Extract from The Guardian : 13th Nov.

"A Passage to India"
Some formal programmes have sprung up in recent years that explicitly link schools in different kinds of the community in Britain and with ones overseas. The UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI), managed by the British Council, links clusters of 4 schools in the UK with clusters of 6 schools in India. This year schools from inner-city Leicester, in which most pupils are from an ethnic minority background, have formed a cluster with schools in the leafy Leicestershire town of Melton Mowbray, where virtually all pupils are white British. Both will be working with schools in Kerala and the Andaman Islands in India.

"We have many opportunities to work with schools in Leicester itself," says Matthew Parris, assistant head at Rushey Mead secondary, one of the inner-city schools. "This is an opportunity to work with kids who are culturally different - in Melton Mowbray and India - to bring that perspective to our students."

All 10 schools are currently working on a photo-story project, taking snapshots of their school and where they live to build up a picture of their daily lives.

"I want to learn more about the lifestyle in India and how they live compared with us," says 12-year old Shivani Kotecha, a year 7 pupil. "But I think it will be good for us to know about their schools and the things they learn because some of it might be things we can copy. Learning about how other people live is just really interesting. It makes you look at where you live differently."

Rushey Mead Photo competition

Are you keen on taking photos? If so, here is your chance to win great prizes and contribute to the UKIERI project. We need photos of the local area, it's community, buildings, people and traditions. We would also like images that you think capture the essence of Rushey Mead School.

If one of the photos you submit is a winner it will be included in a special film that will be shared with all our partner schools in the UK and India. Take a look at the example that has already been posted for inspiration. Don't forget about the PRIZES FOR WINNERS.

Send your digital images to Mrs. Odedra at school by Friday 16th November.

Our project plans and objectives

This is an extract from our project plans. I hope it gives you a flavour of what we hope to achieve in our first year :

"Our project aims to develop the understanding of others through the medium of sport and science. Ultimately we wish to make lasting links for students and teachers between and within each of the 2 countries. We aim to achieve this through 2 key projects :

Sport and Culture. To carry out research projects about the traditional games and sports of the other countries. To produce guides and kits that can be sent to our partners so that we can all participate in these games and learn about other cultures.
Health and fitness. To collect data about students in the different schools, both about physical fitness and also diet and lifestyle. Once again with a view to fostering mutual understanding but also to share common health goals between nations."

Where are our partner schools in India??

Take a look at the map. Our Indian partners are found throughout the most southerly part of India.

Welcome from the students of Rushey Mead

A big "hello" from us, the students at Rushey Mead Secondary School. We hope that our Indian partners will visit this site so that they can see the work we are doing and we can get to know each other better. BYE!!!

A Photo Story from Kerala

In order to give an idea of how to construct a Photo Story, I have used images from Kerala and our partner schools and produced one of my own. I hope this inspires the UK students in all 4 schools to come up with their own ideas....

Our partner schools

As well as Rushey Mead Secondary School in Leicester, we are working with 9 other schools, 3 in the UK and 6 in Southern India. They are :

• Rushey Mead Primary School, Leicester
• Old Dalby Primary School, Leicestershire
• John Ferneley High School, Melton Mowbray

and from India :

• JNV Shimoga, Karnataka
• JNV Trivandrum, Kerala
• JNV Kasargodu, Kerala
• JNV Bangalore (rural)
• JNV Gachibowli, Andhra Pradesh
• JNV South Andaman, Andaman Islands

Welcome to the new Rushey Mead UKIERI blog!!

We are really excited to be starting our projects working with schools in India and the UK as part of the UKIERI (UK India Education Research initiative) project, sponsored by the British Council. After initial meetings with Indian counterparts in Cheshire during September, the planning is now almost completed and we are embarking upon our first projects.

We will begin by holding photography competitions. Our students will take photos to represent their locality and also life at their school. We are then intending to put together a Photo Story for each school with commentary from the students and their own backing tracks (not too much R&B I hope!!)

I will be using this BLOG along with other key staff and students to post what we are doing so that we can share our progress with the staff and students in India.