DGS awarded the prestigious International School Award

Dartford Grammar School has been awarded 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 work in today’s world.

As a prominent IB World School, the international dimension is central to Dartford Grammar School's curriculum and whole-school ethos, promoting global citizenship and foreign language learning as well as celebrating cultural diversity across the whole school and wider community. Our list of international partner schools is impressive, providing rich learning opportunities for both students and staff and we engaged in nearly 30 international activities which demonstrate the extent to which our Global Concepts approach is embedded in the regular curriculum. The activities cover a range of subject areas and age groups, with international work taking place throughout the year. Foreign language learning enjoys a high profile, enriched and brought to life by the many intercultural opportunities for students to visit the respective countries. This is supported by our Confucius Classroom, Sakura Network and MFL networks affiliations. Our international work is fully integrated into every aspect of the curriculum and we recognise the benefits for our students in terms of increased knowledge of other countries, aspects of their cultures and their languages. Our students also gain life skills by their exposure to many different cultures, as well as important global citizenship skills and attributes. Local community members and groups are also regularly informed and involved in our international activities and our ambassadorial work in promoting and supporting international links and opportunities is firmly established via our national profile as an IB School and our position in MFL networks, which enables us to showcase our own international work and also to support other schools with their work towards gaining the International School Award. We have ambitious plans to sustain and further develop the international and global dimension at Dartford Grammar School, such as our intention to develop business links with China, Japan and other nations.