The British School of Bahrain and The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation Come Together to Celebrate the Success of the Award in Bahrain

Bahrain, September 28, 2023 – The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation, which has over 160,000 volunteers globally, hosted a prestigious event at the British School of Bahrain (BSB) Campus, in Hamala. The school was honoured to welcome His Royal Highness Prince Edward, The Duke of Edinburgh, for this special occasion, and together with high level dignitaries, they celebrated the positive impact of the Award within the Kingdom over the past, present and future. The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is a highly acclaimed, non-formal education and learning framework that encourages young people to find their purpose, passion and place in the world.

The Duke of Edinburgh met a host of students and members of the Bahraini community, during his visit to BSB. The BSB students were pleased to show His Royal Highness their leadership skills on the school’s newly refurbished sports pitches, alongside key activities such as their use of Virtual Reality in the Inspired Metaverse School, built to aid interaction with other students around the world. A highlight of the tour was the introduction to BSB’s first ever Gold Award cohort, and the display and short video from the participants’ recent residential visit to Zanzibar, where they supported the International Volunteers Charity. The Duke of Edinburgh also spoke to students from St Christopher’s School and their parents about their Gold Award participation.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award operates in more than 120 countries and territories. Through developing transferable skills, increasing their fitness levels, cultivating a sense of adventure and volunteering in their community, the Award helps 14 – 24-year-olds to build essential skills such as resilience, adaptability, communication, teamwork and problem solving.

Around a million young people are currently completing their own unique programme, via hundreds of thousands of youth-focused partners and operators.

The Award, which has been running in Bahrain for nearly 30 years, currently operates in two organisations, The British School of Bahrain and St Christopher’s School, supporting more than 320 young people every year. The royal visit is designed to enable greater growth and awareness of the Award and the importance of non-formal education so that even more young people have the opportunity to develop fundamental soft skills that will help them make a lasting difference in their communities.

Dorothea Gorman, Director of IAC Operations at The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation said: “We are thrilled to be able to celebrate the achievements of Award participants and Award Leaders at our two existing Award Centres, and grateful to The British School Bahrain for hosting this special event. This great showcase of Award activities is also an opportunity to demonstrate to other schools and youth organisations the positive impact the Award can have on young people as part of a holistic education in Bahrain.”

Mr John Maguire, Executive Headmaster of the British School of Bahrain stated “We are immensely honoured to host this prestigious event, welcoming His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, in celebration of such a key award, which empowers youth, builds their resilience and confidence, and encourages global citizenship. We are a school whose ethos is built on its values and these are reflected in the outstanding Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award”

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About the British School of Bahrain

The British School of Bahrain (BSB) has been one of the leading schools in the Kingdom of Bahrain for over 26 years. The school is rated as Outstanding by the Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA) and it is accredited by British Schools Overseas (BSO).
BSB’s purpose-built campus caters to students from the ages of 3 to 18; from over 90 countries. The value which BSB places on individuality is evident in its inclusive and innovative teaching approach. The school nurtures its students to develop the skills needed in a modern, connected world, and achieve exceptional academic results, all in a stress-free environment. BSB is the most awarded school in Bahrain with recent international awards in Student Wellbeing, Innovation in Education, Environment, Community partnerships and many more. These accolades, in addition to personal success stories, are a testament to the school’s commitment to excellence. BSB has consistently achieved the highest A-level scores in Bahrain for three consecutive years, in addition to the many individual awards of highest A-Levels in the world in 2022, for Arabic and Economics. This underscores the school’s dedication to providing a top-tier education.

The school is part of the Inspired Education Group, the world leading global group of premium schools that educates 70,000 students in over 111 of the very best schools in the world, across 6 continents. Inspired’s Three Pillars approach to educational philosophy, equally focused on academic excellence, performing and creative arts and sports, is proven to provide a holistic, world-class education. Over 90% of Inspired graduates go on to their first-choice university, with alumni attending leading universities worldwide, including Harvard, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and University College London.

About The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is a global, non-formal education framework which challenges young people to develop new skills, get physically active, learn about teamwork and leadership through adventurous journey and volunteer within their community.
It was founded by HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh in 1956, in conjunction with German educationalist Kurt Hahn.

Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh is Patron of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation.
It is known by a range of different names around the world – including the DofE in the UK, The President’s Award in South Africa, The International Award for Young People in India and Mednarodno priznanje za mlade (MEPI) in Slovenia.
There are currently more than a million young people completing their own unique Award programme, via hundreds of thousands of youth-focused partners and operators, including schools, youth organisations, examination boards and youth offender institutions.
The Award is delivered around the world by schools, colleges, universities, employers, social clubs, uniformed and non-uniformed youth organisations, young offenders’ institutions, religious organisations, sports clubs, and a whole host of other civic organisations.
From running as an established programme in a blind boys’ academy in India, to the introduction into youth organisations in Israel; the Award’s framework can support and thrive in a multitude of different environments.

Since 1956, millions of young people have participated and received Awards, with millions more benefitting from its impact in communities around the world.
In Bahrain the Award is delivered by organisations directly licensed by The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation. Further information can be found via https://intaward.org/deliver/deliver-as-an-organisation/