Our Lady's Passport to the World
We believe that children should be exposed to a wide range of contrasting places around the world. Each year, the school will have a ‘Passport to the World’ week where children will ‘visit’ a country to discover and find out about it. Children will collect stamps for their passport so by the time they leave primary school, they will have ‘visited’ 8 different countries, spanning the globe. We have chosen countries to enable children to get a breadth of knowledge about contrasting locations around the world. We have also looked at the diversity in our school community and have chosen countries that reflect some of children’s cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
Nursery – Republic of Ireland
Reception – France
Year 1 – Poland
Year 2 – India
Year 3 – Philippines
Year 4 – Australia
Year 5 – Ghana
Year 6 – To be chosen by the class (in 2023 the class chose Poland due to the number of Polish children and the passport system wasn't up set up when they were in Year 1).
What happens during the week?
Each class starts by recapping where the children visited last year and previous years. They look at their class book and see what they can remember. They will then locate their country from last year on the World Map and compare its location to the country they are visiting this year. Just a reminder that all children from Year 2 upwards must be able to name all the continents and oceans.
During the week, all children will learn some key facts about their country.
Key facts should include:
- Locating the country on a map and knowing its continent
- Knowing the country’s capital city
- Knowing some of the country’s physical features
- Knowing some of the country’s human features e.g. landmarks
They will also be exposed to other facts about the country, particularly cultural traditions and compare how these are different to the UK. We try to relate their learning to British Values, especially the values of mutual respect and tolerance of others. All classes complete a piece of extended writing.
Other areas of learning to explore could include:
- Exploring the language, food and cultural events
- Discovering facts about the country’s history
- Finding out facts about the country’s animals and plant life
- Inviting visitors in to come and talk about the country
- Making a brochure/video/advert of why to visit the country
- Watching child friendly videos (e.g. Oddizzi, BBC Teach, National Geographic)
- Making contact with children in that country via Oddizzi Penpals.
At the end of the week, the whole school comes together to share and celebrate their learning. The children are asked questions about their country to see if they have learned their key facts. The children can share anything else they have learned or show any thing they've made.