William Patten Primary School

 Olé- a big thumbs-up for Erasmus+ enhancing and developing language skills and sharing best practice

When William Patten Primary School first implemented Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) in line with new curriculum requirements, they decided that they would teach Spanish across the Key Stages so that the younger children would also have the opportunity to learn a modern foreign language. Although they are fortunate to have native Spanish speakers on the staff team, for many this involved a commitment to improving their own Spanish language skills. William Patten Primary School received over €23,000 of Erasmus+ funding to run a Key Action 1 project for staff to enhance and develop language skills and share best practice. The staff embraced this opportunity for professional development and they have been able to teach more Spanish lessons across a wider age range than they would have had they employed a specialist teacher.  From the onset, staff have approached the teaching of Spanish with confidence and enthusiasm which has been supported through INSET by the local authority and after school Spanish lessons for staff. Their MFL curriculum is also well supported through the use of high quality audio and visual resources. Over the last few years, they have also been able to make links with local secondary schools and engage the skills of parents and carers who are delighted at the impact that the school’s approach to MFL has made to their children’s Spanish language skills.

Craig Porteous, Deputy Head Teacher; Curriculum and Assessment Lead, comments:

The Erasmus+ funding has supported us in driving further developments, not only in developing the Spanish skills of the staff who took part but also in enabling us to develop global citizenship and make further international links through our visit to the partner school across the wider curriculum. 

Staff development

Over two years, 12 staff will have been able to access this opportunity ensuring that their high quality Spanish provision is not only sustained but continues to develop further (despite the majority of staff not being native Spanish speakers). As their Erasmus+ funding enabled six members of staff to take part in the mobility project at Easter, they were able to ensure that this included subject leaders from across both key stages, as well as an early years’ practitioner to inform Spanish teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

Here’s how each member of participating staff was able to use their role to ensure best practice outcomes:

• the science coordinator is now in communications with her counterpart in Madrid, so that their partner school can be involved in their forthcoming science week (for example children in both schools will be able to do the same investigations and share their results);
• the MFL coordinator was able to inform the school’s approach to language teaching following observation and greater understanding of the successful Spanish model;
• the ICT coordinator liaised with the curriculum lead at the Madrid school with a view to establishing electronic correspondence and was able to observe ICT within the curriculum in Madrid;
• the Personal Social Health and Economic (PSHE) lead talked about the value of whole school and key stage PSHE themed assemblies, which the Madrid school don’t currently have and were interested in. She also led PSHE themed lessons in the Madrid school in which the children at William Patten had been involved to strengthen the links that the children at both schools are making with each other;
• as Craig coordinates maths, they were able to complete a collaborative maths project between the schools during their visit, which the children both really enjoyed and they are already looking at how this might be followed up. 

Wider impact

The fact that six members of staff were able to take part in the trip has meant that the impact of the trip has been much bigger and more immediate than it otherwise might have been. They have subsequently been able to lead dissemination assemblies in each Key Stage (including EYFS). The six staff involved also collaborated to lead a staff session stating clearly the whole school vision for embedding global citizenship and cross-school collaborations and how this can be achieved following the success of the trip. Copies of the school newsletters which communicate the aims and impact of the project can be found on the school’s website. 

The staff dissemination also served to inspire other members of the staff to incorporate new approaches into practice and to take part in the next trip in order to build on and sustain the progress made during the first trip. As a whole staff team, they are already making links to the humanities and art curriculum, modelling Spanish beyond Spanish lessons and informing the approach to internationalism, with reference to the connecting classrooms framework, as result of the project. Further opportunities for collaboration with their partner school within each year group and class are now also being planned.

Broadening horizons

The six staff members were able to use this as an opportunity to enhance intercultural awareness and knowledge throughout the school. It was wonderful for the children to see so many of their teachers in the role of ambassadors for global citizenship and the teachers were therefore able to broaden the horizons of the children through sharing with them their own direct insights and experiences of the visit in a contextually-relevant way. The governors were also included in dissemination activities and are delighted with the schools commitment to promoting global citizenship and the active role that the six members of staff have taken and are continuing to take to embed this. 

Whole school involvement

Craig is absolutely delighted that over the course of two years, twelve staff members will have had the opportunity to participate. As a result, he believes that this really has been something in which the whole school has been able to play a part. The project has and will continue to develop the Spanish speaking skills for all the participating staff. It has also provided opportunities to develop internationalism in specific curriculum areas.   

The Erasmus+ funding is a wonderful opportunity for individual schools to be able to achieve the best possible outcomes based on an insight as to how the project can be led in a way that is relevant to the needs of their staff and children.

Want to find out more about how Erasmus+ funding can support your school? Visit our schools funding page!