With the Moroccan flag proudly flying high outside, a school in Rotherham prepared to welcome some rather unusual visitors at a recent art exhibition.
A band of ‘recycled robots’ descended on Wales High School as part of a joint art exhibition with their partner school, College Ibn Sina in Casablanca.
The two schools have been producing work for this event since March under the theme of colour and texture.
While pupils from all years showed off all kinds of artwork, Design & Technology pupils in Year 7 produced robots out of recycled materials. They also thought up imaginative names and functions for them such as 'Chocolate Brownie Maker' and ''Professional Spectator'.
Teacher Daragh Swain said: “The students have been collecting household items that would normally be thrown away and re-using them to reinforce the work we have been doing on the environment and reflecting the message; ‘reduce, re-use, recycle’."
Wales High School welcomed a very special guest in the form of College Ibn Sina teacher Mr Abdallah El Mouden and the Moroccan delicacy of mint tea available for one and all to enjoy.
Mrs Swain added: “it's been a real cross curricular and cross-community event.”
Harthill Primary School - also in Rotherham - joined in and showed their art work at the event which took place on Wednesday 16th November. College Ibn Sina will put on the art exhibition in April.
Organiser Gareth Hughes said: "It was wonderful to see the whole community come together and celebrate the work of students both in Morocco and the UK. The students have worked so hard and the quality of work on display is a testament to the strength of our partnership with College Ibn Sina."
Wales High School has been twinned with College Ibn Sina in Casablanca, Morocco since April 2010.
Olympic Dreams Network schools in Somerset, UK and Ekatarinburg, Russia have held their second joint assembly via Skype.
Fairlands Middle School in Cheddar linked up with School 108 in Yekaterinburg, Russia as part of their International Languages Day celebrations on 14th October.
As part of the joint assembly the children sang songs and performed sporting demonstrations taking their inspiration from the World Olympic Dreams stories.
There were several gymnastic routines from classes who were representing USA - home to Shawn Johnson - a Taekwondo demonstration from a Year 5 class who were representing Afghanistan - where Rohullah Nikpai lives and trains - and a judo demonstration from a class representing Kosovo - in support of Majlinda Kelmendi.
School 108 was itself attended by World Olympic Dreams athlete Ivan Ukhov.
Teacher Sarah Boyes said: “It was a fantastic day of celebration for different cultures and sports from around the world. It was a project that started to excite and enthuse pupils about the Olympics next year and it further strengthened our partnership with School 108 in Russia.”
As part of the day of celebrations different costumes from all over the world brightened up the classrooms in school.
The students also worked with their tutors to develop their language skills as well as their knowledge and understanding of different cultures.
Everyone got a taste of different places, quite literally too, as the school chef put on a special menu of foods from around the world.
Using the internet, the schools were able to connect and share the experience.
Students in Manchester have recently welcomed a visitor from Hawaii.
Year 10 pupils from Audenshaw School were taught Mandarin Chinese by Lily Ong, a teacher from Honolulu.
The future looks bright for the Manchester - Honolulu partnership and Ms Ong is now setting up a setting up a scholarship for two pupils from Audenshaw to study at the Hawaii Chinese Immersion School for a month.
Teachers from a school in Kent have recently travelled halfway around the world to visit their partner school.
Andrew Brown and Linda Daniel from Sandwich Technology College made the 10,000 mile round trip from Sandwich to Beijing in October to visit Tsinghau High School in China.
Tsinghau High School is the former school of Chinese diver Hi Ze who won two gold medals during the 2010 season in the 3 metre springboard, and is one of the athletes featured in the BBC's World Olympic Dreams.
Andrew Brown said: “Our partnership is still in the early stages so this was a chance to continue our global conversation and help our new relationships to blossom.
The students in China were shown a DVD of the hopes and goals of the Sandwich Technology College students back in the UK.
“The idea is for young people to connect all over the world and discuss dreams and aspirations with the Olympic Games as a common medium,” explains Andrew.
During the trip the pair visited the Bird’s Nest (China’s National Stadium) and the Beijing National Aquatics Centre where so many swimmers achieved their medals in the 2008 Olympic games.
But the teachers didn’t just see the sights, they saw first hand how schools in China operate differently to those in the UK.
“We were amazed to see that in a Chinese student's break time ALL the school have to perform an exercise routine as instructed by one member of staff.”
It is hoped there will be more exchanges between the schools in the future. The schools are linked through the Olympic Dreams Network which is a joint BBC and British Council project.
