International Schools Award

North Cambridge Academy is proud to hold the International Schools Award Intermediate Level for its work to enhance the global dimension and develop students’ global citizenship skills.

The Academy is proud to serve a diverse cohort of young people with over a third of the student body speaking languages other than English. In total, there are 37 languages spoken. French and Spanish are taught as curriculum languages spoken within the student body! Many of these students study for a GCSE in their heritage language, where qualifications are available.

NCA is also the home of a large complementary Polish School with over 200 students that runs out of NCA on Saturdays as well as a complementary Bulgarian School on Sundays.

The Academy has five partner schools in France, The Netherlands, Germany and two partner schools in Deoria and Paramathi Velur in India, with whom we have carried out pen-friend, virtual projects, as well as a teacher visit last academic year. This year, we have taken two groups of students to visit their peers in France and in Germany for the first time, as well as working virtually with our two new partner schools in India on the British Council’s Learning Sectors project in partnership with Formula 1.

The Academy has an International Working Group of staff meet termly to who work together to promote and develop internationalism and global citizenship across the curriculum, there is also an International and Community Coordinator who chairs this group.

The Academy uses whole-school assemblies as a way of celebrating diversity in the school, by focusing on International Day of Languages, Ramadan, Remembrance and Holocaust Memorial Day, International Day for Cultural Diversity, Black History Month, etc… In addition, in the Spring Term, the Academy has a Cultures’ Day, where the whole school comes off its normal timetabled lessons to learn about and celebrate languages and international culture.

There are a range of activities linked to language and culture across the curriculum (amongst others):

• The MFL Department runs curricular and extra-curricular language projects such as a Eurovision Song Contest for Year 7, the Spelling Bee and Translation Bee for Years 7-9, Mother Tongue Other Tongue bilingual poetry competition, as well as Language Leaders to support KS2-3 transition. Additionally, this academic year, students from Murray Edwards College from Cambridge University visited Year 7 classes to deliver Arabic cultural and language taster sessions. Furthermore, students in Year 9 had a session on language awareness and cultural identity delivered by representatives from Murray Edwards and Trinity Colleges.

• Performing Arts teach a range of music and dance from around the world, including Carribean steel drums and Peruvian cajon drums. A range of music from different cultures is also used for dance performances, and the NCA choir has even sung in Latin!
• The Humanities Department uses a range of countries such as China and Japan as case-study countries for teaching and in History there has also battlefields visit to France. Watch this space as there are plans for more overseas History trips next academic year!
• In English, students read about life in other countries and about people from different cultures and students are encouraged to express their own culture in their writing.

This year we were recommended by The British Council to receive a delegation from UNICEF in Lebanon, who visited the Academy to learn about inclusive education to support bilingual students and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). During the visit UNICEF member spoke with staff and students including a number of our bilingual student leaders, who spoke to them about their experiences at the Academy and the importance of celebrating and valuing culture.