The above is a quotation from the foreword of the DfES strategy "Putting the World into World-Class Education", which was released in November 2004.

The "Celebrating the International Dimension" conference was organised jointly by Sunderland LA and by ATLAS and took place on Monday March 21st 005 at the Sandhill Centre.

The aims of the conference were to give Sunderland teachers information about the opportunities available to them, about how to incorporate the international dimension into their work in school and also to celebrate some of the excellent practice that is already taking place within the LA. Issues raised in the DfES strategy were highlighted.

The conference was opened by School Improvement Officer Chris Campbell, who emphasised the importance of incorporating the international dimension into all curricula, and stressed that it is already part of the new Key Stage Frameworks and strategies. We are all obliged to include moral, cultural, social and spiritual aspects in our lessons, and this provides an ideal opportunity to do so.

Then Clare Seccombe, AST for the international dimension in Sunderland, spoke about sources of information and support for teachers.

The LA has recently established a working partnership with the Strategic Programmes and Europe Team at Civic Centre. Projects and Programmes Officers Rachel Brown and Lynsey Barnes spoke to delegates about opportunities for joint activities with Sunderland's twin towns Essen and Saint-Nazaire. The team are involved with the EU URBACT and EQUAL programmes, and are working on establishing links with the new members of the EU and with developing countries in Africa and Asia. The team are keen to work with schools in the LA and welcome contact from teachers.

There are many schools in Sunderland who are already involved in international programmes and projects. Linda Parker from Barnes Junior School spoke about the Comenius Partner-finding seminar which she undertook to find some partners for her school's Comenius project. She outlined how she had become involved, what happened during the seminar, and the benefits that Barnes Junior School have gained from it. You can read about Linda's experiences in more detail in the first issue of the "Celebrating the International Dimension" magazine.

Diamond Hall Infants School recently held a One World Week, when each year group chose a different country to work on each day. Ruth Firth told us about the work that she had done with her Reception class. Diamond Hall has a significant number of Bengali pupils, and they tend to have difficulties culturally and linguistically when they start school. The decision was taken to celebrate these differences rather than labour on them and make them a problem. The Reception class began by celebrating Chinese New Year. They went to a Chinese supermarket, made and ate a stirfry, and some of the pupils successfully used chopsticks. One member of the class is Turkish, and she and her family showed the class aspects of their culture. They also did some Bengali dance and made international flags for their assembly. Year 2 pupils marked on a big map the countries that they came from and the countries they had visited. They visited a different country each day and made a "Passport to the World". The week was very successful and the decision has now been taken to have a One World Week each year. This is an excellent example of a school who is adapting its existing curriculum and looking at it from a new perspective. Internationalism is pervading the whole curriculum without involvement in any formal programme.

Biddick School Sports College in Washington has been involved for some time with the British Council's "Dreams and Teams" programme. Bob Stone described the school's links with Poland, Beijing, St Petersburg and the USA. The programme offers tremendous personal development for pupils. It recognises their skills, stretches and challenges them and encourages them to take risks in their work.

Hetton School has completed successfully two Comenius School Projects and has recently applied for funding for a third. Clare Seccombe, the school's international co-ordinator, described how and why they have become involved, how they have found their partners for each project, and the benefits that the school has gained. You can read about Hetton's international work and also Thornhill School's Comenius project in more detail in the first issue of "Celebrating the International Dimension" magazine. Hetton's 2001-2004 project "Life" is featured on this website.

The last presentation of the evening was given by Clare Seccombe, who outlined the new International School Award. It is the Government's intention that all schools should soon either have or be working towards one of the levels of the Award. Find out the latest information about the new Award on the British Council website.