Schools

Education has always been at the heart of Dolen Cymru’s work. Dolen Cymru sees the importance of education as a tool for creating understanding and tolerance, for lifting people out of poverty and for creating active global citizens.

Dolen Cymru supports schools and educationalists in Wales and Lesotho in the following ways:

School Linking

For almost twenty years, Dolen Cymru and Lesotho Wales Link have been facilitating links between schools in Wales and Lesotho. Currently, there are over 70 schools in both countries that are linked, leading to an exchange of ideas, letters, values, joint curriculum projects and the promotion of the global dimension in schools.

If you would like to link your school with a school in Lesotho, please fill in a school membership form and a school linking form and return both to the Dolen Cymru office. Your form will then be sent to Lesotho where an appropriate school with be found and your details exchanged.

The following factors may be influential in how schools are linked:

·         Location

·         Size

·         Number of pupils

·         Previous connections between staff

You are free to state any preference you have for a type of school (e.g. mixed, non-denominational, rural etc) and we will do our best to find a suitable match.

This service is free to members of the link.

 

School Linking Application Form

Teacher Exchanges

Dolen Cymru works with the British Council to enable linked schools to exchange teaching staff as part of the DfID Global Schools Partnership (GSP) Scheme. This project is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and is allocated to the British Council so that three clusters (or geographically close groups) of four schools can apply for a grant of £4,900 to pay for a teacher from each school in Wales and Lesotho to spend at least a week at their link school, hosted by a colleague and spending time at the school working upon a joint curricular project around a specific global dimension theme.

Dolen Cymru facilitates these visits by selecting the schools for each cluster (this work is done by the regional education sub-committees), facilitating communication between the schools here in Wales and in Lesotho, advising with the completion of the British Council GSP application form, providing briefings for the teachers before the visits, offering support to the teachers pre-departure and during the return visit, arranging travel and hotel accommodation in Lesotho if necessary, booking flights to Lesotho and back, helping Basotho teachers get their passports and visas, conducting an evaluation of each visit.

If your school is linked with a school in Lesotho through Dolen Cymru and you would like to find out more about the Global School Partnerships Grant, please contact the secretary of your nearest Dolen Cymru education sub-committee. Details are listed on the ‘Structure of Dolen Cymru’ page.

Teaching Resources

Dolen Cymru has been working with educationalists to produce bi-lingual teaching resources for use in schools in Lesotho.

Currently available are:

“Khotso!” – A KS2 resource available on bi-lingual CD Rom for use with interactive whiteboards or in Welsh only as a hard copy (English version sold out).

“Khotso!” has been designed to meet the requirements of Geography Key Stage 2 by helping children to compare Wales with Lesotho as seen through the eyes of a twelve-year old village boy. "I can but stress that the experience widened the children’s horizon and enriched their lives." says teacher Elin Williams, after using the pack at Port Dinorwic Primary School. "There was a notable improvement in the standard of their work. It was able to ignite their enthusiasm and I was astonished by their sudden thirst for knowledge."

Price:  £20 + p&p for hard copy

Price:  £25 + p&p for CD Rom

 

	Key Stage 2 Pack Flyer
	Key Stage 2 Pack Oder Form
	Key Stage 2 CD ROM Flyer
	Key Stage 2 CD ROM Oder Form

“Khotso! Pula! Nala!” – A bi-lingual KS3 resource available as a hard copy, including accompanying video

Price:  £30 + p&p as hard copy

 

	Key Stage 3 Flyer
	Key Stage 3 Oder Form

To order any of these resources, please download, complete and send in the order form or alternatively call the office on 02920 497390 or email us on: swyddfadolen@btinternet.com

Membership

Please see the ‘Membership’ page for details on how your school can join Dolen Cymru.