International Links

South Africa
Biddenham has developed several strong International Links. In previous years, we have had the honour of hosting visiting athletes wishing to visit Bedford Borough prior to the 2012 Olympic Games. Our links with the Youth Sport Trust and the British Council have led to our main school link with Beaufort West School, Western Cape, South Africa.The association between the schools comes out of the Dreams and Teams initiative which had as its main aim the training and development of young leaders. In July 2008, Beaufort West Sports Leaders visited Biddenham, and in July 2010 Biddenham Sports Leaders visited the Western Cape. The visit formed the launch of the International Inspirations project, of which we were active members; this has now developed into the ‘Connecting Classrooms Scheme’ which is delivered and funded by the British Council.In previous years, Biddenham, alongside Redborne Upper School and Westfield School, have taken part in visits to our three South African partner schools: Beaufort West, Van Cutsem and Phakama. In these visits, staff and students visited the schools and worked with staff in order to build a collaborative teaching and learning partnership. These visits have then been reciprocated by staff from the South African schools.

The Bedford-Bamberg Exchange
Students from years 9-11 have in previous years taken part in exchange visits to Bamberg, our twin town in Germany. The exchange itself has run for over 30 years and has been very successful.

Biddenham students fully embrace the German life while they are there. They go into our partner school, The Clavius Gymnasium in Bamberg and live with families from the town.

Our sixth former students have been able to take advantage of the trip too by doing work experience in Bamberg.

We hope that the link with Bamberg and Biddenham in particular will continue to grow and long lasting friendships will be made.

Other Links
In addition to the above we are also part of an Internship with colleagues from Kazakhstan, this originated from Biddenham’s links with the Schools University Partnership for Educational Research (SUPER).