Semper Sursum Logo
School Name
Semper Sursum Logo

BBC WORLD CLASS OLYMPIC DREAMS

BBC World Class is the BBC's international school partnership project. The project is called 'BBC World Class Olympic Dreams'. The British Council and the BBC chose 26 athletes from the Schools across the world to meet in London. Pupils and teachers of these schools and the winning UK schools came together on 15th and 16th January, 2011, to start a twinning journey at a special weekend at the British Museum in London. In all, there were 54 schools working and intermingling with each other from 14th-18th December, 2011. St. Stephen's was selected and sponsored by the British Council as we were the alma mater of Abhinav Bindra. St. Stephens school was represented by Mrs. Cheema, Mrs. Harinderpal Chahal and the school captain Jayesh Jhunjhunwala of class 10.

We patiently waited for our visas to come and finally they did arrive the day before we took off for London. We reached at the Grange Holborn Hotel in London on January 14. It was luxuriant. We hadn't slept for almost 34 hours as there were delays with the visas and passports yet we were fresh as daisies and were all excited when after registering in we were shown our suites. We were asked to assemble in the banquet for an ice-breaking session. As each group arrived there was an air of stiffness and reservation, but soon the tightened shoulders gave in to more relaxed looks, the serious faces became dotted with smiles and the air was resounding with laughter. This was followed by dinner. We knew we had only two days in London and didn't want to waste an iota of a minute, so we went out see the night in London, perhaps, one of the longest walks. Our eyes were delighted to see the river Thames, The London Eye, Buckingham Palace and The Trafalgar Square.

The next day by 8pm we had walked down to The London Museum and were given only half an hour to put up our carousel for the presentation. Their aim was to create international links and excitement for the 2012 Olympic Games. Their mission was to support teachers in developing school to school partnership, encouraging people to share creative work inspired by the Olympics. Schools from countries like Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Jamaica, Kenya, Kosovo, Mongolia, Namibia, Pakistan, India, Russia, Trinidad, Tobago, Ukraine and UK had participated. It was amazing having an interaction with people from all over the world. The two days contact seminar at the British Museum, London, had fun filled activities held separately for the teachers and the students as the BC and BBC strongly feel that students should express their natural talents and not be influenced by the teachers. The main aim was to tell a story of your own school and the partner school in the most creative and engaging way possible as by making stories a pathway is made to know more about each other. Moreover, stories of the schools are shared with the world.

On 17th January, we left with the partner members for Vale First and Middle School, Worthing. We were eager to learn about the curriculum and functioning of our partner school. The journey by train saw a swift change from the hustle and bustle of the London city to the most beautiful and picturesque country side. Worthing was like living in our Enid Blyton's stories. The town had hills, cliffs and the sea. We visited the school. The education pattern was very different and more practical based. Our hotel room was facing the sea and the effect was magical. The school had organized some activities grade wise-all based on India and Abhinav Bindra. One grade was writing letters to India, another was researching on Abhinav Bindra, the others were seeing Indian jungle films, and some were learning Hindi. The students had questions galore on India, and St. Stephen's. The tiny tots had put up one of the prettiest Indian jungles through which they had to travel and escape!

On our last day in UK, we went back from the peaceful country side to the hustle and bustle of a metropolitan. We arrived at Heathrow airport and took our flight home. The trip was awesome and will always remain a cherished memory. These fantastic events are only the beginning of our twinning programmes. Our progress as partners is regularly updated and shared with BBC. We expect this project to be a huge success and hope to maintain our link even after 2012 Olympics. We have also become partners with Vale First and Middle School for BBC School News Report.

Jayesh Jhunjhunwala
Harinder Chahal
B.K. Cheema