FOR the sixth consecutive year a Didcot school has been recognised as the most international school in the country.

Blewbury Primary School was presented with the British Council's International School Award, after its portfolio demonstrated "powerful and innovative" work across seas.

Headteacher Marion Mills said the school not only had numerous links in Europe but also had a project in Uganda and links with a school in India.

She said: "The children have benefitted enormously in many ways from learning about a variety of languages and cultures.

"It has been a privilege to meet and work with so many teachers in other schools as well as ensuring an international focus is always at the forefront of planning our curriculum."

The award was presented by Baroness Shirley Williams, former Secretary of State for Education, at the end of her talk at the Oxfordshire Headteachers' Conference.

Conference organiser and former headteacher of Harwell Primary School, Peter Cansell, said: "Marion always goes one step further, every year she has travelled to exchange schools.

"Harwell was an international school too and it is particularly good for an area like Didcot to have these links because this is a small village in Oxford.

"It is very easy to become very parochial and we need to give children an opportunity to see how others in the world live.

"I remember we did an exercise with a Polish school, where we got both classes to research a project on where food comes from.

"The difference between the two schools was astonishing. Our children couldn’t believe that most of the Polish children’s food all came within a few miles as their parents had or worked on farms.

"For our children it was completely different, as we ship in so many of our food sources to the country."

John Rolfe, from the British Council, said: "We are proud and delighted to be working with Blewbury Primary School.

"It has been accredited on six successive occasions six times with the British Council International School Award; a unique achievement for this fantastic school."