King's Academy College Park

All schools in King's Group Academies appoint a number of International Ambassadors to champion all internationally-minded work in their school. They are positive role models, especially regarding welcoming students coming to their school from other countries and promoting language learning. In this role, they help the school’s International Coordinator to promote global awareness, lead global initiatives, foster partnerships with schools overseas, and engage the school community in embracing a global perspective.

Ambassadors actively promote global awareness and understanding by helping to run events, workshops, and activities that showcase diverse perspectives and cultures. They believe in the importance of having an internationally inclusive school and learning about, with and from people all over the world. 

Meet the KACP International Ambassadors!

Year 2 - Violet, Kara, Florence and Elizabeth

Year 3 - Hmed, Sophia, Sonia and Joann

Year 4 - Eden, Zunoon, Umaiza, Sulayman and Mog

Year 5 - Heavenly, David, Hama and Fanar

Year 6 - Mirabel, Shawna, Esme, Hajee and Kiyan

Our International Ambassadors recently met with Nick Cross, CEO of King's Groups Academies, to share the work they have been doing in our school. 

Our pupils regularly learn about the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals through our international work. 

This year alone, pupils have gained an insight into several of these goals:

Goal 4 - Quality education

We celebrated International Day of Education on Friday 23rd January 2026. Across the day, pupils heard stories from different countries, explored school life across the world through images and discussions, and watched a video clip about children’s different journeys to school. They then considered what changes they would make to education if they were in charge. These statements highlighted the impact of the day on children’s learning - pupils suggested ‘making school free for everyone’, ‘giving everyone a bike so they can get to school easier’, ‘make school food free’ and ‘make sure every kid had a safe and good education’.

Goal 5 - Gender equality

On International Women's Day pupils learnt about gender stereotypes and how sometimes boys and girls can be treated differently. 

Based on pupil feedback from the day, the school now operates a boy - girl daily rotation for access to competitive sports on the playgrounds at lunchtimes. 

Pupils were also able to meet Maeve and Lucy from The Imaginarium Studios who spoke to the school about working in a motion capture company. 

This inspired our pupils to design a female character to lead in a game or cartoon!

Goal 6 - Clean water and sanitation and Goal 14 - Life below water

With the support of local charity Final Straw Foundation, this year's International Week focused on sustainability in our oceans, rivers and seas. 

Pupils learnt about issues facing bodies of water across the world through practical experiments and workshops with Final Straw Foundation. They learnt about key individuals across the globe who have made a difference to their community through their actions, including Kenya's Lesein Mutunkei who started a project called Trees4Goals – planting a tree every time he scores a goal to prevent soil erosion, keep Kenya's rivers healthy and end deforestation.

Goal 10 - Reduced inequalities

Following attendance at the Trust-wide Global Stage Forum, pupils from our school chose to lead a whole school project on sustainable development goal 10.

Using information gained from visits to Fratton Park with Pompey in the Community and Show Racism the Red Card, our International Ambassadors presented assemblies to all pupils on anti-racism and planned a fundraising day to raise awareness. The assemblies and activities planned taught all children about the impact of racism on our community. Pupils learnt about key individuals in history, including Rosa Parks and more recent national figure Shaka Hislop. This helped them to understand inequality in a context they could understand. 

We relaunched Language of the term in January and invited parents in to lead workshops with ou children!

Spring Term - Romanian 

 Summer Term - Bengali

Students at King’s Academy College Park enjoy collaborating with peers in the UAE on projects to promote their cultural and geographical understanding. Year 5 students from Amity International School, Abu Dhabi take part in live question and answer sessions with KACP students and undertake shared projects to teach one another about their locality.

This year, our pupils have collaborated on a very special project led by The Earth Museum, focusing on air quality in both locations. We have had an air quality monitor installed in our school to enable us to track and monitor air quality in our community and compare this with our partners in Abu Dhabi.

We are thrilled to share the success of 2024/2025 partnership with Virolai School in Barcelona. Facilitated by the King’s Group Academies International Director, this partnership bridged the gap between Portsmouth and Spain, giving our pupils a real-world purpose for their language learning and helping them grow as "internationally minded" global citizens.

Year 3: A Festive Postal Exchange

During the Autumn Term, Year 3 pupils immersed themselves in Spanish culture by studying traditional Christmas celebrations in Spain. To put their learning into practice, they designed beautiful Christmas postcards and wrote personalised messages in Spanish.

In a world that is becoming increasingly digital, our students were particularly excited to take part in a physical postal exchange, receiving handmade cards from their Spanish peers in return. These cards were proudly displayed in our classrooms, sparking wonderful conversations about heritage and traditions.

Year 4: Science Meets Spanish

In the Spring Term, the collaboration moved into the digital sphere with a cross-curricular Science and MFL project.

• The Challenge: Grade 3 pupils in Barcelona sent over descriptions of animals written in both English and Spanish, showcasing their scientific knowledge.

• The Response: Our Year 4 pupils rose to the challenge, creating their own "animal profiles" following their science lessons. They successfully used key Spanish phrases such as ‘se llama’ and ‘porque’ to describe their creatures' features and habitats.

Inspiring Confidence and Curiosity

This partnership has done more than just teach vocabulary; it has boosted our pupils' self-esteem and enthusiasm for languages. One pupil shared that they felt "really good" because they had mastered writing in Spanish, while many others felt a sense of pride in seeing their work reach a real audience in another country.

By contextualising our Modern Foreign Language (MFL) lessons, we are helping our students:

• Understand their place in the wider world.

• Apply their learning in innovative, meaningful ways.

• Build a sense of global responsibility and curiosity.

We look forward to seeing how these friendships and projects continue to grow as we prepare our children for an increasingly interconnected world!

Global Exchange Success: KACP Welcomes Partners from Nanjing

In January, King’s Academy College Park (KACP) was delighted to host eleven students from Nanjing, China, for an enriching five-day cultural exchange facilitated by Global School Exchange (GSE). This collaboration marks a significant step in our mission to help pupils become "internationally minded" global citizens who appreciate and value traditions from around the world.

A Week of Cultural Discovery

Our visitors were paired with Year 5 and 6 buddies, diving straight into life at KACP. The week was packed with a bespoke timetable designed to foster friendship and mutual learning, including:

• Traditional Arts: Performances from the Southampton Chinese Society, Chinese Diabolo workshops, and the intricate art of paper cutting.

• Collaborative Learning: Lessons on plastic pollution led by The Final Straw Foundation and a shared English afternoon tea.

• Skill Sharing: A final assembly featured incredible musical performances and calligraphy from our visitors, while our pupils shared their own school traditions.

Impact and Inspiration

The feedback from our community has been overwhelmingly positive. Our students were particularly impressed by the mathematical skills and confidence of their new friends, while our staff noted the visitors’ incredible polite nature and diverse talents.

One of the most lasting impacts of the visit was an ecological one; inspired by the "plastic-free week" initiative at the Nanjing school, KACP is now exploring ways to reduce our own plastic footprint, including a planned "Plastic Free Day" for the 2025/2026 academic year.

Developing Global Citizens

By engaging with peers from a different background, our pupils have developed their communication skills, challenged their own perspectives, and sparked a genuine curiosity about the wider world. We are incredibly proud of how our students embraced this opportunity and look forward to continuing this international journey!

Since May 2025, our school has held a partnership with Radosti School in Kyiv, Ukraine. This collaboration involves letter writing between our International Ambassadors and pupils from the school. 

Our Year 2 pupils have been collaborating with Kenton College in Kenya since September 2025. This collaboration has involved lots of exciting exchanges, including letter writing, video calls and learning about each other's countries.

Understanding Africa

This partnership  has had a positive impact on the wider school community by broadening children's understanding of Africa and challenging common misconceptions. Many children initially viewed Africa as a very poor continent with few buildings or limited access to clean water, influenced by films, stories and media. Through regular communication with the Kenyan school, children gained a more balanced and accurate understanding of life in Kenya, including modern cities, schools and family life.

The children enjoyed exploring the similarities and differences between the two schools and local communities. They learnt how the climate and environment can influence lifestyles and education, for example understanding why swimming is such an important activity for children in Kenya. They also shared learning about local wildlife, helping both schools develop a greater appreciation of each other's natural environments.

World Book Day

Celebrating World Book Day alongside our partner school helped children recognise that many school traditions and interests are shared across different countries and cultures. This strengthened their sense of global citizenship and connection with children from another part of the world.