Wolverhampton school launches partnership with school in Crete

Pupils from Berrybrook Primary School in Westcroft took part in a special virtual meeting with fellow pupils at the school in Crete.

Deputy headmaster Alistair Smith took part in the meeting and spoke about how the unique link came about.

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He said: "Amarjit Cheema, the CEO of Perry Hall Academy Trust, which the school is part of, has been doing work with the British Council Exchange.

"She rang one day to say the Greek Prime Minister had been talking about the pandemic and how it affected schools and there was a group of children who wanted to find out how other children were affected by the pandemic.

"That led on to the meeting we've had with the school in Crete and other members of educational bodies in both Greece and over here."

The meeting saw talks given by people such as Greek Education Minister Niki Kerameus, British ambassador to Greece Katy Smith and Wolverhampton Council head of school improvement Phil Leivers.

After the talks, 10 year five and 10 year six pupils from Berrybrook took part in a question and answer session with fellow pupils at 8th Primary School of Chania in Crete.

Mr Smith said the call had allowed the pupils to find out more about how the pandemic had affected students in Greece, as well as learn more about lessons, wearing face masks, bubbles and other school subjects.

He said the meeting had been a great success, with the children really enjoying the chance to meet people from another country, and said it was just the beginning of the partnership.

He said: "It would be a dream to be able to visit the school in Crete, but we will definitely continue the video conferencing, as well as encouraging the pupils to send letters.

"It was a great opportunity for the children to meet people in a different country and see that they are going through the same things we're going through,

"It was all about giving them inspirational moments and I believe we achieved that today."