International Links

As part of Bishop Luffa International Training Programme, we are hosting four trainee teachers from South Korea. They are part of a delegation to the University of Chichester from the Ministry of Education in South Korea and they are going spend a week with us. During their stay they observe a variety of lessons, have training sessions and also teach some cultural and language lessons to our students. Our student International Team are looking after them to make sure they can find their lessons and can communicate with everyone.

On their first day, we prepared a little welcome ceremony for them and decorated the school library with traditional Korean Costumes to make them feel at home. We also bought them some English tea and shortbread biscuits to enjoy at break time. Our wonderful librarian, Mx Thomas have allowed us to use the library every lunch time to share lunch with them and learn about Korean culture. We will be learning about their Language, traditions and even about Korean pop music (something our students are really looking forward to!). For their last day we have prepared and farewell session and we will be doing an English pub quiz. We will see who knows more about English culture, them or us!

Our partner school from Spain, Nuryana School, paid us a visit at the beginning of May and we were extremely happy to host them and spend the whole day together.

We had 140 Spanish students and a lovely group of Spanish teachers. Our Year 8 enjoyed doing language activities with them but the highlight of the day was that they got to meet their pen pals in person.

The weather was fantastic so we ended the day teaching them how to play rounders and making an art project to decorate our classrooms. Our members of the International Team played an important role making sure that everything run smoothly and keeping everyone happy. Well done!

We have been doing this for three years now so we decided to take a group photo together to mark our tradition. It was so many of us that it was a challenge to fit everyone in!  We are already planning our visit to their school in Tenerife this June. We cannot wait to experience a day in a Spanish school! 

Our International Team delivered their first assembly in another school when they visited Nyewood Primary School this term and we were welcomed with open arms! Our students talked about the importance of recycling and the consequences and impact that our rubbish has on animals and our planet.

We learnt about different colored bins and where we should dispose our items. We also explained to them what being in the International Team means and what type of projects we run. Everyone was very enthusiastic and our students also had the opportunity to talk to the students in Nyewood and get to know them better. We were all very impressed with the confidence our students are developing and how they are already having a positive impact on other children's lives. We finished the assembly dancing "My Lighthouse" all together. It was lovely!

We are all looking forward to going back in May and to continuing building our relationship with them.

What a week full of unforgettable memories!

This is the second year that we run a exchange programme with our partner school (Nuryana School) in Tenerife, Spain. This year we hosted 24 students from Year 9, 10 and 12 and welcomed three fantastic and dedicated Spanish teachers. It has been a wonderful experience with plenty of remarkable moments.

Our Spanish friends really enjoyed studying in an English school, eating English food and sharing and comparing their customs and traditions with us. On Wednesday, we all went to London together and saw the top sights and on Saturday we enjoyed a boat tour of Portsmouth Harbour, visited the HMS and the Victory and the museum. We finished the visit with a delicious fish and chips lunch in a traditional English pub.

On Sunday, our visitors spent the day with their host families. Some students went to Brighton others went bowling and others, making the most of the glorious weather, spent the day at the beach.

One popular activity among the students has been playing football in the park after school. Apparently, we need to train a bit more so we can beat the Spanish team when we go to visit them in Tenerife in June.

The majority of students and all Spanish teachers saw our production "Alice in Wonderland" and were amazed by the quality of the show and the amount of work involved. They left thinking how they could do something similar in Spain. Special mention goes to Adrián González, who along with his English friend Thomas Bacon, was happily involved in the show every day of the week.

Saying goodbye on the last day was quite emotional but the majority of students were organising their own future trips to see each other again. We are not sure the parents have been informed yet of these extra plans but it was lovely to see them wanting to repeat the experience again.

We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the parents who sent us lovely emails thanking us for organising the exchange and sharing lovely photos with us. We would also like to say thank you for being such a great hosts. All the Spanish students left with a smile on their faces and incredible experiences to remember.

We are all looking forward to preparing our trip to Tenerife in June and seeing our friends again.

When we returned to school after the Christmas holidays we had a lovely surprise. Our pen pal letters had arrived!

Our Spanish friends had been very busy last term writing lovely letters to us about their Christmas traditions. We learnt a lot about how Spanish people celebrate Christmas, what food they eat and when they give each other presents. This term it was our turn to write to them. For the Year 8 students this was the first time they wrote a letter in Spanish so their letters were about themselves. They told their Spanish friends what personality they have, what type of activities they do in their free time even the colour of their hair and eyes. Spanish lessons have been really exciting these last couple of weeks!

For the Year 9 cohort, this was the third time they wrote to them so we talked about our holidays. Where we like to go in the summer, what we do when the weather is nice and even what flavour ice cream we prefer. All in Spanish of course!

We would like to wish Merry Christmas to everyone in the Bishop Luffa Partnership Community and to all our partner schools abroad.
Special thank you to everyone who took part in this project. We hope you enjoy our annual International Christmas video.

https://vimeo.com/894588878/e27b10e18a?share=copy

Best wishes from the International Team

This term we got together to celebrate our first International Week at Bishop Luffa.

Our wonderful International Team ran assemblies every day to give everyone the opportunity to get to know each other better.

Together we learnt that at Bishop Luffa we are very lucky to have students and teachers from 33 different countries. That week also gave us the opportunity to learn more about these places.

Our students and teachers wrote an "I love from" poem to tell us more about their countries of origin. The poem tells us where our students are from without mentioning the name of the country. As clues the first two lines of the poem are about food from their country, then they talk about their childhood memories and sayings and finally they mention famous people, family and friends. If you want to guess where our students are from please watch the "I love from " poems below.

Poem 1

Poem 2

Poem 3

Poem 4

Poem 5

I am from reading lips to understand what people are saying
I am from talking and communicating without sound
I am from shaping words and stories in the air with just my hands
I am from listening with my eyes not my ears
I am from wishing I could hear but I cannot
I am from Sophie Stone, Marlee Matlin, Rose Ayling - Ellis, my grandparents, my parents, my siblings, myself.
I am international I am from Bishop Luffa.

Finally during lunch time, our students ran an International raffle and the lucky winners received wonderful prizes donated to our school by our partners in South Korea and a variety of businesses.

International week has finished, but our International Team still meets regularly to develop more projects that bring us all together. If you would like to be part of the team, just come and join us. We are all international and we are all from Bishop Luffa school.

This term our students from Year 10 and 12 had the opportunity to take part on our first Language exchange programme. They spent the week in Tenerife practising their Spanish, living with their Spanish host families and attending school in Spain. As you can imagine, they also had time to have a lot of fun and make amazing memories.

On Thursday night, more students from Year 9 and 10 joined us for a cultural visit. They spent Friday on Nuryana School (our partner school in Tenerife), meeting their pen pals, playing Spanish games and making new friends. We also went to the volcano Teide, visited La Laguna (UNESCO World Heritage) and swam at the beach. They also enjoyed a great "paella" and delicious "churros con chocolate" before we departed to the UK. A weekend packed of fun activities and a great opportunity to practise their Spanish. We cannot wait to come back next year!

Thanks to all the parents and carers who contacted us to thank us. We were very happy to hear that the students had a brilliant time and did not want to come home. What is more, it was great to know that this opportunity had opened their eyes to life beyond Chichester and how useful speaking another language is.

During the last couple of months we had the privilege to host 10 Trainee Teachers from South Korea to complete their International Training Programme with us at the school.

They have been shadowing students around the school, learning about the British education system, observing lessons across the school and teaching our students about their culture and language. Our students learnt greetings in Korean, played traditional Korean games such as "Yut No Ri, "Ddakjichigi" ,"Gongginori" and Jegichagi" and learnt to write their name in Korean. They also learnt about Korean culture and tried on a traditional Korean costume that the teachers donated to our school. A few weeks packed of fun and multicultural activities!

Marah López (9Andrewes), Dexter Sammut (9Sherborne), Izzy Stuart (10Ridgeway), Ben Parsons-Cork (9Otter), Jessica McGovern (7Story) and Jessica Yonge (7Story) were looking after them for the day during their stay. They took them to their lessons, helped them at the canteen and returned them to Reception at the end of the day. The teachers were extremely happy with our students and the treatment they received.

On their last day, we asked the teachers their opinion about their experience at Bishop Luffa and this is what they say:

"It was unforgettable and impressive experience"
"The best part was shadowing students"
" A new experience to get me out of my comfort zone"
" Everything was good, specially the training sessions on Behaviour Management and International Links"
"Teachers were very passionate. It was quite rewarding"
"People were very nice, teachers, staff, students"
"I really liked the PSHE (Global citizen) and Latin class (was very new to me)"
" I want to use the vocabulary mats with colours in my class"
"Languages classes were not just about languages. They taught about global experiences"
"We learnt about teaching diversity and how the curriculum is adapted to the need of the students"

Our Partner School from Spain, Nuryana School, came to visit us again this term. They spent a wonderful day learning about English schools and culture. We hosted 80 Spanish students (year 12) and 10 Spanish teachers and what an amazing day we all had! We cannot wait to visit them in Tenerife in June!

Our students not only enjoyed practising their speaking skills but also had a lot of fun creating a mural in the Language corridor and teaching our Spanish visitors how to play Netball. We all had lunch together in the Canteen and completed a traditional English Pub Quiz with our Spanish friends. Our Sixth Former students and members of the International Team played an important role making sure that everything run smoothly and keeping everyone happy. Well done!

Before our visitors left, we took a group photo all together and planned a lot of activities for our visit to their school in Tenerife next term.

Our Partner School from Spain, Nuryana School, came to visit us this term. They spent two wonderful days learning about English schools and culture and doing activities with our year 7 and year 8 students. We hosted 300 Spanish visitors and what an amazing two days we, teachers and students, had! We cannot wait to visit them in Tenerfie next week!

Our students not only enjoyed practising their Spanish skills but also had fun playing traditional Spanish games and multiple races. We all had lunch together in the Canteen and finish the day with a fantastic city trail in Chichester. Our members of the International Team played an important role making sure that everything run smoothly and keeping everyone happy. Well done!

Before our visitors left, we took a group photo all together with the Ukrainian flag and read the following poem in two languages:

When you look for peace
Entonces la paz está contigo
When you search for peace
Entonces no es difícil encontrarla
When you want to keep peace alive
Entonces sigues las palomas blancas que vuelan sobre ti
When you make peace with others
Entonces el mundo entero vive en tu corazón
When you let peace be in the world
Entonces vives en un mundo maravilloso
When you allow peace flow around the world
Entonces el odio desaparecerá y el amor brotará
When you open the door for peace
Entonces la paz entra en tu vida
Let the peace prevail in our wonderful world

By Ravi Sathasivam

It was lovely seeing our students developing new friendships and learning about other cultures. What an incredible experience to remember! We are looking forward to hosting our Spanish friends next year again!

Click on these links to hear a poem and listen to the students singing.

Peace Poem for Ukraine

Singing Songs 1

Singing Songs 2

Bishop Luffa Awarded Prestigious International School Award

We are delighted to announce that Bishop Luffa School has been awarded the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of our work to bring the world into the classroom. The school has earned this accreditation through its inspirational international work and links with schools abroad. By embedding an international dimension in children’s education, we are preparing our students for successful lives in the UK or further afield, empowering them to be global citizens and have access to vital opportunities in an increasingly global economy.

Miss E Lopez-Gamero, Teacher of Spanish & Languages Faculty Coach

Our students in Year 12 painted their own version of the "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso. Their mural theme was "Covid 19" and following the structure of the original Guernica it was divided in three parts (Life before Covid, Life during Covid and Life after Covid).

If you want to understand their art and the meaning behind their painting please watch the fantastic videos our students created explaining their art in Spanish, by clicking on the images below. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed creating our own piece of art!

La Guernica

Covid Picasso - Life Before Covid

Update: Spring 2021

All the Spanish students in the school, from KS3 to KS5, have been involved in the "Getting to know you" project with our partner school in Spanish (Nuryana School, Tenerife). This is what we have been doing:

Year 7 Mafalda Project: Year 7 students have just started learning Spanish this half term and have been learning basic vocabulary using the "Mafalda" comics. Mafalda is the most international comic character in the Spanish language. Her comics have been used to send Spanish messages of peace and love around the world for many years. The students created Mafalda posters with Spanish messages and all their creations have been sent to our partner school in Spain as a present. Best posters will also be used to decorate the school corridors.

Year 8 and 9 "Pen pals projects": Students in Year 8 and 9 have been writing pen pals letters to our partner school students in Tenerife. They have really enjoyed this activity and we are all looking forward to being able to travel to Spain next year and meet our pen pal friends in person.

From Year 7 to Year 13 "Getting to know you project": Students have been exchanging videos with our partner school in Spain. We have shown each other videos of our school, our city and surroundings, Christmas traditions and jokes in both languages. Our students made the videos in Spanish and the Spanish students made their videos in English. Great way to practise our language skills!

Click here for video

Special mention to Emily Sammut (12Sherborne) who has designed an International Links logo for the school.

International Merry Christmas

We would like to wish Merry Christmas to everyone at BL in different languages.
Thank you to all the families, students and staff who participated on the video. We hope you all enjoy it!

https://vimeo.com/491662708/eaf9c39332

European Day of Languages

The link below will take you to activities related to the European Day of Languages

https://view.genial.ly/5f527c1d1f2e6d0d7df4780b

The games are interactive and challenging for everyone, not only the students, so have fun!