How we came about: 
Personal growth powered by passion and creativity
- In
1983 Julia returned to Singapore with qualifications from the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama, London, England and the London College of
Music and opened a small teaching studio at home to put into practice
the ideals and philosophy she developed in England. She discovered that
as Speech and Drama helped young Julia develop confidence, she would
share her experience with her own children and those of her friends —
her first students.
- Speech and Drama was an instant success! Demand for such
education grew so Julia and husband David set up Julia Gabriel Speech
and Drama Centre in 1990 in an old colonial house in Halifax Road. The
centre began with Julia and two other drama teachers, an assistant
teacher and a two-person administration.
- Julia's vision expanded in a decade, fuelled by the
creativity, dedication and passion of gifted educators and support
staff. The centre became a representative of London's Guildhall School
of Music and Drama, and more programmes were added — Reading and
Language Arts (now called Readers and Writers), PlayClub for toddlers
and parents, speech and language therapy, educational therapy, a
separate BookRoom, our own pre-school (Chiltern House), a Mandarin
Speech and Drama department, the Speech and Communications Arts Board
to moderate students' achievements, School Support Services to take our
programmes out to schools, and PlayNest for children from six months
old.
- In 1998, a new centre was set up in Forum, Orchard Road, when the
houses we occupied in Halifax Road were pulled down. However, the first
Chiltern House, a pre-school that prepares children for Primary 1,
which had been set up next door in 1994, was able to move a few houses
down the road and is still there.
- As the Julia Gabriel Centre team grew, three more Chiltern Houses
opened (1994 at Forum; 2001 at Turf Club Road and 2003 at Crescent
Road), as did a Julia Gabriel Centre in Evans Road. In 2003, we formed
Julia Gabriel School of Education to train teachers, which enabled the
start of overseas joint venture centres in New Delhi, India, with a
second centre in nearby DLF Gurgaon, and, in 2004, our first combined
Chiltern House and JGCL in Jakarta, Indonesia. A centre in Kuala Lumpur
opened in June 2006, and in early 2007 a centre in Shanghai.
- Speech and Drama, our signature programme, was renamed EduDrama in
2004 in recognition of our unique methodology. Just before that, we
re-packaged written language arts as Readers and Writers, which has
drawn scores of children into the magical world of books and creative
writing.
- Our English EduDrama programmes have also been taken up by
kindergarten schools and international primary and secondary schools in
Singapore since 1995.
- As part of our community service, Julia Gabriel Centre for
Learning has sponsored the annual Singapore Secondary Schools Debating
Championships since 1999 — a competition that involves more than 70
school teams each year.
Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning milestones
- 1980 Julia Gabriel starts teaching in England
- 1990 Julia Gabriel Speech and Drama Centre opens at Halifax Road
- 1992 PlayClub opens for toddlers and parents
- 1994 Chiltern House Halifax Road opens
- 1995 Feng Ming Yi Mandarin Centre opens
- 1998 Julia Gabriel Speech and Drama Centre Forum opens
- 1999 Chiltern House Forum opens
- 1999 Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning initiates Singapore Secondary Schools Debating Championships
- 2001 Chiltern House Turf Club Road opens
- 2001 JGCL teacher-training programme initiated with PAP Community Foundation (Pasir Ris GRC)
- 2002 Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning Delhi, India, opens
- 2003 Julia Gabriel School of Education opens to train teachers and adults in education, drama, communication and theatre arts
- 2003 Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning Gurgaon, India, opens
- 2004 Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning Evans Road opens
- 2004 Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning and Chiltern House Jakarta, Indonesia, opens
- 2004 Julia Gabriel Speech and Drama programmes trademarked as EduDrama
- 2004 Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning incorporates Julia Gabriel Centre and Chiltern House;
- 2006 Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning and Chiltern House Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, opens
- 2007 Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning Shanghai, China opens
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Communication
 "Communication
is a wonderful area, both to teach and to study, because our teaching
facilitates invaluable life-skills in a competitive world. Most
importantly, the longer I teach, the more I see the good our classes
provide and the joy they bring, now to several thousand students."
— Julia Gabriel, Founder Director
What People Say About Us
 "The
students were never coerced into doing anything. We were not chastised
for forgetting things, but we were rewarded for remembering. Every bit
of effort was noticed and duly acknowledged, and this I think spurred
us to be responsible for making sure we gave our best. Being never made
to feel bad about oneself does wonders for self-confidence. Also the
interest of the teachers made a person want to be distinctive."
— Salman Somjee, one of Julia Gabriel's students, currently a graduate student at Columbia University in New York
Our Programmes:
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