We are all different and that’s exciting!

We look different.

We have different families.

Some of our families may live in different countries.

We may have been born in a different country.

Perhaps we speak a different language at home.

Following on from the success of being re-accredited with the International School Award, Westfield Infant School now have an International Council. Members of the International Council were elected by their classmates. These eleven children from each class represent the whole school. They each have a lanyard so you will be able to spot them around school!

The role of the International Council is to promote international links so that all pupils at Westfield Infant School continue to extend their learning of the wider world. We are keen to model a positive sense of identity. This includes learning about different countries, celebrating different cultures and communities of people that live locally and around the world and rising to the challenge when exploring different languages. For a fourth year, we are sponsoring three students in India who communicate with us by letter three times a year. You will find each Year Group’s folder outside Class 3, opposite the library on our International Council display.

December 2022 - Horray! We have received three letters from three new sponsor students in India in the last week of term! Mrs Leeson and the International Council shared these with the whole school in our final Assembly of the Autumn term. This year we are sponsoring two boys called Thomas and Dhayanandhan and one girl called Pathmavathi. Each letter included a Christmas card with a photo and a piece of art work that the children have created. In January 2023, the International Council will meet together to write letters back and send some examples of our work that we've completed this half term. 

October 2022 – We have had confirmation that we are able to sponsor three students for the academic year 2022-23 via the Nevett Fund. We launched our new International Council with an Assembly and the presentation of a special lanyard to each of our class representatives. Phil Nevett has informed us that we should receive our first letters introducing our new students within the next few weeks…so watch this space! We will meet when they arrive!

January 2022 - Due to the school lockdowns in India we are delighted to receive our first letters (which have obviously been delayed) from our new sponsor students for the academic year 2021-22! We are keen to learn that Hasini (EYFS) Sharmi (Y1) and Hansika (Y2) are our students until July. That’s right – Sharmi was our EYFS student so she moved up with the Y1 children.

Throughout the year we have met as an International Council in our year groups (due to our different lunchtimes) to share, read and collaboratively write letters to our year group sponsor students. You can see our meetings below. In our letters we asked our students questions about their school and shared our curriculum experiences. Thank you for your hard work this year.

September 2021 - Currently, we are awaiting the names of our three sponsor students for this academic year 2021-22, so stay tuned because we will update you on here!

*28-10-21 Update - Children in India have not been in school due to further lockdowns - they are not due to return until 1-11-21.

Despite the challenges of the global pandemic during 2020-21, we received letters and photographs from Sharmi (EYFS), Gokul (Y1) and Janani (Y2). Last year’s International Council loved sharing the letters in their bubbles - learning about the students’ interests and hard working attitudes towards their own school work and their hobbies. The letters were written in Tamil and translated into English. The International Council were eager to write back to their sponsor students in the Summer term. Mrs Leeson was particularly impressed by the compassion shown in thanking the students for their letters, prayers and their hope that the students and their families would be safe at this time. The children worked collaboratively in their year group bubbles to write eye-catching letters to Sharmi, Gokul and Janani. Mr Squires thought they were fantastic (you can see them working hard below) and Phil Nevett kindly collected them from school and posted them to India for us.

Westfield pupils have a desire to make a difference. Our meetings occur once every half term with Mrs Leeson and to date the International Council have been involved in:

• contributing examples of our topic work that we then made into a book for the pupils of St. Mathias, Pondicherry. This was shared in October 2019 when the previous Headteacher of Westfield Infant School visited India.
• Feed the Hungry charity - helping package nutritional meals for families in other countries at Harvest time 2019. The School Council were also involved in this.
• maintaining correspondence with our three sponsor students in India (EYFS-Sharmi, Y1-Gokul and Y2-Janani); sending Christmas cards and letters and sharing these with the whole school in assembly December 2020 and then in year group bubbles July 2021.

Together, we want to explore the cultures in our own school and our community as well as the wider world. International Council members will help promote special events and global days like Commonwealth Day. We want to become Global citizens - which means we will have the skills to show respect to anyone we meet who might be different to us - in this country and in other countries - and find shared similarities. We want to learn about one another.

It is important that we all value each other and think about what we can learn from each other because we all live together in the same world.