International Activities

Orsett Heath Academy was awarded the Foundation level of the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in July 2025. This award recognises our hard work in bringing the world into the classroom. We are proud of the work we have done so far in embedding multiculturalism in our curriculum across the board.

International School Award Certificate

International School Award Letter of Success

We are now working hard towards achieving the Intermediate Award, which includes partnering up and working collaboratively with schools overseas. Our international partnership began in December 2025 when Mrs Whittington attended the UK-German Connection Seminar in Berlin, Germany.

International Links

We are delighted to have started a partnership with IGS Herder, a culture school in Frankfurt, western Germany - IGS Herder

Students in the current year 7 cohort (2025-26) have kicked off our partnership with a Christmas card exchange, with information about themselves written in the target language followed by a description (in English) about how they spend their Christmas holiday.

The joint project work that we will be undertaking is supported by UK-German Connection. More information can be found here: Programmes – Professionals & Parents

International Events and Activities

• October 2024 - New York Trip with Mr Baldry -This was a performing arts trip with a visit to a Broadway show and a stage combat workshop. Students visited the Natural History Museum, 9/11 Memorial and Museum, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Centre, did a River Cruise down the Hudson, visited Times Square and 5th Avenue.
• September 2025 – Languages Week – A week-long celebration of world languages and those spoken within our OHA community. This included quizzes, challenges and a treasure hunt.
• January 2026 – Launch of the Year 7 Language Leader Committee. These students worked with Mrs Whittington and lead the way with our cross-curricular, multicultural projects as well as our overseas projects.
• March 2026 - Year 7 and 8 French and German Spelling Bees. Our internal Spelling Bee competition was a great success last year, with students in years 7 and 8 competing in Houses for points and prizes.
• April 2026 - Ski Trip to Les Deux Alpes: 28th March- 4th April 2026 – After a successful trip previously, OHA  returned to the French Alps on a ski trip as well as experiencing some of the greatest mountain views in Europe.

• May 2026 - Barcelona Football Tour 24th May- 29th May 2026 - Students travelled to Barcelona, where they trained at high quality facilities as well as playing against local opposition in games and tournaments. Students were also able to see some of the cities well known sights!
• May 2026 - Paris MFL/Science cross-curricular trip to Paris (pictures in slides below)
• June 2026 - Language Leaders have now received letters from their pen pals in Frankfurt and have replied.
• September 2026 - Language Leaders have prepared their questions for a Q&A video that they will be sending over to their friends in Frankfurt. 
• September 2026 – Language Leaders led the evening in the MFL department with quizzes, challenges and a French café (pictures in slides below)
• September 2026 - OHA Languages Week - The theme this year was ‘Languages Unite’. Assemblies celebrating all the languages spoken in our OHA community with students greeting their peers in assembly in their mother tongue.
• December 2026 - Christmas Market Trip to Lille on 11th-13th December.

Each subject across the school presented a starter activity about how foreign languages link to their own subjects:

• MFL listened to Disney films in different languages and had to guess the language.
• Science looked at root words in science that are derived from Greek and Latin.
• Drama devised plays with key parts in a different language.
• Dance looked at key French terms that are used in dance.
• Geography/RE made links to key words in their subject

 For more information about all the levels of award, click the link here: International School Award | British Council

Internationalism Gallery