| International Schools |
Silsoe Lower School was reaccredited with the International School Award on 1st September 2024.
The International School Award rewards schools that have shown a commitment to embedding international awareness and understanding within their school.
We have completed a range of collaborative, curriculum-based work with a number of international partner schools to increase our involvement in the wider community and ensure that our pupils are learning to become global citizens.
Silsoe Lower has been an international school for many years and is proud to make this an integral part of the learning of its pupils.
International Greetings:
Everyday, the children use our international greetings to say good morning/ good afternoon in the register. They may also share other vocabulary they have learnt in that language. Each time our language changes, the teachers will share facts about the country and some key vocabulary. The languages that we share are: French, Italian, German, Norwegian, Greek and Spanish.
On 20th January 2025, our Headteacher, Sarah Boyle, and our International Schools Lead, Helen McCarthy, visited the Houses of Parliament to attend an awards ceremony where they received our International Schools Award and reaccreditation. During the event, they were honoured to meet and be presented with the award by the Deputy Chief Executive of the British Council, Kate Ewart-Biggs OBE, and were also congratulated by Blake Stevenson MP. We were delighted to be recognised by the British Council for all the work our school undertakes to help our children understand the world and their role as global citizens.
We are currently greeting each other in German.
Guten Morgen = Good morning
GutenTag = Good Day
Wie Geht’s = How are you?
Gut danke = Good thank you
Nicht gut danke = Not good thank you
French Pen Pals
Since 2022, Year 4 have had pen pals with a French school. From 2022- 2025, they were linked with Ecole Arche de Noé a French primary school on the west coast of France. The school was in the small village of St Laurent des Autels which is between Nantes and Angers. The children wrote letters, shared photos and videos of life at school, traditions for Christmas and shared a zoom chat to sing to each other.
We now have a new exciting link to a French school for Year 4 in the south of France in a city called Perpignan. The school is called Ecole Pierre de Coubertin. The children are linked with two CE2 classes which are equivalent to year 4. We are in the process of writing letters to our new pen pals and the children are very excited to receive their replies.
We now have a new exciting link to a French school for Year 4 in the south of France in a city called Perpignan. The school is called Ecole Pierre de Coubertin. The children are linked with two CE2 classes which are equivalent to year 4. We are in the process of writing letters to our new pen pals and the children are very excited to receive their replies.
The classrooms belonging to our pen pals.
Ugandan School Partner since 2024
On Friday 22nd March 2024, we had a special worship led by Rachel Wilson from the charity ‘Chilli Children’. Rachel has helped us to set up a link with Kitazigurukwa Primary School in South West Uganda. Rachel told the children all about life in Uganda for children the same age as them. She also showed them photos and a video made by her daughter especially for Silsoe lower school. The children learnt all about their classrooms, their dining room and their lessons.
Take a look at the video the children watched:
Since this visit the children of Silsoe lower School have written letters to Kitazigurukwa Primary School sharing their favourite playground games. We received hundreds of letters back from the school and each class were delighted to read them and find out all about the children.
Ugandan Danceathon July 2024
On Friday 12th July the whole school learnt a Ugandan dance to raise money for Chilli children. This fun and active event took place in our hall, with classes each having a turn to learn the dance so that the school was dancing all day. We were joined by a professional dance coach Karen Byrne from ‘The Dance Studio’ to help with us all with our moves! We used traditional African drums and celebrated the crops and the sun as Ugandans would do. Every class also spent time learning new information about Uganda. They learnt about its climate, animals, food, currency and geographical key physical features such as waterfalls and lakes.
At the end of the day in Worship, we came together and shared all we had found out about Uganda - so many facts! We also danced as a whole school. It was a wonderful way to end our day and our International events this year.
Take a look at our posters all about Uganda and our amazing Ugandan celebration dances:
In February 2025, all children coloured and wrote on a leaf messages/words of friendship to Kitazigurukwa Primary School. These leaves travelled all the way to Uganda to create a display of friendship between the two schools. The children in Uganda did exactly the same and we now have our own friendship tree on display in the hall.
Home Languages Day - Annual Event
Our next Home languages day is on Friday 1st May 2026
At Silsoe Lower School we are a community that values and celebrates each person for their uniqueness and personal qualities. We are all different and bring a variety of experiences, skills, knowledge, languages and interests to school. Each person is encouraged to be themselves and be proud of who they are.
Each year, on Home Languages day we invite visitors from our school community and village to share their traditions, culture and language with the children. We ask the children to dress up to represent the heritage of their family. This could mean the children wear a mixture of colours / costumes to represent their whole family. Children are asked to bring information about the country of their heritage which they share with their class.
Christmas Around the World- Annual event
This year Christmas Around the World will take place on December 12th 2025
Each year, the children in all classes learn about their international country and how they celebrate Christmas.
Reception: Uganda
Year 1: Mexico
Year 2: Italy
Year 3: China
Year 4: Norway.
The children discover how the Christmas celebrations compare to their own. All the children learn how to ‘Happy Christmas’ in the language of their country and find out what children eat for Christmas dinner in these countries. The children make a traditional craft or piece of art work based on the traditions of their country.
International homework
Homework is set each half term based on our learning about other countries and being global citizens. Each year group learns about a different country.
Reception = Uganda
Year 1 = Mexico
Year 2 = Italy
Year 3 = China
Year 4 = Norway
The children learn about music, dance, art, national celebrations, geographical facts and traditional stories for each country.