Education partnerships with Gelsenkirchen, Germany
We support Newcastle schools and colleges to develop partnerships with their counterparts in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Newcastle and Gelsenkirchen Nancy have been twin cities since 1948.
International Newcastle, Newcastle City Council (School Effectiveness) work closely with the administration of Gelsenkirchen to promote new education partnerships.
Supporting education links with Gelsenkirchen
The city’s links with Gelsenkirchen have been established for a long time. There are civic, education, cultural and heritage, business and academic links between the cities. We have revitalised our approach to supporting education establishments to connect with counterparts in Gelsenkirchen.
International Newcastle is delighted to be able to broker further links and relationships between schools in Newcastle and those in Gelsenkirchen. Simply download the Gelsenkirchen partnership form here, complete it and return it to: sarah.edgar@newcastle.gov.uk to start the process. We will work with the administration in Gelsenkirchen to find an appropriate education partner.
This is a great opportunity for schools to develop international links, support language learning, intercultural awareness and relationships, as well as develop joint projects and exchanges and a wide range of curriculum and extra curricula activities. Schools do not have to be teaching German to develop a link. Some schools are considering introducing German language teaching and we can also support that via our colleagues at the Goethe Institut in London.
Further information about Gelsenkirchen and our links with Germany
We have a short briefing note about Gelsenkirchen which you can download here: A profile of Gelsenkirchen.
You can find out more about Gelsenkirchen the city, cultural life, landmarks, economy and society on the Gelsenkirchen city website here and you should have an option to translate this into English when you open the page.
Views of Gelsenkirchen
North East links with Germany
Download the Warum? German/y Resource Pack for Teachers, which was produced for a webinar about Newcastle’s and the North East’s links with Germany. This webinar was specifically designed to help schools find out more about Germany and our City and region’s active links and relationships – as well as to provide additional support and advice on how to engage with Germany and if interested, the German language. The resource pack includes:
- an overview of the North East and Germany links
- Profiles of our twin towns
- introduction and links to the poet and singer songwriter who performed at the webinar
- Summaries of support for language and cultural links from British Council, Germany Embassy, UK German Connection, Goethe Institut, Youthbridge
- Support from Durham County Council and International Newcastle for links with Germany and language teaching support
Additional funding and support for partnerships with Germany
We can bring in support from our partners at UK German Connection to help you with building your relationship and developing partnership activities. UK German Connection can support links with any part of Germany.
Grants for UK-German education exchange and activities: UK German Connection have programmes for teachers, parents and language assistants, with lots of ideas for new partnerships (click here: Partnerships – Professionals & Parents), as well as partnership funding to support your partnership. These are the funding strands, which can be applied for one after another, click here: Funding – Professionals & Parents or follow the individual links for different funds below. We can support you to apply for funding.
- Partnership Visit Fund – staff planning visits (for teachers, headteachers and youth group leaders) – perfect for new partnerships, up to £1000 and 75% of costs available for visits – a rolling programme, no deadline, but apply at least 6 weeks in advance
- Instant Impact – first-time taster trips for groups of pupils / young people or reviving a dormant partnership – this is for trips of your pupils to your German school and is up to £2500 (75% of costs or more in exceptional cases) – a rolling programme, no deadline, but apply at least 6 weeks in advance
- Flexible Funding Scheme – joint thematic projects and activities, including virtual partnership activities and/or reciprocal visits – Anthony this is for when you are a bit further on with your partnership and funds exchange both ways – a language element is welcome but not required. This is for up to £10,000 (again 75% of costs or more in exceptional circumstances). The Flexible Funding scheme has three deadlines per year: 31 January, 31 May and 31 October.
Further support for schools
With the City Council’s School Effectiveness Team, we continue to support any Newcastle school interested in developing their approach to languages, international links, intercultural awareness and celebrating diversity. Click here for our guide. Contact sarah.edgar@newcastle.gov.uk in the first instance, if you are a Newcastle school and want to get involved in an international link.
Follow the links to Newcastle City of Languages, Connecting Internationally and Internationalism in the City workstrands for more information.
Follow us online to find out the latest activities and opportunities for languages in schools and communities: twitter, facebook, linked in or check our news page.
We host workshops and webinars on developing and supporting international links and a whole school approach to internationalism, as well as funding opportunities to support partnerships.
Click here to download a report on international school partnerships with British Council and schools held in Newcastle, which explores benefits of links, sustaining partnerships, the support available and sharing learning.
We have supported schools to access UK Government Turing Scheme funding since 2021. We hold regular briefings when the Scheme is announced each year and work with schools to develop their links (if they do not already have one) and to understand the funding programme. We check and help amend applications.
- Click here to see information about the Newcastle main briefing session for Round 3 applications in February 2023, which we followed up with webinars and one to one discussions with schools
- Click here to see the presentation from the 2nd February 2023 session