Mill Hill International

of Hong Kong families with BNO passports. Whether day or boarding, the majority of pupils arrive in the UK for the first time, and the school is both well-equipped and experienced at welcoming them and helping them to settle in and adapt to life in the UK.

Many of our pupils are at the school for just one year, nevertheless we make sure that the focus is not exclusively on academic success. We place great emphasis on developing skills and habits of mind that equip them for their educational journey in the UK. We recognise our role as global citizens, depending on each other, and we give high priority to collaboration within the school and with the wider community.

I have always been a champion of international education. Having taught in Rome, Italy, at a small international school for 20 years, I relocated to the UK, where I was Director of King’s Ely International in Cambridgeshire. In 2014, I became the founding Head of Mount Mill Hill International. I have recently been appointed as Chair of BAISIS (British Association of Independent Schools with International Students) having spent this last year as Deputy Chair with responsibility for this year’s Professional Development programme.

Formerly the Mount School before merging with the Mill Hill School Foundation, Mill Hill International joined Mill Hill’s family of schools after a £4M year-long refurbishment, opening its doors to 42 international pupils in September 2015. Now the school has just under 100 both boarding and day pupils. Located just a short walk from Mill Hill School, Mill Hill International has full use of the Mill Hill School site. Its pupils are part of the wider Mill Hill School community, and its boarders are integrated within the four boarding houses at Mill Hill. International pupils also join their Mill Hill peers for sport, cocurricular activities and Chapel.

Mill Hill International offers courses for pupils from Year 9 to Year 11 and is an ideal bridge to an international pupil’s next school, whether at Mill Hill School, Cobham Hall or another renowned British boarding school. With small class sizes (an average of 10 per class) and a strong emphasis on developing English language skills, Mill Hill International is an excellent choice for international pupils making the transition to the UK. The bespoke intensive One Year GCSE course is our most popular course for international, and also British, pupils who need to complete the GCSE examinations in just one year.

While most of Mill Hill International’s pupils are boarders, there is a growing number of day pupils, in particular the recent arrival

By cultivating values of compassion and conscience, we prepare our international-minded pupils to make a positive impact on the world around them. We are proud of our involvement with our two main charities: Age UK, where we regularly invite older members of our community to join the school for intergenerational baking and digital learning classes; and United World Schools, a charity which builds schools across the globe for children who have no access to education.

Recently, as part of our Digital Strategy, we introduced digital teaching and learning where iPads have replaced textbooks and exercise books. This turned out to be very useful when we switched to online learning because of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns. When in September 2020, we became aware that many of our international pupils would not be able to attend face-to-face classes, the transition to blended learning (some in the classroom, some online) was made seamless by the use of the digital technology we had already implemented and by the use of state-of-the-art technology in the classrooms. This meant that despite the challenges of the lockdowns, we were able to continue teaching and learning. Our international pupils received excellent results in their GCSEs – even those who had attended the entire course online.

As we look forward to a school where face-to-face learning has returned, we turn our attention to our new focus for the next three years. Key themes in our development plan will be staff wellbeing; using data to track support and monitor pupil progress; continuing to establish a culture where pupils are unafraid to report concerns, confident their voices will be heard; an inclusive curriculum that reflects the multicultural nature of our international pupils; encouraging engaged pupils where curiosity and taking part is celebrated and a focus on sustainability where staff and pupils play their part in addressing climate change.