Here at Lent Rise School we’ve been involved in eTwinning through the British Council since the very beginning, so we’re really excited to be celebrating the programme’s 5th anniversary in earnest this week.

Our pupils have been planting flowers in the EU colours in the school Peace Garden to represent their eTwinning friendships across Europe, and they are sending seeds to all of their partner schools for them to plant, too. A group of pupils have even made a film about our school links with Europe.

I first found out about eTwinning five years ago when the British Council invited me to meet with European teachers in Brussels, to see how working together could benefit our students at Lent Rise.

As a result of that visit, we developed a series of partnerships with 14 European nations, so that every class at Lent Rise has a partner class in a different nation. This allows the children to learn from each other across Europe.

We share the books we read, the journeys to school we take, the music and artists of our nations. We learn about each other’s country and culture directly and even have food tasting and cultural exchange days which mean that the parents can get involved too.

This interaction has brought new experiences and different cultures into the school, and made us friends across Europe. It has led us to introduce other languages into the curriculum and explore wider world issues.

I am convinced that all we do through eTwinning ensures our students and teachers get a much more enjoyable, richer experience from our school, which helps raise standards across the curriculum. So Happy Birthday eTwinning from Lent Rise School!

Brenda Bigland is the head teacher of Lent Rise School near Slough. 

Watch the eTwinning video created by pupils from Lent Rise School at Vimeo