Fairfield High School has been awarded foundation level of the British Council’s prestigious International School Award, in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom.

The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education.

Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life work in today’s world.

FHS’s international work includes Core Skills Day – a whole school off-timetable day in which students take part in internationally themed workshops to learn life skills from around the world.

Examples from this day last Summer included:

·         African: Headdress making, face painting, drumming

·         American: Ping pong, roller skating, bounce

·         Australasian: Food foraging, cooking ‘in the outback’, fire making

·         Pangea: Global food tasting/cooking, smoothie making

·         Asian: Komono workshop, mosaic workshop

The day culminated in a wonderful performing arts display with the whole school community viewing it from the school’s balconies.

On hearing the news that Fairfield High School had achieved foundation level of the award, Bobby Walker, Teacher of Geography & Global Learning, explains:

“We are delighted to be celebrating our wonderful and diverse school community with this vibrant and positive timetable of events. Fairfield has students and staff from over 40 different countries, so this is the perfect way to celebrate each and every individual, as well as the school as a whole.”

Stephen Hull, Senior Project Manager at the British Council, commented:

“Fairfield High School’s international work has earned the school well-deserved recognition in the form of the British Council International School Award – Foundation Certificate.

The school’s dedication to internationalism is enriching education for its pupils by bringing an essential global dimension to learning and encourage the development of skills children need to be global citizens of the future.

Embedding an international ethos across a school can lead to full International School Award accreditation and schools looking to join this supporting and engaging network should contact us at the British Council”.

If you would like to find out more about FHS please visit http://www.fairfield.bristol.sch.uk/.