International Links

Recently we have been registered as an ISA best practice school in order for our experience to be disseminated worldwide and have been re-accredited with the ISA.

International Links

The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. For outstanding development of the international dimension in the curriculum, Cardinal Allen has held "Full International School Status" a prestigious accolade reserved for schools that fulfil very exacting criteria established by the British Council since 2012. Cardinal Allen has partner schools in Nepal - Galaxy High School and Sudesha School, Kathmandu, Tanzania -Kilimanjaro Academy, Moshi and Indial - Birla High School, Kolkata. These partnerships are linked through Connecting Classrooms and are engaged in a wider field of mutual support including looking at systems of assessment, curriculum content as well as the opportunity to share cultural experiences and work on collaborative projects which widen horizons for teachers as well as pupils.

Connecting Classrooms Cluster 2019-2021

Cardinal Allen leads a cluster of 6 schools that work together to develop understanding of different cultures around the world.

Members of the cluster are; Galaxy High School, and Sudesha School Kathmandu, Nepal Kilimanjaro Academy, Moshi, Tanzania, Great Arley Special School and Shakespeare Primary School, UK.  Our current projects are the 'Future of the Earth' to develop an awareness of how climate change is affecting our world and how different communities around it are affected and 'Families/ Living together' to understand each other’s families and family home structures leading to tackling gender inequality in our societies. Following successful teacher exchanges the 'Future of the Earth' project has developed into a bee friendly project with all schools developing their grounds into bee friendly environments.

Birla High School

The partnership between Cardinal Allen and Birla started in 2009 following communication through Connecting Classrooms to embark on a water project. Both schools at the time were looking to further the remit of each schools Eco teams to incorporate an International dimension to their work. A successful whole school partnership involving a plethora of projects has now developed from this. This has been aided through the involvement of visiting students as part of the student exchanges that have been running concurrently with the staff visits.

ISA Assessors report 2019

''Cardinal Allen Catholic High School has successfully met the criteria for reaccreditation of the International Schools Award. It is clear to see internationalism and learning if fully embedded into the ethos of the school. Your activities have enabled your students to learn about different countries and cultures. Links with partner schools in Tanzania, Nepal and India have provided opportunities for your students to address key issues and sometimes very sensitive issues such as slavery and Human Trafficking. You have mentioned a Connecting Classrooms project which will benefit teachers with the opportunity to share good practice internationally. The language element has been addressed by the activity French culture which allows pupils to explore culture as well as language learning. I am pleased to see evaluation quotes from both staff and pupils relating to some of the activities this is a valuable tool for reflection. The wider community is actively involved through eco work done around the town (beach clean-up) and in partnership with the Birla High school in India. Also achieving the STEM Award and press release has also raised the profile of the good work being carried out at your school. In terms of Ambassadorial role, you have worked closely with 6 local schools in the Connecting Classrooms cluster. Congratulations to all at Cardinal Allen Catholic High School who have contributed to this achievement in the 20th anniversary year of the International School Award! "