International Newcastle

Welcoming Dimitra Boutsioukis as our new Chief Executive Officer from 1st July. Over the coming months, our current CEO, Declan Baharini, will work closely with Dimitra, our Board, partners and supporters to ensure a smooth transition: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/new-ceo-dimitr…

The Stephen Spender Prize 2026 poetry translation competition is open for entries (deadline 31 July). Pupils and teachers can translate into English any published poem from any language (including BSL), with a chance to win cash prizes and publication. internationalnewcastle.org.uk/ssprize-26

Invitation to A-Level Arabic students to attend film screening and discussion of 'Wadjda' on 16th May organised by the North East Arabic Teaching Council. Find out more and how to register: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/film-screening…

During our Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages we launched a series of short videos and teaching resources for North East schools to inspire pupils (KS 2-5) to progress with languages and understand the wealth of opportunities available: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/language-and-c…

Five Festival interns from Northumbria and Newcastle Universities have been producing articles and digital content for our Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages this year. Find out more about them and what they have been doing here: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/meet-our-festi…

During six years, our Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages has become the most ambitious language festival for schools in the UK and Europe. Behind every workshop, cultural activity and school event is a dedicated team: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/festival-team

12,527 children from 101 schools took part in our Festival 2026 World Friendship Project – Together we Fly, creating colourful origami butterflies with messages of friendship. The public display is at Newcastle Civic Centre and a digital photobook: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/together-we-fl…

2,075 primary school children aged 7-11 from 27 schools took part in our Festival Calligrams Celebration and drew images with associated words in different languages. Schools submitted a selection of these creations, which have been made into two e-books: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/calligrams26

Local schools took part in engaging Japanese cultural workshops at Newcastle Civic Centre with The Japan Society as part of our Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages 2026. Pupils had a hands-on introduction to Japanese traditions and language: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/experience-jap…

"Welcome to China” events involving over 200 children were delivered to North East schools by the Confucius Institute as part of our Festival of languages - providing fun, hands-on, interactive activities, bringing Chinese language and culture to life: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/welcome-to-chi…

100 pupils from North East schools were welcomed to Sunderland Bangladesh International Centre for a festive event to celebrate the richness of Bangladeshi culture, heritage, traditions and language, as part of our Festival of Languages: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/sunderland-ban… @SBInterCentre

112 pupils from seven NE schools attended Futbol Lingo workshops at Northumbria University Sport Central in March to promote the power of languages to open doors to careers in the football sector: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/futbol-lingo26 @NorthumbriaUni @FutbolLingoApp

120 primary school pupils and their teachers had a brilliant time taking part in Yorùbá workshops during our Festival of Languages - with storytelling, traditional dress, music and drumming: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/yoruba-worksho…

Newcastle Bangladeshi Association hosted pupils from Broadwood Primary School, St Joseph’s RC Primary School and St Paul’s CE Primary School on 26th March for a special day of celebration on the anniversary of Bangladesh’s Independence Day (1971). internationalnewcastle.org.uk/bengali-cultur…

Young people from across the North East took to the stage at the Newcastle Civic Centre’s Council Chamber for a lively, high-energy, EU funded Multilingual Poetry Slam - creating and performing original poetry in multiple languages: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/multilingual-p…

British Council (Schools) hosted 5,000 Year 8 and 9 pupils at their “Where can languages take me?” languages and careers webinar - to inspire young people about how languages open doors to a world of opportunities. Recording and pupil booklet available: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/languages-care…

Over 200 pupils from 5 North East schools took part in Welcome to the Arab World sessions during our 2026 Festival of Languages learning about the language, cultures and traditions of the Arabic-speaking world through a range of interactive activities: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/arab-world-day…

31 teachers attended the Spanish Teachers’ Day in Newcastle, with practical workshops, creative approaches to teaching and assessment, AI applications in the Spanish teaching classroom, networking opportunities, a tasting of products from Castilla y León: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/spanish-teache…

Pupils from six North East schools enjoyed the Mini Olympics with Newcastle University Sport, part of our Festival of Languages – learning about languages, cultures and global citizenship through a range of team sport challenges: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/mini-olympics26

Our 2026 Festival of Languages was privileged to host a webinar with a group of girls from Afghanistan, who shared their personal stories, challenges, hopes and ambitions to raise awareness and call for action to support girls’ education in Afghanistan: internationalnewcastle.org.uk/afghan-girls26