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 * Welcome to our Wiki blog for teachers in Nigeria that are on the Global School partnership. Please share information and happenings here in a manner that will benefit all. please feel free to invite teachers on the committee of GSP in your school to this wiki. You can also add your school BLOG, WEBSITE by using the link icon when you click EDIT.**

media type="custom" key="10277697" =**Hey, this is NEW**= Greetings! Please find attached herewith the Application Form for Reciprocal Visit. I will advise that you download it and know what it entails. Also it is important that your partner school is also interested in applying with you. It is a joint application, and both schools must agree to apply together.
 * Cheers Wellington Oboh.**

Hi,

Greetings! This is a gentle reminder that if you have not registered your partnership on our website, you are hereby advised to do so on GSP database www.dfid.gov.uk/globalschools (It should only take 5 minutes). If you enter the details for both schools, that should be sufficient; It is important for you to know that if the Nigerian school does the registration, the UK school must enter their acceptance of the registration (required by UK law). Please you can use the school contact details in the introductory letter sent to you earlier on.. The registration is important to enable you be counted as eligible on our programme.

Wishing you a fruitful partnerships

Bimbola Jide-Aremo Country Manager Global School Partnerships

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[|Lets hear you]

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Try to register for International Schools Awards (ISA) media type="custom" key="10490562"

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Hey try this survey and we can share ideas on how to make yours for your projects.

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There are lots of activities that you and your partner school might like to do in the early stages of partnership.

'Getting to know you' activities

 * Introductory letters to the headteacher of your partner school explaining what you would like to learn from the partnership. The letter could include information about the school and your local community; your interest in the partnership, plus long-term visions for the partnership and curriculum ideas aimed at embedding global dimension values within the curriculum.
 * Supervised pen-pal letters can be a useful starting point, but it helps if these are focussed on a particular theme. Unsupervised letters between young people may include elements which reinforce the preconceptions and stereotypes which Global School Partnerships are trying to break-down. Letters and emails should be monitored to ensure that cultural, social and economic differences are respected.
 * [[image:http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Images/globalschools/gsp-dfid-partnership-map.jpg caption="Photo of a partnership map"]]Starter activities about the partner school's country, weather, lifestyles, wildlife, ways of life, hobbies, jobs etc could provide a strong foundation for developing curriculum work.
 * Make use of other online resources to find classroom materials and to get ideas.

Once you've made a start

 * Share your reply with colleagues and then plan what you will do with the information. How will you introduce it to the whole school and all those involved in the preparatory stage?
 * Plan how staff and students in both schools will communicate with each other. Is there email access in the school or at a nearby internet café? If not, what other means of communication are there e.g. mobile phones, postal services or via a third party such as the British Council, local authorities etc?
 * Begin to think about how you will spread the learning opportunities from the partnership throughout your school curriculum. Think about the eight global dimension themes and how these fit in with your curriculum and with the curriculum of your partner school.

Help is at hand
> > Contact the following regional global educators by emailing globalschool@vso.org.uk > Magdalene Sacraine - Scotland > Rob Guyton - Eastern > Naomi Alexander - South West > Mike Sharland - North East > Barbara Redmond - North West > Le'Anne Ponen - London > Carol Williams - East Midlands > David and Sarah Griffiths - South Wales
 * We have a network of regional global educators who provide Global School Partnership programme information and support to schools who would like to start a partnership. They have experience of working in education in southern countries and/or of having a school partnership.

Things to think about

 * Postal services in some partner countries may be unreliable and slow.
 * Class sizes may differ widely. If letters are sent from group to group rather than student to student you reduce the risk of disappointment if pupils leave or are away from school.
 * Teachers may not have regular access to email so you may not get an instant reply.
 * Partner schools may have different expectations. UK schools may become disinterested if they do not receive an immediate reply to their letter or email; southern partner schools may well reply in-depth after some time.
 * Think about using other means of communication. Text messaging can be a good way of maintaining regular contact. If other people in your community are visiting your partner country, they may be happy to take letters over for you.
 * Find out from your partner school when their school holidays are and what will happen to any letters you send during the holidays.

=Advice on how to involve your community= Extending the outreach of your partnership Involving community groups in your partnership can increase the sustainability of your partnership and strengthen relations within your own community.

Benefits for the community
School partnerships can make significant contributions to the curriculum and can be of great personal benefit to teachers and pupils. By extending the outreach of a school partnership, these benefits can also be shared by the wider community. As with schools, partnerships can bring your community a better understanding of different societies, cultures and religions and an appreciation for global dimension values, i.e. concerned with social justice, democratic processes, equality and sustainable development locally and globally.

Benefits for your partnership
Community participation can also considerably strengthen your school partnership. Involving community-based groups and individuals can add expertise, sustainability and of course extra enthusiasm to your partnership. Your community can be a valuable source of support for the development of projects, the arrangement of events and for the growth of the partnership in general. The longest-term and most successful school partnerships tend to have significant community participation.

How to involve the community
There are networks and organisations across the world dedicated to developing partnerships between communities. These organisations can help you extend the reach of your school partnership within the community or, if there are already good links between your school and your community, they can advise on how best to build partnerships between communities in different countries. The UK One World Linking Association (UKOWLA) can help you identify relevant community groups and sources of expertise or assistance in your area. UKOWLA works alongside a network of similar organisations based in countries across the world. Contact UKOWLA for further information and advice on community-based partnerships and for information on partnership organisations in your area or country.

Who you could involve
There's no limit to the number of people in your community who may be willing to get involved in your partnership.
 * Businesses may have grants available from their departments of community affairs. There is a big move nowadays for the private sector to have a social awareness and development policy and agenda. They may be able to support your partnership in other ways e.g. helping with communication, helping with production of partnership materials such as books or calendars.
 * Religious groups e.g. churches, mosques and Social groups e.g. Lions, Round Table, Rotary, WI etc are likely to be interested in countries you are linking and may well contribute.
 * Local communities, whose family origins are in the countries you are linking with, might be willing to support your school partnership. This will provide valuable insight into the cultural context of your partner school.

=Sustaining your partnership= Advice on how to sustain and fund your partnership beyond Global School Partnerships

Sustaining your partnership
As school partnerships develop and mature, deeper and longer lasting impacts can result. Some partnerships will come to a natural conclusion while others will continue beyond this and the relationship will become an integral element of school life and ethos. We appreciate that sustaining your partnership beyond the funding offered in programmes like GSP has substantial financial implications for the partner schools involved. However, there are a number of options to explore and we have put together ideas to help you think of ways of sustaining your partnership.

Funding opportunities other than GSP
There are a number of other UK initiatives that provide funding for teacher visits and exchanges to further develop an existing link. For more information about other funding opportunities from British Council or other funding bodies or charitable organisations in the UK you can look on British Council Schools Online (formerly Global Gateway) Other funding opportunities will focus on different elements of the partnership or may require you to work with different schools or community groups, so this is a great opportunity to take stock of what you have achieved so far and to develop the partnership in other exciting directions. Your local Development Education Centre (DEC) or Local Authority might be aware of local grants or initiatives that can provide funding or support to your partnership. Contact details of your local DEC can be found at [|www.dea.org.uk]. Local business or enterprise initiatives may be able to offer financial or practical support to your partnership. Involving local business is another way of involving the community in your partnership and you may be surprised by the level of support you get. You can also get in touch with community groups in your area to see if they know of any other sources of funding. You may wish to spend some time researching funding that may be available in your area. Your local library will have resources to help you and websites like [|www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass] and [|www.tes.co.uk] may also have tips and advice. If you are aware of any other sources of funding, please do let us know so that we can pass the details on to other schools.

What about fundraising?
Many successful partnerships have introduced fundraising to support partnership activities rather than improving facilities in partner schools. It can be directed towards supporting communication between partner schools, supporting equal numbers of teacher and pupil exchanges from all partner schools and, of course, the development of joint curriculum activities. Where fundraising does happen, all schools should be involved in planning a strategy, in undertaking fundraising activities and in agreeing on how funds will be spent. Always remember that fundraising needs to be treated cautiously in order to avoid creating or reinforcing a donor-recipient relationship.

=Organisations and networks= Organisations and networks that can support you in embedding global education in your school's curriculum

Good Practice Network
The Good Practice Network for global school partnerships and links is a UK-wide network of education practitioners and advisers engaged in the development of learning partnerships between schools in the UK and in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Its aims
The network brings together practitioners and advisers of educational school partnerships and links that seek to promote a global dimension in school curricula, raise young people's awareness of global development issues, and develop equity-based relationships. The network aims to:
 * explore, share and define good practice in global school partnerships and links
 * create a dialogue to share UK and southern perspectives
 * provide a forum for specific interest and practitioner groups
 * consider the effectiveness of learning partnerships between UK and southern schools
 * schools in supporting young people's development as global citizens.

Enabling Effective Support
Enabling Effective Support (EES) is an initiative funded by DFID. It supports the development of regional strategies so that teachers can get effective and sustained support in embedding a global dimension in the curriculum.

Who is involved
Networks of schools, development education providers, local education authorities and community-based organisations have been established within 11 UK regions. Each local network will develop a strategy to achieve more comprehensive, high quality support to teachers for the delivery of the global dimension.

The benefits of EES
Involvement in the regional networks and in development of regional strategies enables schools to be in a stronger position to engage with and to respond to the challenges of globalisation, sustainable development and active citizenship.

Contacting my local support network
More information and contact details for the Enabling Effective Support networks are available from the [|Development Education Association].

Development education providers
There are a variety of organisations involved in and dedicated to the support of development education provision. These development education providers can deliver services ranging from classroom materials, to guidance on embedding a global dimension in the curriculum, to training and professional development.

Development Education Centres
Development Education Centres (DECs) can provide support to schools, teachers and other organisations that are involved in the delivery of development education. DECs are generally small operations, but are staffed by experts in development education and are a valuable source of information and support for teachers working to embed a global dimension in the curriculum.

Available support and resources
Specific services vary from centre to centre, but a typical DEC will have a library of resources, classroom materials for sale, and may be able to assist schools in the production of their own materials. Some DECs also deliver training to teachers and individuals involved in the development of a global dimension within the curriculum. We recommend that all schools involved in Global School Partnerships should contact and work with their local Development Education Centre.

Contacting my local DEC
In the UK, each country has an umbrella body that supports the work of DECs. These networks can help you to identify your local DEC and which centres are in the best position to provide the support you require.

=Current status on Global Curriculum Project grants= The latest grant news With the Global School Partnerships programme due to end in 2012, partnerships will no longer be able to apply for Global Curriculum Project grants. Successful applications submitted for a March 2011 Global Curriculum Project grant will be able to continue activity through the current funding period. It is important to note however that there will be no opportunity to renew the GCP in March 2012. We appreciate that this news will come as a disappointment to many partnerships currently mid-way through the programme, but GSP will continue to offer full partnership support for the remainder of its contract. Any further updates will be communicated directly to partnership co-ordinators. Schools are also advised to refer to British Council Schools Online British Council Schools Online (previously Global Gateway) in order to be kept updated regarding any new sources of funding