Over 80 UK primary & secondary schools are now linking with their peers in Kenya,Sierra Leone and Malawi. The programme develops your children’s cultural awareness, contributes to curriculum development and helps you achieve the International School Award.

Plan-ed can take the hard work out of the link for you because we have already found a school for you to link with. We put you in touch with an African school and support you to reach a partnership agreement to help you clarify mutual aims and objectives with your linked school.

You will receive a resource pack, with lesson activities, photos, DVD, take home activity, artefacts and access to downloadable and search friendly web resources (which are updated regularly).

Every term you will send and receive a correspondence with your partner school, carry out a set of activities for your children to learn about your linked country and work on a collaborative project of your choice.

You will receive ongoing support via a telephone helpline service and your linked school will receive support from dedicated plan staff.

Ten key benefits to Plan ed School Linking

• A facilitated link with a school overseas
• Your school will have an ongoing, actual link with a school in Malawi, Kenya or Sierra Leone
• Your children will have regular communications with children from your linked school (6 letters a year and email possibility). We suggest a class writes letters, but the whole school is involved through assemblies and curriculum days
• You will receive a resource booklet (with a fact sheet on link country, curriculum activity ideas, set of lesson plans,10 photos about day to day life of children in linked country; DVD on school life in your linked country; artefacts from linked country; take-home activity).
• Your children will have access to Linkzone a secure resource centre with online resources include videos, photographs and sound files
• Your teachers will receive expertise from School Linking Co-ordinators, who are teachers in the respective countries providing twice yearly inset and guidance
• Teachers and pupils will have the opportunity to have some management experience
• OFSTED Criteria of global dimension and ‘every child matters’
• Endorsements and evaluation by the Institute of Education
• Makes your school eligible for applying for the International Schools award

Why Plan?

Plan has been working in communities around the world for 70 years and is now working with 64,000 communities. We have experience of working with children globally and have the support networks already in place in the link countries to create sustainable International school links.

What are the costs involved?

For all of the above benefits the cost is just £600:£400 goes towards all the benefits described above & £200 goes to your link school’s development fund. As Plan International is a registered retailer of Curriculum Online this means until August 2008 you can use your allocated e - learning credits to pay for all the benefits this programme provides, and you would then only be required to make the small contribution of £200 to you partner school's development fund.

There is also an optional annual cost of £90 should you wish to establish an online connection with your school. This will only be charged once your partner school is online.

As our programme schools are in very rural parts of the world it is therefore a challenge to give children access to computers and connectivity. We do however have dedicated staff in country currently working with community based groups and service providers to make communicating with your partner school via the internet a reality.

For more information please contact alex.monk@plan-international.org or call 0207 482 9777