Avanti House Secondary School in Stanmore has been named a Top 3 finalist for the prestigious World’s Best School Prizes 2024, with recognition in the Supporting Healthy Lives category.
The announcement has drawn praise from Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who congratulated the school for its outstanding achievements.
“It’s fantastic that Avanti House has been nominated for the World’s Best School Prize and I’d like to congratulate the teachers, parents and pupils for all their hard work. The school puts the health and wellbeing of pupils at the heart of everything it does, supporting their physical and mental health in its curriculum and achieves impressive results. They’re a brilliant example of what is great about our capital, as we build a better London for everyone,” said Khan.
The World’s Best School Prizes, launched in 2022 by T4 Education, Accenture, American Express, and the Lemann Foundation, highlight schools worldwide making significant contributions to education and student wellbeing. Winners share a $50,000 prize fund and will be announced later in October at the World Schools Summit in Dubai.
Avanti House Secondary School, a state Hindu school, is known for its values-based approach, which integrates mental, physical, and spiritual health into its educational model. Principal Simon Arnell highlighted how these principles are woven into daily life at the school.
“The Avanti Way is central to the mental, physical and spiritual health of our staff and students and central is our vision to create compassionate changemakers. Staff and students participate in a range of activities such as yoga, mindfulness, student and retreats, sanga, journaling and have a superb vegetarian menu served to all during our communal lunchtime. All of these are not simple additions to the school day but are intertwined within our curriculum,” said Arnell.
The school’s holistic approach extends beyond academic success. With a Progress 8 score consistently ranking it among the top in the UK and an impressive 97.6% attendance rate, Avanti House exemplifies the effectiveness of integrating wellbeing into education.
Vikas Pota, founder of T4 Education and the World’s Best School Prizes, praised Avanti House’s impact.
“Unless the world takes urgent action, it is set to miss UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 of universal quality education by 2030. The global education crisis is multifaceted and so must be the solutions. That’s why we must look to the grassroots, to our schools at the coalface, for answers. To exceptional London institutions like Avanti House Secondary School, whose work should make governments around the world sit up and take notice. By spreading its innovations far and wide, we can inspire change where it’s needed most,” Pota said.
Avanti House is one of three UK schools named as finalists for the World’s Best School Prizes, alongside E-ACT Venturers’ Academy in Bristol and Grange School in Manchester.
The winners will be announced in October, with each winner set to receive $10,000 from the prize fund. The school also stands a chance to win the Community Choice Award, determined by public vote, which will offer additional resources to support teacher wellbeing.
For the local community and the school’s 1,190 students, this recognition highlights the transformative power of values-based education.
Should Avanti House win, the prize money will be used to further enhance their programmes aimed at fostering healthy, mindful, and responsible global citizens.
Chris Mitchell is the founder and editor of Harrow Online, Harrow’s leading local news platform.
He launched Harrow Online in 2010 as a Facebook page sharing local news and information. Since then, it has grown into a trusted source for breaking news, crime, council decisions, planning, transport, business and community stories across the borough.
Harrow Online reaches hundreds of thousands of readers each month and has a social media audience of more than 200,000 followers.
For news tips, press releases or enquiries, contact Chris at info@harrowonline.org.
