Community Engagement
Engagement with Local, National and International Communities
St Gabriel’s pupils benefit from a growing number of opportunities to engage with members of the local community, as well as at a national and international level. As future adults who will be living and working in a global community, our young people need to develop the skills and cultural knowledge to engage successfully with others from a wide range of social, academic and economic backgrounds.
From the Junior School through to the Sixth Form, pupils work with their peers from other schools in the local community and abroad and meet adults, other than their teachers, in a supervised, safe setting. Through a programme of well-planned educational visits, age-appropriate schemes of work, visits from outside agencies and social activities, pupils learn from a young age to appreciate working in different situations and with different people.
Find out more about the School Partnerships Alliance here.
Annual community engagement activities include:
- Junior Languages Olympics (in collaboration with Park House Academy and local feeder primary schools)
- Year 4 & Year 5 Maths Challenges (involving local schools)
- Year 5 Dance Day (involving local schools)
- Year 5 residential trip to Normandy, France
- Year 9 & 10 Community Link Programme
- Year 10 Australian Exchange
- Biennial Sixth Form World Challenge Expeditions (previous destinations include: the Galapagos, Peru, Thailand & Cambodia, Borneo)
For more details on specific projects, please visit Schools Together.
International School Award
St Gabriel’s holds the foundation level of the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom. The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life and work in today’s world.
Every year St Gabriel’s welcomes Modern Languages Assistants from French and Spanish speaking countries. Working with these young adults provides our Junior and Senior School students with first-hand experiences of foreign cultures and languages in the classroom.
Stephen Hull, Senior Project Manager at the British Council, commented:
“St Gabriel’s international work has earned the school well-deserved recognition in the form of the British Council International School Award - Foundation Certificate. The school’s dedication to internationalism is enriching education for its pupils by bringing an essential global dimension to learning and encourages the development of skills children need to be global citizens of the future.”