The TAITH Project

What did you do and how did you involve the whole school?

We are currently in the middle of our Taith Project which allowed us to visit Sweden, Canada and Singapore. The focus of this project was to observe and develop our ability to deliver and enhance our outdoor learning provision and how we implement and improve our wellbeing provisions in school.  While out in Canada they had a massive focus on making sure that everyone in the school felt valued and included within the school and the community. They did this by celebrating each child’s background and where they or their family originated from around the world.

From observing this first hand and the positive effect it had on their pupils, we decided to implement this within our school. Within our school café where children have milk and dinner, we have put a big world map up on display on the wall so that children and see it daily. On this map we have started by focusing on countries that were relevant to most of the children’s lives and something that they may see on the weekends. For this we focused on the countries that play in the 6 nations rugby tournament.  For this we have included the countries flags by the maps with string going from Ammanford to these countries, to showcase the distance from where they are.

We involved the whole school by getting each class to participate in a themed day from these countries, where we tasted local cuisine that they are known for, learned some words in their language and cooked some food from these countries.

How has the project impacted on your school and your community?

The project has had a positive effect on pupils’ understanding of global citizenship. Children are developing respect and tolerance by learning about different cultures, traditions and ways of life. Many have made links between what they’ve learned in school and what they see at home—for example, recognising flags on television and recalling the foods they tried. This has sparked conversations with parents, who have shared how excited their children are about the project.

Staff have also benefitted, with teachers enjoying the opportunity to organise themed days and bring new cultural experiences into their classrooms.

How and why did you decide on this target?

The target came directly from the Taith Project and the positive practices observed abroad. Seeing the impact of celebrating cultural diversity in Canadian schools convinced us that this approach could enrich our own community. We believe it is vital to introduce children to different cultures from an early age, encouraging them to embrace diversity and grow into open-minded, respectful global citizens.

How did you celebrate success and what are your next steps?

We’ve celebrated this success of our themed days, through sharing pictures and activities with our parents using class Dojo, created displays with pictures for children to view daily. This is something that the children really enjoyed taking part in, where we had multiple parents tell us how much their child has been speaking about learning about other countries.

The next step in the progression of this project is, that we as a school are going to find out from parents where their family origins begin from around the world. With this we will put pin on the map showcasing where in the world they originate from. The hope for this is that we then can learn and share with everyone in school these countries and participate in themed days, so that we can learn a little of their cultures and look to taste some food. This will also help make sure that each child feels included within the school community and they can share a little from their lives with others.