Exploring

Literary Festival

Every year, an exciting Literary Festival, celebrating the joy of reading, is organised by the library team. The Festival is a whole-day celebration for students in the Lower School and includes an exciting range of activities intended to introduce students to a wider variety of authors and genres and to help them develop a deeper interest in reading for pleasure. National and international authors are invited to speak and to lead workshops with the aim of inspiring our students and helping them to discover new ideas.  Recent speakers have included: Martin Vopěnka (author), Štěpánka Jislová (comic illustrator), Jenny Valentine (author), Ash Dickinson (poet), Mara Menzies (storyteller), Seth Burkett (author), Karl Nova (poet), Kathryn Evans (author),Hana Ulmanová (translator), James Stafford (sports writer and journalist), Sonia Leong (manga artist), Marc Cram (actor) and Andy Darcy Theo (author). 

World Poetry Day

Every year, we celebrate World Poetry Day on or around 21 March.  This day was established by UNESCO in 1999 to celebrate “the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind.”    On the day itself, poetry readings and events are organised to encourage a love for poetry and an appreciation of its ability to express more profoundly the reality of the human condition. In recent years, the World Poetry Day celebrations have taken place as part of the Community Tuesday programme. Recent workshops have included ones led by students, a poetry critique and editing workshop, and a talk by poet and translator Václav ZJ Pinkava. 

 World Poetry Day 2026 also saw the launch of a second annual poetry competition in partnership with Akademeia High School in Warsaw, which we hope will continue.

Every year we organise a discussion on a particular pressing theme or on a topic connected with the diversity, which takes place during The Roma Awareness and Diversity week. The subject is discussed and explored in tutor time before the debate takes place so that students have enough information and can make better judgments. Distinguished external guests—specialists in their fields—join a panel with students and teachers to explore the theme in depth. Many discussion topics are controversial, which is a great opportunity to test our open mindedness and tolerance. Thanks to the debates, students learn that having different opinions is not a problem, but what makes it problematic is a lack of good will to understand each other and a lack of mutual respect.

Studying foreign languages would not be effective without exploring cultures and countries, where the languages being studied are spoken. Young people naturally love meeting their peers despite the language barriers, which is a good basis for an exchange programme.

For many years we have been organising a French Exchange and we have established a strong relationship with the Lycée Notre Dame de Rezé in Nantes. We have also in the past few years established exchanges with Instituto Velázquez in Seville, Spain and St. Raphael Gymnasium in Heidelberg, Germany. Every year our students spend a week with the Spanish/French/German families and at a different time in the year their students come to Prague and enjoy the hospitality of our ECP families. During the visits, the host school prepares a diverse cultural programme for the students, through which they explore the local region and enhance the intensity of their cultural visit.

At the end of each academic year, the school community decides on the theme that will be explored throughout the following school year. The theme is reflected in many activities and school events. It appears in the teaching of all subjects, which enables students to observe its complexity. Exploring a particular theme also gives teachers the opportunity to explore cross-curricular connections. 

Departments organise different activities including competitions. The Literary Festival and the very popular Culture olympiad have their main focus on the Theme of the year, which is always a creative challenge for all students. There are also lectures connected with the theme and sometimes even the charities.  

Examples over the years have been Czech/British connections, Internationalism, Nature and the Environment, Technology, Time, Roots, The Star, The Earth, The Dream, The Heart and the Circle.

The Festival of the Arts is our way of exposing students to the creative industries whilst building new skills in the visual and performing arts. Running annually, students in Years 1 and 2 take part in various workshops led mainly by external specialists. In recent years, the Festival has expanded to include 10 workshops (for example: Ceramics, Sculpture, Makerspace, Printmaking, Photography, Film, Band, African Drumming, Drama and Dance) for two days. It is an excellent opportunity for students to intensively develop new techniques, connect with other like-minded individuals, and forge new friendships. We advise students to opt for workshops which introduce them to new skills, thus providing a creative and enriching experience.  

At the end of the second day, there is a showcase of each of the workshops alongside an exhibition of Festival art work.

During the school year, we explore a range of different themes through our tutor time programme and assemblies. Students have the opportunity to express their opinions and also to learn about various topics, perspectives and ideas through a variety of activities. 

This is the list of awareness week topics: 

• Leadership
• Mental Health and Mindfulness
• The History of the ECP
• Democracy and Human Rights
• Families and Healthy Relationships
• Safeguarding and Internet Safety
• Technology
• Diversity and Equality
• International Environment
• LGBTQI+ History
• Nature and the Environment

We have an established work experience programme, with the generous support of ECP parents and alumni, that gives students in Year 4 and Year 5 the opportunity to spend time in a professional work placement while they consider their IB choices and career plans. Over eighty students took part in 2025-26, and we are building on this success each year.

We have also recently launched a mentor scheme through the ECF where our Year 4, 5 and 6 students are paired with a member of the ECP alumni to provide university and career guidance in addition to that offered within school.