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All of our centres in the UK, USA and Canada are committed to raising money for charity. We are lucky to have fantastic staff and students who are generous with their time and enjoy getting involved to raise money and have some fun along the way too!

How much did we raise?

• Our four St Giles schools in the UK raised a fantastic £6,542.54 for charity in 2012. St Giles trebled this and donated £19,627.62 to charity!
• Our St Giles San Francisco centre raised $816.37 for local charities following fundraising events at the school. This was trebled by St Giles, reaching a total of $2449.11.
• Our St Giles Vancouver centre also raised $483.42 for local charities.

How did we raise this money?

Each year, our St Giles centres hold charity events to raise money for good causes.  Here are just some events our schools held last year:

• Halloween Fancy Dress Day
• Summer Garden Parties
• International Food Day
• Student Parties
• Charity Raffles
• Bake Sales

Where did the money go?

The money raised by our UK schools in 2012 went to the following charities: Heart Children’s Home, Expand, Cancer Research and Go Make it Happen.

In San Francisco, the proceeds went to two local charities based in the same building as the school: Positive Resources and San Francisco Suicide Prevention.

Our Vancouver centre donated the money to the BC Cancer Foundation and the Union Gospel Mission.

New Charitable Donations

As of this year, all our students are asked to give an optional charitable donation of £1 GBP / $1 USD / $1 CAD when they enrol at St Giles. This money will be donated to the four main St Giles charities that our UK schools supported in 2012.

Want to know more?

Find out more about the charities we support on the St Giles International website.  If you would like to study English in the UK, USA or Canada, you can contact us at hq@stgiles.co.uk or read more about our locations online.

Holding charity events is an important part of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme at St Giles International.  On 28^th March, St Giles London Central and St Giles San Francisco each hosted International Food Day, encouraging students and staff to bring in food from their home countries and sell it to the rest of the school.  The day was a great success and the proceeds were all donated to charity!

• At St Giles London Central, we made almost £600 from selling the delicious cakes and other food made by students and staff.  St Giles donated double what was raised, so in total we made almost £1800 for charity!
• At St Giles San Francisco, we were able to raise $303, which was matched by St Giles.  This meant we raised a total of $606 for charity!

Before the event in San Francisco, two members of the academic team, Travis Bagby (ADOS) and Amy DeLong (Senior Teacher), were interviewed by our CSR Officer and Activities Coordinator, Mike Emmer:

- To start off with, what are you planning on bringing for International Food Day?

Amy: I’m bringing cornbread.

Travis: Chickpea and sweet potato samosas.

- What is the significance of that food for you and how did you learn to make it?

Amy: I’m from Kentucky and so I’ll be making Appalachian cornbread. Cornbread from the Appalachian area doesn’t have sugar or honey in it, so it’ll be savoury, not sweet. My dad taught me how to make it. A cast iron skillet was the first thing I bought when I moved to San Francisco!

Travis: Well, my nieces are multi ethnic, as my brother’s partner is Pakistani. My brother often makes samosas for them, and they are vegetarians. Everyone chips in and makes food so my wife and I have made samosas with them before. The sweet potato addition was something of our own creation.

- Why do you think it’s important for the St Giles community to hold events for charity?

Travis: It’s about giving back to the community and providing that aspect to the students. It’s a chance to show them that they’re not just here to study English, but that they’re also part of the community here.

- What are you hoping to eat on March 28^th?

Amy: I definitely want to try some Korean food because I don’t eat Korean food often.

Travis: Yeah, I’d definitely like to try kimchi and I’d love to try some fire chicken. I love spicy food!

- Thanks for speaking to me today and I look forward to your cornbread and samosas!

If you would like to study English in London or in San Francisco, you can find out more about our locations on the St Giles website.  Alternatively, contact us at hq@stgiles.co.uk, and we will be happy to answer your questions!

Our St Giles English language schools in the UK really got into the swing of things for Red Nose Day 2013 last week, to raise money for Comic Relief.

Red Nose Day is a UK fundraising event organised by Comic Relief every two years. On Red Nose Day everyone, including celebrities, is encouraged to cast inhibitions aside, put on a Red Nose and do something funny for money, and our St Giles staff and students did just that! St Giles Brighton, London Central and London Highgate all took part and raised over £500!

At our English school in Brighton students helped the Principal, Niall, to do something funny for money by creating their very own Harlem Shake video! Check out the video on Youtube here! Staff and students also dressed up with fun costumes and Red Noses on Friday. In total these fun events raised £156.31 for Comic Relief.

Students studying English at our London Central school also had fun making their own Harlem Shake video last week with the help of teachers and the principal Mark Rendell -  he is the one with the St Giles backpack on his head! Students donated money to take part. Staff also did a sweepstake to guess how British celebrity Jessie J would grow her hair back after shaving it off for Comic Relief. Students and staff raised £150 in total!

Meanwhile, in London Highgate teachers and staff dressed up and wore red noses on Friday and asked their classes to sponsor them to do so. They also did a sweepstake as well, and the school raised an impressive £241 for Comic Relief! You can see below some photos from the day:

You can find out more about Comic Relief and what the money will help with on their website.

All our St Giles English language schools in the UK, USA and Canada regularly hold events to raise money for charity. We are always delighted by how many students and staff get involved to help us raise money for good causes. Next Thursday London Central and San Francisco will be raising money for the main St Giles charities by holding international food days and we can’t wait to try all the yummy food!