Every November, we celebrate International Education Week, which is supported by our partners, British Council. This is an opportunity to share information, resources and opportunities to build schools’ engagement in international partnerships and to help children and young people build an understanding of other cultures across the world. British Council shares a range of resources to support schools involvement and bring the world into the classroom. Click here for all International Education Week Resources and events and click on the links below to find out more about these, including:
Live events
- Bring the world into your classroom: Webinar 16:00-17:00 on 19 November 2024 for educators to share ideas and experiences around working with international school partners and projects
- Reading for Pleasure – Live! 14:00 on 21st November for schools interested in promoting reading for pleasure, for ages 7-11. It will feature an interactive author workshop delivered by renowned poet and Children’s Laureate for Wales, Alex Wharton and pupils from the UK and Jamaica who have been working together around reading
Embedding internationalism
- International School Award information
- International partner finder for online projects
Resources and inspiration
- British Council Top Resources including The Great Languages Challenge, activities for international partnerships and classroom resources for activities around Zero Hunger, Gender Equality and Renewable Energy
- Welcome to Germany and the German Speaking World free resources to introduce German language and culture to primary and secondary pupils
- Learning Sectors – STEM in action programme with Formula 1 and international partner schools to inspire future careers
- Stories from the classroom – teachers sharing their experiences
- Where will languages take me? videos and booklet to inspire pupils to choose languages as an option
Empowering Newcastle’s Youth for a Global Future
We have recently updated our brochure, Empowering Newcastle’s Youth for a Global Future. This shows how International Newcastle and Newcastle City Council (School Effectiveness) work together to support schools and colleges in our city to develop international partnerships, improve language teaching, learning and take up and to strengthen intercultural awareness. We aim to widen opportunities and help children and young people in the city to become confident, global citizens.
In the last three years, we have helped Newcastle schools establish 80+ international partnerships to connect with peers abroad and raised over £1.7m in funding for lifechanging international visits. We have established two networks for language teachers and supported 59 local schools to achieve the International School Award.
International Newcastle also co-ordinates the annual Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages. Our 2025 Festival launches on 18th November for registrations for activities taking place from January to March.
Schools, community schools and groups can dive into multilingual creative projects and enjoy engaging pre-recorded workshops over 3 months. There is an amazing choice of in person and online live events in March around world cultures and languages, as well as languages and careers and on campus experiences with Newcastle, Durham and Northumbria Universities to inspire young people to progress with languages. There are also North East and national competitions and language resources. There’s something for everyone—all available completely free. Join us to celebrate and inspire a future generation of linguists and global citizens!