International School Award 2020
This page reflects the evidence for international projects towards the 2020 International School Award accreditation. Due to COVID the process of accreditation was modified to reduce the number of projects to 4. You can see details of the modified projects from the link below.
We're so impressed by Lewis in Y2, who took home his recipes learnt during Refugee Week and shared them with his family!
Click on any of the links below to find out details of some of our International Projects this year.
Louise from the Leeds Development Education Centre runs some workshops on migration and prejudice with children in Y5.
Diwali in School
Thankyou to Vatsin who led a whole school assembly about Diwali this year. As well as telling us all about the history of the festival, Vatsin also shared some of his own experiences of being a Hindu and explaining why this time of year is so special to so many people.
Children enjoying India Day during their home learning in February 2021
Email from India
Dear Friends at Southroyd,
Greetings from Bachpan. We are very pleased to read your e-mail and learnt about your festivals. This is Ishani and Hemisha writing on behalf of Bachpan. We are just back from our Diwali vacation and started the new term with full enthusiasm.
This year we had our Diwali festival on 27th of October. Diwali is the biggest Hindu festival and is generally referred to as the King of Festivals. It is a five day long festival.
It starts from the thirteenth day of the dark fortnight and ends on second day of the bright fortnight. Thirteenth day is called Dhan Teras, we worship Goddess of wealth and pray for prosperity.
Fourteenth day called Kali Chaudas (Black Fouteenth day), we offer food and prayers to holy spirits and seek their blessings.
Fifteenth day, no moon day, is main festival of Diwali. We clean, decorate, illuminate our house, make rangolis, light diyas and candles. Though it is a dark day but because of lamp lights the whole surroundings get illuminated so well and because of their heat the insects etc get killed. The best part about Diwali is that the light of happiness spreads everywhere. We enjoy fireworks on all the five nights of this festival. Our fireworks are colourful and make different sounds unlike your cold fireworks.
Fourth day, the first day of bright fortnight , is New year day. We wish new year to one and all, meet and greet friends and relatives, eat and exchange dry fruits and sweets and visit everyone's house.
Fifth day, Bhai dooj, is brother's and sister's day where they wish good luck to each other.
There isn't any particular food item for Diwali, but many special sweets and other snacks varieties are eaten during these days. We all wait for Diwali so eagerly.
Hope you enjoyed your Bonfire night too. In winters we too do bon fires.
We wished you all to come here and spend one more memorable week with us, like every year. But dear friends you are absolutely right that this year we cannot meet each other but I'm very sure that next year we all will meet and have a fun together. Till then we will be in touch via e-mails and share pictures from both the ends.
Best wishes for your upcoming Christmas. Bye. Hear from you soon.
Ishani and Hemisha
2021
Due to COVID the process of application has been extended from July 2020 to July 2021.
Lewis in Y2 made this fantastic powerpoint slideshow about Malala for International Woman's Day in March 2021.
Chinese New Year
In January, a whole school assembly shared the story of Chinese New Year, with children sharing in the folklore behind the 12 animals of the new year cycle. As well as thinking about traditions children talked about some of their own experiences in taking part in New Year celebrations.
Learning About Islam
In February we welcomed guests to our school to work with our KS1 and specifically Year 2 children to tell us more about Islam.
Using an assembly and workshops the children across Ks1 learnt a lot about the daily lives and special festivals of Muslim people.
As part of our Global projects we make best use of local groups to learn more about cultures and religions that are part of our multicultural lives.
International Women's Day
As well as welcoming author Kate Pankhurst in school, we celebrated Women's Day in assembly and class.
Stephen Lawrence Day
Also in April, during the school's enforced closure due to Coronavirus, was Stephen Lawrence Day.
On all learning zone class pages, the children were reminded of the anniversary of the death of Stephen Lawrence and activities and discussions were based on these events.
