Academy stars on the BBC!

The Academy's visit to our partner school, Bishop Okiring, in Kenya in July can now be seen on the BBC website at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/world_olympic_dreams/9595899.stm

This is only the initial video of our trip to Kenya before a thirty-minute documentary is released in November.

World Olympic Dream competition winners!

Congratulations to all our staff and students that took part in the World Olympic Dream competition! Judges were impressed by the high quality of our entry, which secured us a partnership with world athletes' Linet and Moses Masai's school, Bishop Okiring Secondary School in Kenya.

Bedford Academy were invited by the British Council to attend a special event in London, 'Olympic Dreams Live' Friday 14th to Sunday 16th January where they met the Head teacher, Naboth, and a pupil, Eglah, from the athletes' school to start the twinning journey. Scenes from the event and an interview with Naboth can be seen here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/world_olympic_dreams/9112313.stm

On Monday 17th January and Tuesday 18th January, Naboth and Eglah visited Bedford Academy for an event-filled welcome to their new twin school.

Not only will we be following the stories of World Olympic Dream athletes with our twin school, we will also be working with the World Class team to share and compare ideas and experiences on the BBC website.

For further information, please read the Times&Citizen article here: http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/local/dreams_come_true_with_international_link_1_2003084

 For the latest news on our Partner school, please click here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/world_olympic_dreams/9349344.stm 

Winning the World Olympic Dreams project is only the start to our International Link adventure. Following the World Olympic Dreams live event in London and Bishop Okirings Head Teacher Mr Naboth Okadies visit to Bedford Academy, the hard work really does now begin! The challenge is to build upon our solid link so that both our academy and their school can benefit from the wonderful opportunity we have been awarded.

BBC Worldclass Leaders!

Following a successful visit from our partner Kenyan school, the BBC chose to use our partnership as a lead story on their website, viewable here: www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass Visit this link to read all about the partnership, browse through photographs and watch video clips.

Further videos on the link are viewable here:

International Schools Link Enrichment - every Tuesday 3.35pm to 4.30pm

Remember, all students that wish to take part in partnership activities can do so at Tuesday's 'International School Links' enrichment with Miss Lee and Mr Cox.

Students that already attend the club have dedicated their time to working on joint projects with students and staff from Bishop Okiring School. The first project the students have been working on is the 'Culture box', a box of ten items which the students felt reflected our country, town and academy. One of the items sent in the box was a mystery item that the enerichemnt group hope the studetns in Kenya will not recognise, thus initiating a question and answer exercise that will determine what it is and what it is used for! All items are secret until our partner school have the opportunity to open the box and discover what is inside!

6th Form Student Involvement

During Mr Okadies visit to Bedford Academy with his student Eglah, he had the chance to spend alot of time with our Sixth Form students who kindly acted as guides throughout his stay. The visit had a profound influence upon our 6th form students' attitude and views on Kenya, Africa and tendency to take life for granted in the UK. It was facinating to hear Mr Okadie speak to the students about the difficulties that his students face and the day-to-day life of a student at his school. Eglah, who is a similar age to our sixth form students, struck up a strong bond of friendship with several of our sixth form girls. It must have been a huge culture shock for her as it was the first time that she had ever left her village!

Since Mr Okadie and Eglah returned to Kenya, our sixth form students have written pen pal letters to the students in Kenya. An example of this is shown here: Kemei PenPal Letter.docx

Curriculum Work and ISA

After establishing such a wonderful link the academy plan to fully maximise the opportunity. Having secured the Intermediate International Schools Award, we are now working hard to compile our application to the British Council for a Full International Schools Award that is only given to schools that show the international link is embedded in their curriculum and enrichment with an evident influence on student learning.

The Humanities department have been working on a Fairtrade project with Bishop Okiring; an extremely relevant topic to Kenyan schools as Coffee and tea are Kenya's main export items. The English department are also working on several projects, including African poetry and African novels in Book Club. Our Sports department are working with Bedford Borough Council on a marathon club leading up to the 2012 Olympic games in London. Any students wishing to get involved in any of these projects can approach their form tutors.

Bishop Okirings famous Alumni

Every World Olympic Dreams School has a London 2012 athlete associated with them. Bedford Academy is extremely lucky as Bishop Okiring have two! Brother and Sister Moses and Linnet Masai are 10,000 metre runners, both of which should be representing Kenya at the Olympic Games in London.