International Learning

PAUSED DURING PANDEMIC

International learning is a priority at Pembury and developing children’s knowledge and understanding of diversity and identity, locally and globally is embedded in the ethos and curriculum. We have had international visitors to the school, including Germany and Sweden.  We have maintained effective working relationships with these practitioners, sharing good practice, training staff and offering Internships to International Students to support their learning.  This has had a positive impact on the school as a whole, and remains one of our priorities.

We have the International Schools Award, International Eco Schools Award – we use this programme to further support children’s knowledge about climate – linking this to global warming. This forms the basis for introducing the concept of climate change to the children and questioning our actions and/or inactions.  Children have started to explore ‘How the World Works,’ thus giving children an international dimension to their learning.  This project poses questions such as who we are, where we are in place and time, how we organise ourselves and share the planet with others – thus giving a global perspective to the children’s learning, development and understanding.

We have been involved in an Erasmus KA1 Project (2018-19). We undertook job shadowing visits in Sweden and Finland to learn first-hand how we can further develop our Forest School approach, using international schools of thought and perspectives. Practitioners have used job-shadowing opportunities to implement activities within the nursery to benefit the children and improve the outdoor learning experiences we offer.  We have maintained strong links with the settings we visited during the Erasmus project.  We continue to work with a school in Finland through a joint programme of work.  Children from Pembury have visited a local historical site and children in Finland will be doing the same.  Children have shared photographs from these visits with each other  and have asked / answered questions about the observations made.  The Erasmus project has enabled us to bring European best practice into our setting, as well as providing opportunities to reflect on and share best practice with European partners.

We have currently received more Erasmus project funding for staff professional development opportunities. (PAUSED DURING PANDEMIC)

Erasmus visit to Vasteras, Sweden

Erasmus visit to Reggio Emilia, Italy