The Edsential Grant Fund is helping Wincham Primary strengthen the relationship with their partner school

The Edsential Grant Fund is helping Wincham Primary strengthen the relationship with their partner school

Wincham Community Primary School’s vision and ethos for the school underpins everything they do. Their aim is for the children to become true ‘global citizens’, ready to engage with people of different cultures, faiths and backgrounds from around the world. They do this by embracing the similarities and differences between themselves and people around the world, and recognise that in understanding different cultures, it enriches their lives, enhances their respect for differences, and also allows them to understand the challenges faced by people in other countries.

This is done through explicit teaching about how the 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development link to the National Curriculum. These are the ‘golden thread’ that is woven throughout the teaching and learning at Wincham, so their curriculum is designed to suit the needs of the pupils. A large part of the global dimension of the curriculum comes from the links that they make with their partner school, Njoro D.E.B. Primary School in Kenya, where they make links between their society and that of their Kenyan friends and colleagues.

With their Edsential Grant Fund, Wincham were able to achieve the following objectives through a whole-school art project:

  • For children to further develop their understanding of the Global Goals.
  • For children to be able to articulate how they are similar to, and different from, friends in their partner school in Kenya, using the global goals to explain different priorities.
  • For children to collaborate in order to produce high quality pieces of art.
  • To further strengthen the partnership between the two schools.

Each year group worked with an artist to develop a substantial, high quality piece of artwork that showed:

  • The children’s understanding of the Global Goals, and how they relate to life in modern Britain (British Values)
  • The children’s appreciation of Kenyan culture, showing the links with their partner school
  • The similarities and differences that they have with their Kenyan school, especially in relation to the Global Goals

This resulted in permanent pieces of art on canvas or similar being kept in school on display in shared areas of the building to enhance the ethos of the environment. Photos of each finished piece of artwork were then used to create permanent outdoor pieces of display work, sent to Njoro D.E.B. Primary School in Kenya.

The below statement is from Samuel Ngugi, headteacher at Njoro D.E.B. Primary School in Kenya.

“We, the Njoro D.E.B community, take this humble opportunity to thank the Wincham community for your endless support to us. It is with great gratitude that we accepted your gifts to us. The books will help our children in improving their English language and writing skills. The artwork is an added benefit to our school, for the material will be used in the new curriculum Art and Craft lessons.

Thank you so much, the D.E.B community appreciates our partnership.”