Our partnership with a Ghanaian school is often used to promote International School Partnership (ISP) programmes. This study aims to explore our 'success story' from the perspective of our colleagues in Ghana. Do they consider our partnership to be successful or is our partner school merely serving a dominant Northern global citizenship agenda? The research considers teacher understandings and applications of global citizenship education (GCE) within a partnership context, from the perspective of teachers in the Global South through an ethnographically-informed case study approach. Findings show that teachers in Ghana highlighted many successful aspects of learning and teaching around GCE within our ISP context. There is evidence of teachers taking a 'writerly approach' to our partnership work which creates space for a wider perspective of global citizenship and GCE. Data also highlights challenges around equity and the place of 'restorative justice' is discussed. Perhaps the most surprising and significant outcome of the study was the importance of relationships and emotions within ISPs, and the impact it has on perceptions of 'success'.