Institution: Bourne Community College

Context 
The Bourne Community College (BCC) is a flourishing, mixed and inclusive college on the borders of West Sussex and Hampshire. It has 700 students and 28 partner primary schools. It is situated in an area identified as part of the south coast deprivation with pockets of affluence. The school also has links with an Army base on Thorney Island.

A new Head, appointed six years ago, has worked closely with all staff and governors to raise expectations and aspirations across the whole college community with the result that there is now a changed culture which is successful and outward–looking. It was a crucial development when the school achieved Combined Specialist Status in Modern Foreign Languages and English in July 2007, following an outstanding Ofsted inspection in November 2006.

An international approach colours every aspect of life at BCC. This is not limited to the MFL department - students experience diversity in all their subjects and across life in the school.

Click here to view a video of the headteacher of the Bourne Community College talking about internationalism at the school.

How the programme is organised
Links have spread from MFL to other departments now and virtually all departments do have some element of internationalism in their curriculum. Below are some of the activities undertaken by different departments at BCC.

Modern Languages 
Reciprocal visits with Lycée Leonardo da Vinci, Saint Witz, France. After their visit in March 2008, a sports team from BCC visited them.

Contact with Kaiser Wilhelm Gymnasium, Germany. They visited the UK in March 2008 and the Year 8 students who are studying German as a second foreign language have prepared a short presentation about themselves in German this year, which will be sent to Germany.

There has also been interaction with Hofstead Lyceum in the Netherlands. A new project has started with the English department there, with a focus on the Harry Potter books..

Modern Languages and ICT
Students in Year 7 have had the chance to email and hold video-conferences with pupils from I.E.S Vasco de la Zarza, Spain. This has been done in conjunction with the IT department who are also hoping to set up a Moodle-based chat area where communication can be maintained more easily.

Religious Studies
The Bourne Community College has links with School 331, St Petersburg, Russia. Collaborative work has been done particularly in the History and RS departments. There was a reciprocal project about weddings in the two countries where students from BCC filmed a mock-up of a traditional British wedding and the Russian students did the same.

Geography
Geography students in Year 9 undertook a survey in their families to find out where their grandparents came from and the students from I.E.S Vasco de la Zarza in Spain did the same. A shared area has been set up on the school's international website for both schools to share the information. This gives the students statistics on the origin of families in Sussex and Hampshire as well as the Avila region of Spain and shows how migration affects local populations - this has also formed the basis of Geography lessons in both schools.

PSHE and Citizenship
In Year 8, students do a module based on life in other countries. This involves the study of a fictional British Commonwealth nation which has been chosen to host the Commonwealth Games and the advantages and disadvantages of such an event. The students will also be writing letters to students in the partner schools, and telling them about their everyday life in the UK, and receiving replies from partner schools, giving them information about daily life in other countries. In the past, students have written to China, Russia and Sweden.

Music
Folk music is studied as part of the GCSE curriculum and a slant has been placed on this to enable music to be shared with the partner school in Russia. GCSE students perform music and this is filmed and sent to the school in Russia. The Russian school is currently putting together its performances for returning to the Bourne. They organised an English Language Music Festival (a bit like Pop Idol) and will send the school photos and a script. The Bourne has also sent Christmas carols to their partner school in Russia and they will, in turn, send Russian Folk Music which Bourne students have performed. The school has also been visited by the Watoto choir from Uganda.

PE
The PE department has visited the French lycée to set up a netball tournament. Handball from Europe has been swapped with our local Stoolball and Handball has been trialled on our curriculum. BCC is looking to introduce Tchouk Ball throughout our curriculum and Leisure Centre and thus on into the community.

Science
Internationalism is now embedded into the Science curriculum. This includes the study of International Scientists, the history of Science and Global Science issues. In the past, students have participated in video-conferencing with Finland. BCC also hosted a training evening for all heads of West Sussex Secondary Schools to show them how simple and effective video-conferences with other countries can be.

Extra-curricular
BCC has a partnership with Jianping Experimental School in China. Members of staff have visited the school and now a club has been set up where Mandarin is taught as well as an introduction to Chinese culture, including work on the Olympics.

Each year, in partnership with Chichester College, a Japanese Day is arranged for Year 9 students who are taken off timetable. Classes include Japanese Calligraphy, Japanese Language, Japanese Food, Tea Ceremonies, Flower Arranging and Origami. Food Technology also includes a module on Japanese Cuisine at the same time as Year 9 are studying Japan in Geography so this event is a bringing together and bringing to life of all these studies for them.

The canteen holds a food festival week in February where food from different countries is served each day.

The school has been awarded International School status by the British Council.

Click here to view a video of the headteacher of the Bourne Community College talking about internationalism at the school.

Author: Andrew Starr, Bourne Community College