International Schools

The School continues to promote international links, embed internationalism in the curriculum, raise awareness of global issues and celebrate difference and diversity.

As a school in a small village we are working collaboratively with a number of partner schools, in the UK and beyond, to ensure that our children gain a thorough understanding of what life is like both in different parts of the United Kingdom, the rest of Europe and wider world.

Year 6 are currently working with La Salle Ecole Catholique in Amiens in France and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting each other and sharing our books when we were in France. Our tour together round Amiens was amazing and the singing together in Amiens Cathedral was truly breathtaking! We are looking forward to working with you throughout the year and can’t wait to see you again next summer. The School has over 1000 pupils aged 4-18 and is located in the centre of Amiens.

Year 5 are currently working with Jeanne D’Arc ellenogalliki school based in Piraeus, Athens in Greece.

This work has involved the children learning about life in Greece and culminated in the children visiting Greece in Summer 2023.  The use of technology has allowed children in each country to both share work and communicate with each other.

The School has been pleased to be able to offer visits to both France and Greece at a significantly reduced rate due to a successful bid for funding from the Turing Programme.

The School is pleased to be part of a work shadowing programme run by the Erasmus programme. It is hoped that we will be welcoming 2 Headteachers from Spain, Mr. Javier Soligo and Mrs. Abigail Galindo, for 2 weeks during the academic year 2022/2023. During this time they will explore both our curriculum and approaches to teaching and learning while sharing with staff best practice from their Schools in Spain.


International School Award

The School is pleased to announce that we have been awarded the International School Award Intermediate level (Developing Internationalism).

The British Council provided the following feedback on our application:

We are delighted to inform you that Heddon-on-the-Wall, St Andrew’s Church of England First School has successfully met the criteria for the British Council International School Award. Congratulations!

“Your school is clearly committed to embedding an international dimension to your curriculum and whole-school ethos, to promote global citizenship, foreign language learning and an appreciation for cultural diversity. Through the commitment of your staff, you have established links with schools in other European countries and secured Turing funding with which to develop collaborative project activities and visits. These partnerships are already providing rich and motivating learning experiences for your pupils and staff. Children are learning first-hand about other countries and aspects of their cultures by communicating and sharing information with their international partners as well as practising new life skills and using foreign language for real communicative purposes. Your international links are also providing opportunity for pupils to begin to address some key global issues. We hope that you will be able to progress regaining the full International School Award next year. Good luck with your international partnerships and projects! “