Herbert Thompson Primary School had a special visit by Local MP Kevin Brennan recently who presented Head Teacher Sheena Marsh with a British Council International School Accreditation, in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom. He also took part in a visit to the school from artists from ASSITEJ in South Africa and Wales who engaged to the pupils around theatre and dance work, through British Council Wales’s Go Digital programme.
The International School accreditation recognises that the school has worked hard to build international awareness, developing activities across the curriculum to broaden awareness of languages and different cultures.
Hebert Thompson Head Teacher Sheena Marsh outlined some of the international projects developed by the school:
“All our classes have been involved in various international projects over the last year including creating connections with a school in Lesotho through zoom calls, letter writing, and shared tree planting activities. Our international lead Chloe Lazenby has developed arts projects that allowed the pupils to learn about life in Southern Africa through connecting with authors and stories from the region and most recently an exciting visit from a group of artists from South Africa,”.
About receiving the International Accreditation, Sheena added:
“It was fabulous to have Kevin Brennan here to take part in the recent artists visit and hear from the pupils about some of shared international activities that our teachers have developed. We’ve worked hard over the last year to create global links and broaden the perspectives of the children and are absolutely thrilled to receive the accreditation. We believe that creating these opportunities through languages, theatre and literature is a great way to build global awareness within the school”.
A recent highlight for the school’s international creative programme was a visit from artists from ASSITEJ, a renowned theatre group from South Africa, who work on empowering education through performing arts. They joined artists from Wales at the school to bring international stories to life for the children through audio, dance, and drama.
Working with year-one and year-three pupils, the artists engaged with the children on a series of audio stories in four different languages Zulu, Afrikaans, Welsh and English, and worked with the pupils on a theatre piece about two children from very different parts of the world - Soweto in South Africa, and Llangollen in North Wales who face common challenges.
Sarah Argent, Theatre Director and one of the managers for this Go Digital project spoke about bringing the artists together:
“It was fabulous to connect the artists from South Africa and Wales with children here through this visit to Herbert Thompson Primary School. Both projects we brought to the school celebrate the cultures and languages of South Africa and Wales and the children were really keen to learn from the artists, have fun through dance and drama, and engage around these compelling and challenging pieces.
“We brought together a great team of artists through the Go Digital programme connecting Schoemé Grobler, Nompumelelo Mtshali, Miriam Mayet, and Sizwe Vilakazi from the amazing ASSITEJ South Africa who have teamed up with Nia Morris and Ceri Elen who both work in the world of theatre here in Wales”.
Rebecca Gould, Head of Arts for British Council Wales added;
“We had a great morning at Herbert Thompson engaging the children with some of the exciting pieces the artists have been working on together for the Go Digital project. The International School accreditation is well deserved for Herbert Thompson who have embedded a fantastic international ethos across the school”
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