Fyling Hall has been a multi-cultural school for much of its 100 year history. Back in the 1950s John Coker, Sierra Leonean heavy-weight boxer, flag bearer for the 1968 Olympics and trailblazing Harlequins rugby player, attended our school. Today we welcome students from numerous countries such as Hong Kong, Germany, Russia, Spain, Nigeria, South Korea and many more, to study in our inspiring 45 acres of Yorkshire countryside and gain a wider understanding of British culture. Here they become part of our nurturing school community as they develop independence, make life-long friendships and then many progress to UK universities. All students participate in and contribute to our cultural programme.

As part of our wider curriculum and enrichment programme, we run a Cultural Programme of Events available to all pupils. This includes the annual Carol Concert at St Stephen’s Church in Robin Hood’s Bay, end of year musical concerts and festival, Open Studios in Art, and Country Themed Evenings and Celebrations. The programme has expanded over the last 5 years and is always evolving. Check the term diary for updates!

This year we are completing our first full school show in over 5 years, Annie Jr, to be performed in late November 2023 and there is already a buzz around rehearsals. Theatre trips, visits to local museums and art galleries and tours to local attractions and historial sites are also very important for our pupils – day or boarding. Being a small school we are flexible and can offer more of these enhancing experiences than other larger schools.  Trips provide cultural insights, inspiration and nurture a lifelong love of learning.

In the last year Junior school pupils have taken part in dance classes with Chris Colebrooke to prepare for a traditional British community tea dance and we are all looking forward to Fyling Hall’s Got Talent at the end of term. We celebrated Nikolaus Tag through our German lessons and held country-themed evenings such as the popular French evening.

We are lucky to have a diverse mix of students in our school community. Each year we celebrate Chinese New Year throughout the school with our Hong Kong and China based students leading the way.  We host regular country-themed nights – such as the Russian tea and Spanish evening – with food from around the world. Our international students are encouraged to share their home culture through assemblies, pop quizzes, language and film nights and all the pupils enjoy eating food from different cultures. This year we are really looking forward to hearing more from our new students and adding celebrations and countries to our programme!

All of these events help Fyling Hall pupils to become part of the wider community and enhance our family-feel with small class sizes, regular boarding events and trips out, and great relationships between students whereever they come from. Not only does it benefit our international students it develops a broad outlook amongst our day pupils. We all learn from each other and Fyling Hall graduates are well-rounded and internationally-minded citizens.

Next up in our Cultural Calendar this term are trips to Whitby Museum and York for our new international students and preparations are underway for this year’s school-wide Oktoberfest celebrations led by our German students. Watch this space for reviews and pictures!