Clifton College Website

Global Citizenship

‘An outstanding achievement by the Pre to obtain the International School Award, managed by the British Council, in recognition of its work to bring the wider world into the classroom. Continued hard work and dedication from our staff successfully prepare our pupils in becoming healthy, global citizens.’

Miss Georgina Pike, International Co-ordinator

Clifton College Preparatory School’s Global Citizen Programme sees it linked with local, national and international schools and charities. The Pre prides itself on educating its pupils to have a global perspective on life through a mixture of awareness and fund raising activities, to school trips both locally and internationally. We want to encourage our pupils to take on new challenges and to reflect on other cultures and other peoples' circumstances, it is our hope that our children will develop a lifelong desire to help others and to engage with society, wherever their journeys in life might lead.

The Pre has developed links across the globe with several schools, in South Africa with the Howick Township School and the Enxolobeni School. This link has enabled us to help financially and to also visit both schools and experience them first hand. In the Philippines, the Pre is strongly linked with the Bahay Bata Orphanage School in Manila. During the Lent Term in 2012 the Pre hosted the Headmaster from Enxolobeni School, Mr Theo Zobolo and his wife. During their stay they spent time at several schools in the area as well as Clifton and also visited London where they enjoyed an open top bus tour seeing all the sights, went to see the Lion King, experienced the London Eye and visited the South African Embassy. They also visited Cardiff and were able to watch Wales v Italy in the Six Nations. The visit of Mr and Mrs Zobolo ended Mr Zobolo giving a very memorable and enjoyable sermon in the Pre Chapel Service. Please see their Thank You letter. This link has enabled our Year 5 children to work on a geography project with the orphanage and the Headmaster of Clifton College has also personally visited the School. The Pre have had the pleasure of hosting a group of children from the Bahay Bata Centre in the Philippines, for 9 days in May 2011. The Bahay Bata Centre is an institution in Central Luzon that seeks to uplift the welfare of ‘street children’. Their mission is to place children in a safe and caring environment, to give them all the basic necessities of life that any more fortunate child could normally expect. Giving them an education, psychological support and spiritual guidance, recreational activities and a sense of hope, they have an opportunity to realise their potential, whether it be academically, musically or on the sporting field.

During their time at the Pre the children visited the Pier at Weston Super Mare, Bristol Zoo, the London Eye, the SS Great Britain, been guests of honour at Bath RFC for the Bath v Newcastle premiership match, had tours of Twickenham and the Millennium Stadiums, had lunch with the Philippine Ambassador at the Philippine Embassy in London, been guests of honour at the Pre’s family fun day on Collins and also played in two rugby matches against Clifton College on our 3rd Generation pitch! A few pictures of their stay can be seen in our gallery.

Please read a letter received by the Philippine Community Fund in response to the fundraising efforts of the pupils and staff here at Clifton.

In 2011 sixty three pupils from Year 8 were able to experience the trip of a life time when they spent a week in Kenya staying at Kenya’s Wildlife Discovery Camp in the Tsavo Region. During the week the pupils took part in community-based projects in villages and schools to help others who are less fortunate. Several days were spent at the Sesenyi Primary School teaching, playing and learning with the staff and pupils; and there was also an opportunity to work in a Women's Community Centre. The whole trip was funded through the generous support of the Red Shoes Charitable Trust. See the Assembly video clip of the trip.

These are all ongoing partnerships and we are committed to continuing these projects into the future. The Pre are planning to send teachers from the Pre on exchanges to Kenya and The Philippines schools in the near future. We are also hoping to bring pupils and staff from Sesenyi School in Kenya to Clifton College next year; this will coincide with the Kenyan Olympic team being based in Bristol for the 2012 Olympics. The Pre have also developed a link with the Bristol Kenya Partnership.

Pupils from the Pre have been lucky enough to go on a number of exciting overseas trips recently which have included our ski team visiting Saalbach in Austria and also competing at the IAPS British Ski Championships at Passo Tonale in Italy. Our girl’s hockey team have recently toured South Africa and our boys rugby team will be embarking on a tour of Australia later this year. A large number of our students have also been on academic trips to improve their language skills and experience different cultures; these have included trips to France, Spain, Germany and China.

In addition to our international partnerships on a local level the pupils of Year 8 have recently been fundraising for the Prince’s Trust to support young people in their own community of Bristol. By participating in a Prince’s Trust challenge together they have raised over £13,000 for the youth charity through a number of very different and enterprising initiatives. These include; busking in Clifton Village, selling Christmas cards, car boot sales, discos, movie nights, packing bags in supermarkets to throwing dinner parties; you name it - they have done it!

Sarah Hertzog, Head of Commercial Fundraising for The Prince’s Trust in the South West said “Youth unemployment in the South West is at a 12 year high and Clifton College has shown a similar passion and commitment to The Trust in trying to tackle this problem. The fantastic amount raised by Clifton College is the most any school has raised in this region and will go directly towards helping change the lives of local disadvantaged young people. Every day, we help young people to overcome their challenges and gain the skills and confidence they need to move into work, education or training. It has been inspiring to see the pupils of this school set themselves challenges in aid of The Prince’s Trust. Thank you so much to Clifton College and its pupils”.

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