Aspire leads a cluster of six schools within Hull on behalf of the British Council.
We are responsible for applying for funding opportunities for the cluster to enable International Visits through the Global Partnership Connecting Classrooms program.
We coordinate CPD sessions for the schools and meetings as well as supporting the planning of reciprocal visits between Hull and Sierra Leone. As a cluster we have developed individual school projects and an overarching project based on the SDGs 3 and 4.
We have helped to bring about change in the education system in Freetown through our visits, resources, team teaching and the deliverance of our training sessions at the British Council International Conferences in Freetown and Hull.
Recently our maths dept have collaborated with N.K.Singh Memorial English Preparatory Secondary School, Kathmandu, Nepal. The project was about Time: Quest-Calculation of Longitude and Time.
Our students really enjoyed lessons via Skype where they had the opportunity to engage with students from Nepal. Both sets of students loved asking questions about lifestyles whilst answering academic questions about the topic. Students exchanged work, photos and letters. We are really looking forward to our next collaboration with Kathmandu!
Poland, Dąbrowie Górniczej – Gimnazjum Nr 1
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL LINK
The partnership first established itself through the Comenious Project more than 12 years ago. A number of exchanges have taken place.
Aspire first took students as part of an exchange in 2015. Dąbrowa Górnicza is ideally located between Krakow, Zakopane and Oświęcim (where the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau is located).
It provides a great opportunity for students to learn about life as a teenager in Poland but also life, culture and history in rural and urban areas.
Sierra Leone, Freetown – Freetown Secondary School for Girls
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL LINK
FSSG has worked with staff currently at Aspire for over 10 years, even before Aspire was opened. In the past teacher exchanges have taken place.
Aspire continues to raise money for projects such as helping to supply the school health centre with some basic supplies and recycling. Aspire regularly runs joint projects and work sharing with students at FSSG. In 2018, Mrs Wilson and Mrs Ledger took part in a school staff exchange, visiting FSSG and taking part in collaborative training sessions. In 2019, we were lucky enough for Daisy from FSSG to visit Hull in the return leg of the exchange.
In October 2019, Mrs Wilson and Ms Gilchrist visited Freetown as part of a Hull cluster. Aspire students worked collaboratively with FSSG students, using video calling in preparation for their visit and completed joint project work together.
China, Beijing – Haiden Opportunity School
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL LINK
The Principal and Vice Principal have worked with schools in Beijing for many years, most notably Dacheng school. Teachers and students, from the Fengtai district in Beijing, have visited Hull every July during this time.
Early in 2018, the Principal and Vice Principal visited Haiden Opportunity School for the first time. It is a school similar to Aspire with students referred because they need greater social, emotional, behavioural or learning support than their mainstream school could offer them. Haiden has a similar approach and outlook on stuednts who require a different approach to education in order for them to succeed and reach their potential. In a short space of time we have secured a strong link. Mr Richardson and Mr Charlton, Aspire’s maths teachers, exchanged in June 2018 and in October 2018 Aspire students studied and lived at Haiden school for a week for the first time – a once in a lifetime experience for them.
2019 saw a further professional development visit by our Art team, Ms Jackson and Mr Roberts visited Haiden in October. There is a second student exchange planned for 2020 (update: Currently postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic).
Lycee Blaise Pascal, Segre en Anjou Bleu, France
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL LINK
Our latest link is with Lycee Blaise Pascal in Segre en Anjou Bleu, France.
The school has two clear objectives: to prevent students dropping out of school with no qualifications and to ensure that every young person can build their professional future and succeed in life. A perfect link for us!
Alongside their teacher responsible for Le Mission de Lutte contre le Decrochage Scolaire, we are creating a project that will see our older students utilising social media channels to talk with the students in France to help build confidence and self esteem; we are looking to build a project where both sets of students can see its not only them….everybody somewhere in the world struggles at one time or another. It is hoped that Aspire will visit Lycee Blaise Pascal.
