The video on this page captures a live lesson between Keelham Primary School in Bradford and Delta Waters International School in Botswana. A lesson shared in real time, thousands of miles apart.  

One Year 4 pupil said it best: "I can't believe children in a different continent were doing the same lesson at the same time."

This project started with a friendship between the headteachers at each school, after Rob Hunter at Keelham had visited Botswana some years previously. We love a challenge, and wanted to help Keelham use technology to take this relationship to the next stage; bringing the pupils into it, and whilst doing so, creating meaningful learning experiences.

Our work supporting Keelham as part of a Department for Education project had already laid the foundation. That gave us the platform to turn the idea of an international classroom link into something practical, real and sustainable.

Setting Up Two Classrooms to Work as One

To run a smooth live lesson between two continents, both schools needed reliable, compatible interactive tools.

Keelham Primary uses SMART Board technology as part of its DfE project work, alongside powerful audio and camera technology that enables live dialogue across a whole classroom space.

Elementary Technology leveraged our global partnerships to secure equivalent technology for Delta Waters International School, including SMART Board and Nureva technology designed for real-time collaboration.

We also ensured both schools had full access to the Lumio platform, an outstanding tool for teaching and learning from SMART. Supported by ongoing training, we made sure teachers had the skills and confidence to hold this lesson live.

The result is two classrooms that can teach and learn together, using the same content and the same teacher, at the same time, on opposite sides of the world.

About Children United

Elementary Technology worked in partnership with Children United, the world's first news channel for kids, to tell this story. Their mission closely aligns with the goals of this project: broadening horizons, supporting global citizenship and using technology to create authentic learning experiences that go beyond the classroom walls.

How can I get involved?

We are building a network of schools who want to connect their classrooms with others, whether locally, nationally or internationally. If this is something your school or trust would like to explore, we would love to hear from you.

Or, if you’d simply like to explore this technology for your school, let us know and we’ll book you an online discovery session.