Wester Hailes Education Centre (WHEC) has forged a special partnership with Barkly West High School in South Africa that continues as time goes on. Last October WHEC received the International Schools Award in recognition of this partnership and the bounds between the schools – and learning opportunities created by this – have flourished since then.
The most recent event has been a special celebration of Scottish and South African culture at the school’s Commonwealth event at the end of August.
Sheila Paton, head teacher of the WHEC, tells us more.
In February 2014 we had the pleasure of visiting our partnership school in Barkly West, South Africa. It was an inspirational experience for both students and staff, who attended the school, engaged in local learning and learnt energetic Tswana dances at a specialist dance school in Kimberly.
In return we had staff and students from Barkly West visiting for a week (16 – 23 August) – two learners, Alisha and Grace and their teacher Joyce. They had a fantastic time learning here at Wester Hailes Education Centre and going on cultural visits in Edinburgh.
A spectacular fusion of Scottish and African dance was celebrated at our Commonwealth Event on Friday 22 August with vibrant performances of Scottish Ceilidh dance, African dancing (Tswana-style) and hip-hop dance. We were very honoured to see a gold medal from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Sarah Cooke, a judo player, spoke about her motivation, determination and commitment to reaching the peak of her sporting career.
During the celebration we were joined by our feeder primary schools. Earlier in the week learners from Wester Hailes Education Centre and Barkly West ran taster dance sessions at the primary schools, showing fantastic leadership skills. This was extremely well-received and pupils were excited about seeing the dancing they had learnt at their local high school.
This programme was supported by the Celebrate Lottery Fund.
