We were recently awarded the UK Impact in Singapore Award at the 20th Annual Business Awards organised by the British Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (BritCham).
The UK Impact in Singapore award acknowledges the important relationship that exists between the UK and Singapore and this year was particularly important in light of Singapore’s bicentennial celebration and BritCham’s 20th year of annual awards. The judges were looking for UK organisations who have made an impact on Singapore's economy and society at a business, community or CSR level, contributing to the strengthening of the UK-SG partnership.
Our entry centred on the work Nord Anglia Education has done over the last 5 years to improve Dover Court International School’s educational offering and facilities. The entry also focused on our almost 50 years in Singapore as well as our community, approach to inclusion and professional development of staff. Mr Lowther, our Visual Content & Design Manager, accessed the National Archives to obtain photos of the school when it was a British Military barracks and in its early days as a school in the 1970’s. These booklets and our description of the development of the school over 5 decades persuaded the judges to shortlist us.
Once we were shortlisted, BritCham arranged for a video to be made to support our entry and to be played on the night for the audience. I am grateful to Mrs Pereira who represented our parents, Ms Bennett and Ms Izah who represented our staff and Jessie and Joseph who spoke on behalf of our students for the passionate comments they made about Dover Court and why we should win. Jessie and Joseph were acknowledged by the host as Dover Court’s secret weapons!
There were 7 awards altogether, 6 of which had been decided by the panel of judges. We were delighted that one of our parents, Stewart from ERCE was the recipient of the Start-up Excellence Award. The UK Impact in Singapore was the last award category and live voting opened up as they showed the videos of the four contenders. After an extremely tense few minutes following the ever updating bar charts we were declared the winners. I’ve always wondered if Oscar winners are telling the truth when they say they are surprised to have won and hadn’t prepared a speech but now I know they are – at least from my experience!
We are very grateful to BritCham and the judges for organising the Annual Business Awards. It is our second award in row as Ms Dolan, our Head of Year 2, won the Future Leaders Award last year.
Christopher Short
Principal
