Located in Surrey, Undershaw is a specialist learning establishment for young people with mild to moderate disabilities. Operating from year 3 to post 16 qualifications, the school uses a flexible approach to enable students to thrive and prepare them for life after education. A new link with our partner PEAS, an organisation with schools across Uganda and Zambia, will see students working together on a joint project.
The project focuses on the impacts of plastic pollution, highlighting issues which are pertinent to the different societies. The two projects will be delivered separately, led by a team of teachers in each school. Undershaw will work with their year 7 students, whilst the students at Kampinda will be slightly older, with the aim to share their results upon completion. The hope is that the project will demonstrate to the two school communities how issues of climate change and the health of our planet affect us all – no matter where you’re from. The topic of Undershaw’s project will focus on ‘How can we save the turtles?’ but with the two groups coming from such different locations geographically, it is hoped that a light on some of the different ways these impacts are being felt around the world.
“As teachers, we thought about how we wanted to start our link and decided that a good first step would be to launch a common learning project.” - Matt Fuller, Undershaw
Whilst the project itself is beneficial, the link with PEAS Kampinda brings further opportunities for the students. The students will have the opportunity to communicate with each other and learn more about different cultures, climate, and lifestyles outside their normal social circles. It is hoped that the projects will be shared towards the end of April, but it is hoped that this is just the beginning and for the two school and that as the link develops, so will the level of communication between the schools.
“Our Year 7 students were really excited about the prospect of starting the link with Kampinda. They have created a video to be sent to Kampinda to introduce themselves and our school and they are fascinated to find out more about Kampinda.” - Matt Fuller, Undershaw
As well as understanding different time zones, one of the biggest challenges is identifying how best to communicate with each other due to different technologies and what works best for the two schools. A fantastic development to broaden horizons, it’s an exciting opportunity for both schools and we look forward to seeing the partnership evolve.