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Links into Languages news
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First LinkedUp Project in Yorkshire and Humber - "Continuity, Creativity, Culture: The new Y7 approach”
Region: Yorkshire [More Yorkshire news...]
Posted on: Monday, 01 Feb 2010
As Centre Manager of Links into Languages Yorkshire and the Humber, a new government-funded programme to establish a network of Regional Support Centres for Languages across all regions of England, Kerry Dobson is working to bring together teachers, teaching assistants, advisers, trainees, school leaders and stakeholders across all school sectors in this region in a scheme dedicated to creating infrastructure which will support innovative language teaching.
One strand of Links into Languages is The LinkedUp Award Scheme, focusing on collaborative curriculum innovation, and bringing together groups of teachers from different institutions to share and develop ideas. Most projects will receive around £3000 funding.
A group of 5 schools in Sheffield was successful in its application for a Linked-Up Project, the first one in the Yorkshire & Humber region. The lead language college, King Edward VII School, is also the first local centre for Links into Languages and will be offering CPD courses for modern languages teachers as well as its own programme in partnership with the South Yorkshire Branch of ALL.
“We will be working with four other schools to address learning progression from KS2 to KS3, young people moving from primary school to secondary school” said Eva Lamb, Language College Director, King Edward VII. The four other schools are: The City School Business and Enterprise College, Handsworth Grange Community Sports College, Tapton School and Science College and Wisewood School and Community Sports College.
“We are delighted to be working together and will draw on one another’s strengths to promote language learning for children in the region. All of the schools approach languages very differently. At Edward VII School for example the majority of our Year 7s have already been learning Spanish, our first foreign language, for four years, whereas almost a third have had no or very little prior experience of the language. This poses a real challenge which we are trying to address in a number of ways.”
In their first meeting in January the teachers in the project said that the felt it was a “real luxury to have some time and space to reflect” and that they appreciated being able “to work outside our own little (school) boxes”. For several it had been the first time in years that they had worked with colleagues from other schools.
If you are interested in applying for funding for a LinkedUp project or require further information, please contact Ingrid Nyaundi at ALL – Ingridn@all-languages.org.uk or visit the LinkedUp webpages
