The governors, staff and students recognise that The Grey Coat Hospital is a Church of England school committed to celebrating diversity and ensuring that every student is known as a person.
We recognise our role in a global community and work to maximise the opportunities afforded us by technological advancements which allow us to communicate on a global scale to the benefit of our students and others around the world.
We are committed to empowering our students and staff to develop the knowledge, skills and qualities to lead a successful and fulfilling life in that global community while recognising and celebrating the rich multi-cultural community exhibited in our inner London school. We recognise the importance of communication in the understanding of other cultures and the importance of understanding those cultures beyond the concept of tolerance. We further recognise that our global dimension is linked to the success of the thriving school community which supports this aim.
We believe that languages are the key to the future, and that proficiency in a foreign language will give our students the linguistic skills and the appreciation and understanding of different cultures, which will open doors for them. We are committed to promoting and supporting language learning in our local community at Key Stages 1 & 2.
At The Grey Coat Hospital, we aim to be the very best school for our students. We are committed to excellent professional development for all staff which enables us to achieve the highest standards in everything we do, and to maintain a reflective, creative, dynamic and internationally aware environment in which all our students may thrive.
As a school we have a commitment to ensure that the global education of our students is embedded in the curriculum as well as forming the focus for many and varied extracurricular activities.
Aims
To enable our students to know more about global issues and to:
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Celebrate the rich and diverse heritage represented in our school, and local and national communities.
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Understand complex international interdependencies in the global economy
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Respect and value different cultures and beliefs
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Enjoy regular contact with students and adults living in different countries
Objectives
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To work towards maintaining the International School Award
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To continue to actively encourage the study of foreign languages for all our students by offering a range of appropriate language options
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To continue to organise regular celebrations of our rich and diverse heritage
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To conduct annual audits of both our formal and informal curriculum which, in turn inform action plans to develop each of the eight Key Concepts of the global dimension through all appropriate areas of the curriculum such that there is a clearly mapped global dimension in the learning experiences for all our students. These eight key concepts we recognise as:
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diversity
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conflict resolution
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human rights
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interdependence
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social justice
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sustainable development
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values and perceptions
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To develop and fully exploit a variety of global learning partnerships. This will include activities such as:
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email and internet projects including video conferencing
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interacting with visitors from other countries students & adults
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student/staff visits to places of cultural interest in the UK and abroad
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student exchanges and foreign work experience placements
The school specialises in languages. All students study two languages from Year 7 and the majority of students continue with both languages to GCSE. In addition, students are offered Latin as a choice at KS4. We run exchanges to Germany (since 1952) and to Japan (since 1996). Students who take part in the Japanese exchange also study Japanese in preparation for their trip. Students in Years 9-11 watch Foreign language plays and most students in Year 7 travel to France or Germany on our annual visit. Students contribute to the ‘Internationalist’ magazine, which covers linguistic and international news and activities. Each tutor group in KS3 organises a country stall for the annual International Fair which supports their awareness of different countries, cultures and languages and our international ethos and emphasis. International week, organised by the languages prefect, provides the pupils with a variety of activities to further enhance the international ethos such as origami, Arabic, German choir, international debating, etc. The school was first presented with the British Council's International School Award in 2011 which has been continuoualy maintaned to the present day through regular reaccreditation.