Key Milestones

Alot has happened since the linking first started here is a time line of events so far!

• May 2002 - Pat Hannam (Head of Belief, Philosophy and Ethics) invited to Mexico (with 3 others from UK) to assist with training (P4C) for the Mexican teachers. Teachers in Mexico tend to have a didactic style. This training was to introduce some active learning strategies in the citizenship arena.
• July 2002 - Pat Hannam successfully applied for Reciprocal Teacher Award from British Council.
• September 2002 - Betty Arteaga, an English Teacher in Francisco Villa, visited UVHS for 2 weeks funded by Reciprocal Teacher Award.
• First meeting held with UVHS teachers interested in the linking.
• First meeting with parents of students involved in the linking.

The continued support from parents has been invaluable throughout the linking. Parents are involved in fundraising activities and we meet regularly to discuss the linking. Beginning to plan visits to and from Mexico gave these parent meetings impetus and extra meaning as there was a great deal to do to support the trip.

• May 2003 - Liz Kingston (then Head of History) travelled to Mexico City through the second leg of the Reciprocal Teacher Award. Betty Arteaga (Mexican English Teacher) and Silvia Palacios (Mexican ICT Teacher) hosted Liz.
• September 2003 - new group of then year 8 students brought together to meet on Tuesday lunchtimes to develop new phase of the linking.
• November 2003 - UVHS Students and 4 teachers travel to our linking school. Resources for History and Geography and BPE purchased. This trip was self-funded.
• Spring 2004 - Mark Holroyd and Jack Stitt launch the website www.mexicolink.co.uk .
• April 2004 - successful application for a Curriculum Development award was made to the British Council. This consisted of £6500 each year for three years shared equally between the two schools to embed the linking into the curriculum.
• Autumn 2003 and Spring 2004 and continuing - older linking students make many presentations to outside agencies about the linking e.g. Town Council, Furness Lions, and the staff of UVHS.
• Many fundraising activities: Mexican Salsa evenings, Bag packs, Raffles and so on.
• July 2004 - 4 Mexican teachers and 12 students from our linking school travel to Ulverston! Travel part funded by curriculum development award. Extensive fundraising for the visit had taken place.

• September 2004 - older linking students make presentation to whole staff of Pennington CE Primary School on an Inset Day.
• October 2004 - Mark Holroyd and Jack Stitt produce first linking newspaper, 'The Link'.
• November 2004 - OFSTED comment favourably on the place of the linking in school life.
• May 2005 - Julie Dobson, Alessandra Desbottes and Juliet Duncan visit Secundaria Tecnica 44, funded by the British Council Curriculum Development Award, and a Teacher International Professional Development Award. This enhanced the involvement of Maths and Modern Languages in the linking.

• July 2005 - Pat Hannam, Emily King, Victoria Stringer attend International Philosophy for Children Conference in Mexico City. They made a presentation together with our linking teachers and students on ‘Philosophical Enquiry as a means of developing a School Linking Project’. Later, they also made a presentation to 350 teachers attending a city wide INSET programme being held at Secundaria Tecnica 44 during the holidays.
• October 2005 - Second visit by UVHS students and teachers to Secundaria Tecnica 44.
• November 2005 - Older linking students participate in video conference presentation with the UN on the future of Internet Technologies. (Tunis Conference)
• January 2006 - Linking students participate in a Specialist Schools and Academies Trust video project.
• March 24 2006 - First Conference. Creative Thinking: Thoughtful Action.
• July 2006 - Second visit to Ulverston by Teachers and Students from Mexico City to UVHS.

Future Plans:

• August 2006 - First International Youth Congress. Chiapas, South Mexico. This is extending the Philosophical Enquiry aspect of the linking to explicitly explore issues of Peace, Justice and Sustainability with young people through living contexts. This new development rooted directly in the wider UVHS Mexico Linking Project
• Summer 2006 - Mexico Link Website relaunched with Lakeland Web Solutions. Two blogging sites are to be introduced for use by both schools to post up-to-the-minute information. Jonathan Fincham and Nathan Cumberbatch will take on responsibility for the UVHS Blog.

Long-term Ideas

• Further develop curriculum links to the linking project in both schools . The link now with Chiapas offers great opportunity to broaden understanding of for example the wider picture of Mexico. This is of benefit to both students in Secundaria Tecnica 44 and UVHS Students.
• Collect data and research more rigorously the place of philosophical enquiry in the development of International and intercultural understanding. Link with Warwick University.
• Purchase video conferencing facilities for Secundaria Tecnica 44.
• Possibility of developing a three way link with a school in South Africa.
• Enterprise Link. Through working with a group of students involved in a UVHS enterprise project we will make ethical connection with coffee co-operative in Chiapas and see what develops.