´óÏó´«Ã½

Olympic Dreams Live, a unique event organised by the British Council in partnership with the ´óÏó´«Ã½, will take place this coming weekend, 15/16 January, at the British Museum. The two day conference brings together the winners of the Olympic Dreams School Search and their new International twin schools.

After the weekend, British schools will be inviting their new twin schools for a short visit. This will see Mongolian visitors to Berkshire as Badar Uugan's school visits their new twin in Newbury; Luol Deng's former school in Croydon visit the Shetlands; Indian visitors to Ballymena, Northern Ireland; and Shawn Johnson's school from Iowa, USA visiting Wales. A full list of winners and a video of entries is available on the website.

Teachers from every school involved have been invited along with one pupil from each secondary school. Over the two days, the schools will receive a crash course in successful and sustainable partnerships from the British Council, while the pupils will work together to exchange ideas and develop leadership skills as ambassadors for the project.

The British Museum will also encourage delegates to explore the galleries and choose an object from the world collection which represents them or their partnership.

The winning schools will continue to work with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to follow the stories of Olympic athletes with their twin schools. Working with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ World Class team, schools will be able to share and compare ideas and experiences online and, on occasion, in the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s World Olympic Dreams broadcasts.

The British Council will support them to work with their twin schools and develop their partnerships throughout the lifetime of the project.

Earlier in 2010, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ started to tell 26 stories of athletes on their journeys to the London Olympic Games in a project called World Olympic Dreams. The Olympic Dreams School Search was launched in September 2010, where UK schools were given an opportunity to twin with an athlete's school. The winners were announced in early December.

Over the next 18 months the project will support teachers in developing school-to-school partnerships and encourage pupils to share creative work inspired by the London Olympics with the organisations' global audiences. The British Council – which connects classrooms in the UK with schools around the world – has partnered the winners with schools attended by athletes from around the world, who are part of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s World Olympic Dreams project.

Amanda Farnsworth, ´óÏó´«Ã½ London 2012 Project Executive, said: "We are thrilled that the teachers and pupils from the World Olympic Dreams athletes' schools are coming to London to meet in person the schools they are twinning with across the UK as this activity is an integral part of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s commitment to ensuring that the London 2012 Olympics Games leave a legacy for future generations.

"We hope this will be the start of a really rich and engaging relationship between the schools as they learn more about each other and about the athletes they are following in the run up to the London Games."

Vicky Gough, from the British Council's Connecting Classrooms team, who helped judge the competition, said: "We're really excited to be welcoming all these schools from around the world to London. Building lasting international links between schools is at the heart of what the British Council does and face-to-face contact like this is an important part of any relationship.

"We can't wait to see these partnerships grow and flourish as the schools use the inspirational power of the London 2012 Olympics to work together and learn about each other's countries and cultures."

SB4