Empowering Through Education

By Diana Vernon, Principal & CEO, Kellett School

Offering opportunity is a central commitment of Kellett School, the British International School in Hong Kong, and one that extends beyond the school’s student body.

For a few years now, we have been offering educational opportunities in the form of bursary places to children who otherwise would not be able to access a Kellett-quality education.

With generous donations from parents and Old Kellettonians (our alumni), as well as fundraising efforts by our students, we aim to offer two fully funded bursary places per year. We currently have seven bursary students, all of whom are thriving at Kellett.

As well as providing these children with a life-changing opportunity to attend Kellett School, we are also clear about the benefits of bursaries to the School. The Kellett community is diverse and we have long embraced the benefits of diversity in all its forms – recognising the rich learning for all members of the community in understanding a range of different perspectives. We also see sharing with others as being enriching for the whole Kellett community, not just in the range of viewpoints, but also in the act of giving that it exposes students and their families to.

As the School began working more closely with NGOs to find suitable bursary candidates, we learnt more about the challenges facing children living below the poverty line, becoming better informed and wanting to explore how we could use our resources to help more children.

After a COVID delay Kellett Outreach opened in September 2022, offering free classes for children living below the poverty line on Saturdays in School term time. Run by Kellett teachers, supported by volunteer students and other partners of the school, the mornings focus on delivering enriching academic opportunities, and the afternoons are packed with sport and expressive arts activities. The 100 or so children who now attend Outreach are bussed to the school, given breakfast and lunch, and educational resources to help their learning and to offer them broader inspiration.

The range of activities on offer is deliberately wide-ranging, from yoga to cricket and drama, to give children a chan to develop a ‘love of learning’, a mantra at Kellett. Similarly, the academic opportunities provided, in English and Maths for primary aged students, and everything from Geography to Innovation for secondary students, are fun, collaborative, and engaging.

And it is paying off.

Despite coming to an additional day on a school site each weekend, the children consistently tell us it is their favourite day of the week.

Kellett’s Director of Outreach, Daniel Boyd, is seeing the confidence of the children growing each weekend.

‘For many of the children attending Outreach, this might be the first time they have had swimming or public speaking sessions. We are opening their eyes to what they are capable of and as an educator there is nothing more rewarding.

As with bursary places, as well as the impact on the children attending, there are benefits for the school community. Kellett staff contributing to Outreach enjoy the challenges of engaging with different year groups and differentiated abilities, as well as the wellbeing benefits of giving back. Volunteer students are relishing hearing new perspectives, growing their confidence and learning about the joy of giving.

There are also benefits for the parents of the children attending Outreach, living in cramped accommodation, with limited resources for food and additional education, they are afforded some respite on Saturdays whilst their children participate in activities that are otherwise inaccessible to them.

Following the challenges of Covid, the Kellett community rallied together in 2023, both to relish in the sense of unity, but also to collectively give back. We held our first ever ‘Giving Day’ centred around a dance learnt by every student and a Kellett Ball organised by our vibrant Parents’ Committee, collectively raising enough money to provide two bursary places. Two students who attended Outreach are now full-time students at Kellett.

Kellett has always enjoyed a strong community, and Covid undoubtedly challenged that, but we have since found joy and purpose in giving back and our community is more connected and unified than ever.

If your company is interested in supporting Kellett Outreach or funding bursary places at Kellett please contact development@kellettschool.com, and help us make empowerment through education more sustainable.

About Kellett School

Kellett School was founded in 1976 as a not-for-profit association by like-minded parents, to provide a high quality British education to the English-speaking community in Hong Kong.

Today, Kellett educates over 1400 students aged 4 to 18 in the English Curriculum, offering a truly outstanding education, evidenced by a BSO Inspection (2023), membership of HMC and IAPS, and exceptional examination results.