Harrow International School, Bangkok

Since 2011, Harrow, Bangkok, has provided vital support in the form of candidate entry fees for Cambridge students and material support for refugee and migrant schools. However, Harrow went much further than this, and their staff provided their expertise as Cambridge examiners, giving up their weekends to come to Mae Sot or into Myanmar to deliver exams. They also provided cultural events where their own pupils worked with refugee and migrant pupils on joint projects.

But in effect, the impact of the Cambridge went much further than this as the teachers, through their own studies, picked up new teaching techniques which they applied in the classroom. Eventually, this led to the development of a new MEP initiative called ‘Cambridge Plus’, which incorporates Cambridge exams with the training of local mobile units of teacher trainers.

What has, in fact, been created is a system of cooperation in which a large, well-resourced organisation can work with a small, well-skilled organisation, creating a working model that maximises the strengths of both.

Pupils from Harrow school have spent a number of 'cultural' weekends over the years with pupils from Pu Taw College, Mae La refugee camp. This involved a great deal of organisation, acquiring permission from local authorities for the Pu Taw pupils to spend a weekend in Mae Sot, besides preparing them for the upcoming Cambridge exams hosted by MEP with examiners provided by Harrow.

Pu Taw College

Harrow International School Bangkok won the British International Schools Award for ‘Outstanding Community Project’, which was, in fact, the work done conjunction with MEP on the Thai/Myanmar border and inside Myanmar itself. One of its main features has been the award of Cambridge certificates to over 300 teachers in the migrant and refugee communities and inside Burma.