Global Learning Program

Starting as young as Junior Pre-Kindergarten, students at Kent Place begin thinking as global citizens. Throughout the Primary, Middle, and Upper Schools, our courses work in tandem to help students build global competence.

Global competence is a critical component of education in the 21st century, as reflected in national initiatives across several disciplines, including literacy, world languages, and STEM. Global competence integrates knowledge of the world and the skill of application with the disposition to think and behave productively. It enables students to be a productive, involved citizen, prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities of the world.

Our teachers strive to make interdisciplinary connections when possible, and global learning is no exception. On issues ranging from the environment to politics to culture, our students go beyond global awareness to action. 

Having the ability to communicate in more than one language with clarity, respect and cultural understanding is a critical component of global competence. In order to allow students the opportunity to achieve linguistic and cultural proficiency, Kent Place regularly offers opportunities for Middle and Upper School students to travel abroad to countries where the world language they study is spoken. The additional exposure to the target language in an immersion environment complements the students’ classroom experience. Places our students have been in the recent past are Canada, China, Costa Rica, France, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Iceland, Ireland, and Peru.

Through service-learning, Kent Place provides transformative educational opportunities that prepare our students to be responsible stewards of our environment as well as engaged citizens. In crafting meaningful and mutually beneficial partnerships, we deepen our curriculum by providing additional opportunities for students to reflect on self and social awareness, community engagement, social justice, and social responsibility. Kent Place School is committed to making a positive impact on the local and global communities by contributing to the common good. Our ultimate goal is that our students develop an ethic of service and empathy for our shared human experience

In addition to their purpose of teaching students to interact compassionately, ethically and successfully with diverse peoples and cultures to create a more humane, sustainable global society, trip leaders and chaperones serve the educational purpose of enabling students to grow as teammates and 21st-century leaders.

Service-learning is an opportunity to use the world as a living classroom and to explore new cultures with traditions and customs that stand in great contrast to our own. The motto of the Global Service Learning Initiative is “Embrace, Envision, Empower.”

• Embrace the challenge of educating girls and women globally
• Envision a world in which access to education for all is accessible
• Empower Kent Place students to create meaningful change

In the end, our students learn a great deal about other people and places, but also about themselves.

Recognizing that we occupy a tiny space in this world but understanding the reach of our impact is an important lesson we teach at Kent Place. Throughout the various curricular areas, we strive to give our students the understanding and appreciation for how we connect to others, whether far or near. In order to achieve these goals, Kent Place School maintains partnerships with schools and other organizations domestically and abroad.

A longstanding and fruitful partnership in the Primary School is with the Integración Juvenil K-8 School, whose mission is to eliminate homelessness amongst children in the city of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Our Spanish language classes in the Primary School regularly communicate with the children of Integración Juvenil via letters and video conferencing.

In addition to crafting our own custom travel, we regularly partner with educational travel agencies, such as National Geographic and World Leadership School, in order to deliver the best possible learning experiences for our students.  

Kent Place has welcomed student visitors from Kenya, Estonia, France, Argentina, the U.K., and the Philippines.

While traveling with one’s class has great value for helping develop intercultural competence, participating in a longer-term two-way exchange program offers students a more profound perspective into another culture. By living abroad as a student, Kent Place girls acquire an in-depth knowledge and understanding of international issues.

Furthermore, this type of program allows our students to gain an appreciation of and ability to learn and work with people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. By hosting a student here at home, Kent Place students become ambassadors for their school, town, and country, showing what it means to be a citizen of each of those communities.

Most recent, Kent Place has participated in an exchange program with St. Peter’s Girls’ School in South Adelaide, Australia.