International School Links

The sagar school, rajasthan

In 2014, the Headmaster met Rosemary Sagar while on a visit to New York.  Rosemary is the daughter of the founder of The Sagar School in Rajasthan, the late Dr Vidya Sagar.  She attended Canford during her Sixth Form years.  As a corporate and intellectual property lawyer, her father travelled the globe and was deeply influenced by the values and cultural heritage of India, Europe and the Far East.  His vision was to create a school which merged the finest educational practices from these worlds.  The result was a 160 acre campus located two hours from Delhi which today educates up to 500 students from 17 different states of India and from countries including China, South Korea, Nepal, Thailand, UAE, USA and Zambia.   

The teaching faculty is drawn from a national and international pool, and a student/teacher ratio of 8:1 ensure personalised support to each student.  With its founder’s vision always in mind, the school is keen to develop reciprocal links with other schools to offer a deeper understanding of different cultures so that pupils can experience life in other parts of India and in countries across the globe.  Canford’s aim is for departments to begin working together so that staff share their teaching and learning experiences as part of the staff development programme and also pupils working together on joint research projects.  We will make good use of video conferencing and other digital software to enable this, alongside physical teacher exchanges.  Each year a number of exchange opportunities will be offered to Upper Sixth pupils interested in a Gap year.

The first collaborative work project for Year 10 pupils at Canford and The Sagar School took place in 2019.

For more information about The Sagar School, visit www.thesagarschool.org 

The hun school, princeton

An exciting link is developing between Canford and The Hun School, a college preparatory day and boarding school in Princeton, New Jersey.  We’ve already had an initial teacher exchange in which two Canford teachers visited The Hun School and two of The Hun faculty visited Canford. In addition, one of our Governors has also visited and we have engaged in a stimulating, group ‘virtual connection’ similar to a group Skype event where a wide range of staff shared ideas, resources and best practices. It was immediately obvious to see how fruitful and positive these initial connections have been.  Crucially, there is a perfect balance between the similarities and the differences of the two schools which have, and will, not only engender a deep and genuine warmth in the connections amongst pupils and teachers but will also stimulate fascinating discussions on a range of educational facets.   Not only are staff on ‘both side of the pond’ developing 'pedagogical pen pals',  we are sharing ideas and reflecting upon some of the major themes in education, including teaching and learning, experiential learning, problem solving, project based learning, harkness teaching, curriculum design, academic enrichment, pastoral care, pupil leadership, sport and creative arts.  

A pupil and staff exchange is planned in the future. Not only will this further cement the links between our schools but will also widen the opportunity for our pupils and staff to gain a wider global vision and understanding. During the exchanges, pupils and staff will engage in some active research with a view to bringing back and sharing some key ideas.

For more information about The Hun School, please visit www.hunschool.org