festival during a
German exchange. Extracts from the musical are featured and
students who participated describe their experiences. The music
staff describe how this international link has benefited them, both
personally and professionally, and how relationships have been
quickly built based on the mutual interest in music which all
participants shared.
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Interviews with students from
Comberton Village College
In this clip, students describe the range of
opportunities that exist for them to participate in exchanges with
schools in other countries. They explain how the experience of
living with a partner family has been invaluable in improving their
understanding of foreign language and culture. They also describe
how long-term friendships have been formed with their exchange
partners.
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In this clip, a student describes how he is preparing
for an exchange trip to Peru. He explains how he is looking forward
to experiencing the language and culture of South
America.
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This student describes why he wanted to participate
in the German exchange and how, after initial worries about living
in a German family and making mistakes with the language, he gained
so much from the experience. He explains how his visit
inspired him to make a presentation on Germany, as part of the
process of becoming a senior prefect and his plans for future study
of the language.
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