Hi there, I’m Sarah, International School Award Co-ordinator and Ethnic Minority Achievement Team Leader at Oswald Road Primary School in Manchester
On Tuesday this week we took a break from our normal schedule to think about how water is used, to understand water issues around the world and to consider water conservation.
The day kicked off with an assembly by Oxfam’s youth and schools campaigner, Jo-Anne Witcombe. The school then divided into classes to participate in cross-curricular activities devised by their teachers. Some year groups focussed on schools in Pakistan and Zambia, where we have partner schools, while other year groups learnt about countries they hadn’t studied before. Activities ranged from an ICT quiz about water, to maths work measuring how much water is wasted when we forget to turn the tap off when we brush our teeth. Year three pupils got creative and designed a means of collecting water from villages that rely solely on rainwater, and year five watched a power point presentation about the water supply in Brazil, then composed raps about what they had learnt!
The following day, we completed evaluation sheets about the day and pupils wrote on post-it notes what they had learnt. Eloise from Key Stage 2 wrote ‘I learnt how important water is and how it is limited’, and Aneeka said ‘I enjoyed watching all the rap performances. Global water day was absolutely terrific!’
This event will be submitted as one of the main international activities when the school re-applies for its International School Award later this year, and the whole school has had a fantastic time learning about the importance of water around the world.
We hope to hold more successful international activity days in the course of the year.