TEACHERS across Weymouth and Portland are urging other schools to build links with other countries.

Five schools are hosting visitors from their partner schools in Kenya this week and teachers are using the opportunity to encourage other schools to make similar connections.

St John’s Primary School teacher Kimberley Dukes said: “The DFID Global School Partnerships scheme has opened our children’s eyes to the world around them and done the same for us adults too.

“The opportunity to share ideas and work together with our Kenyan partners has been so motivating for everyone involved.

“Communicating with children of the same age has allowed our pupils to see that children are the same the world over in many ways and realise that we are all part of a global society.

“Schools across Dorset should take advantage of the funding available to bring this valuable experience into their classrooms.”

Schools involved in DFID Global School Partnerships receive grants and support to visit their partner school and develop projects together.

St John’s, which has recently won the International School Award in recognition of its innovative international work, has developed a partnership with Wiru Primary School in Kenya.

Students and teachers have been working together on joint classroom projects, studying and comparing climate, food, diet, dance and song in both countries.

This week’s visit will see the five Weymouth schools, and other local schools with Kenyan partnerships, come together to plan a new project focusing on the two areas’ shared status as Unesco World Heritage Sites.

All the schools involved will incorporate a study of the Jurassic Coast into their curriculum and will then share and compare their findings with the Kenyan schools’ studies of the Mount Kenya National Park, focusing on how to protect, sustain and promote the sites.

To kick-start the project, schoolchildren and their Kenyan guests visited the Heritage Centre in Charmouth yesterday for a talk by Dr Anjana Ford, Jurassic Coast education officer.

This was followed by a chance to explore the coast and look for fossils.

Weymouth teachers hope to replicate the activity in Mount Kenya when they travel to visit their partner schools next year.

Dr Ford is also running a session for teachers from other schools involved in the partnership earlier in the week.

The area’s link with Kenya started nearly 10 years ago and more than 10 schools now have partnerships with Kenyan schools.

John Horrell, retired headteacher at St John’s Primary and Global Links Co- ordinator for the Chesil Education Partnership, said: “These partnerships are particularly valuable for us in our largely mono-cultural society in Dorset and will provide a unique opportunity for children to learn about and celebrate two of the world’s most important natural heritage sites.”