Global Citizens

Our vision is to be a world-class inclusive school at the beating heart of the community. Essentially this means that everything we do, we try to do at a world-class level. We engage with the best international research, we expose our students to the best experiences world-wide, we broaden our horizons to look beyond where we are comfortable. Ultimately, we want to provide our students with an education they can be proud of around the world; they should feel confident that, wherever they end up, they can contribute meaningfully and are proud of where they’ve come from.

As part of this, we make sure that our students have the opportunity to explore the world. Since 2022, we have run an annual trip to a Christmas market in mainland Europe (including Lille and Paris), run sports tours to Greece, organised Modern Foreign Languages trips to Barcelona and Madrid and a volunteering trip for sixth formers to Kenya. This Academic Year, we are excited that our sixth form vocational students will be carrying out work placements in Spain and Portugal and we will be visiting Kolkata as part of the Turing scheme. We have also hosted several groups of Chinese students visiting the UK for language and cultural immersion. We are looking forward to further visits in the summer term 2025.

Our pastoral programmes have EDI as a central tenet, and we explore issues of social justice locally and globally. This has led to us becoming a UN “Rights Respecting School” at Bronze level and we are currently working on our Silver award. We regularly participate in Debate Mate competitions and challenge our students to consider complex views from around the world. The school is a member of the West London Citizens group and Year 12 students are actively involved in discussions and meetings to raise awareness of local issues such as homelessness, litter and anti-social behaviour.

From our work, we know that students have built their own understanding of world events, consider which values are most important to them personally, challenge ignorance and intolerance, are involved in local communities and are expanding our reach nationally and internationally, are learning to develop an argument and voice their opinions ultimately leading to them seeing that they have the power to act and influence the world around them.

Among the notable alumni of our school are a successful CEO leading a prominent bank in Hong Kong and several individuals who have garnered significant followings on YouTube and are presenters on BBC Asian Network. This diverse group showcases the wide-ranging career paths pursued by graduates, from high-powered business executives to vibrant content creators.

Future plans for 2025/26 include a ski trip, a visit to Singapore, New York and another sports tour, this time to Malta. We are also preparing our second bid for Turing funding for Years 12 and 13 to do their work experience abroad and we are extending the number of countries we will offer.

Our students already work well in the local community organising litter picks, helping with the planting of Southall square, contributing to the Mela and attending the Southall schools’ forum as well as lobbying on behalf of their community with our local MP. Our intention is to expand our reach and to have an impact far beyond this. In April 2024 Villiers hosted the Southall Resists event which commemorated the 40th anniversary of the death of Blair Peach who was a teacher in Southall supporting the community in its fight against racism. In October, this work focusing on Southall’s history was further developed by our students who participated in a Music and Art workshop called ‘Peoples Unite’. The work done by the students is on display at Gunnersbury Museum.

Our Charity committee selects a local, national and international charity to support and this year we selected: Save the Children (International), Cancer Research (National), and Hope for Southall Street Homeless (Local). We design our curriculum to make sure students see themselves reflected in it but also learn about perspectives from all over the world. For example, our French and Spanish lessons don’t only focus on France and Spain but at the wider world so Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.