Ambassador Terracciano and his wife Karen with Alessandra Nelson Smith (SIAL)
The Italian school in London (SIAL) moves today to a larger, more functional premises, thanks to funds raised by the Ambassador.
The move was made possible thanks to the support of Pasquale Terracciano, the Italian Ambassador to the UK. Over the past three years, he has raised over £1.5m from private donors, notably by holding a series of fundraising gala dinners at the Embassy. The Ambassador inaugurated the new premises of the school, next door to its current premises on Holland Park Avenue.
The school was founded in 2011 by a group of parents and private individuals. Over the years, thanks to the support of the Italian Embassy and Consulate General in London, it has grown significantly and currently has around a hundred students. The school offers bilingual lessons and a dual Italian and British curriculum covering nursery, reception and five years of primary school.
In addition to its support through fundraising, the Embassy gave the school logistical support by liaising with the Italian and British Authorities to have it accredited in the UK as well as obtaining official recognition from MIUR (Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research). The school is constantly improving. In January 2016 it was inspected by OFSTED, the regulatory body for schools in the UK, which declared that it met all criteria, scoring excellent in many of them.
During the ceremony, it was announced that SIAL will expand its offer by launching a middle school in September 2017, something that will surely be welcomed by London’s constantly growing Italian community.
In his inauguration speech the Ambassador remarked: “In the uncertain times in which we live, such a project creates a bridge between the Italian school system and the one of the host Country.”
Embassy Archive – SIAL Inauguration Ceremony (2011)
Website of the Italian School in London
