Page 18 - ELG1802 Feb Issue 454

CHINA SPECIAL FEATURE .

Summer superstars All our top family operators have so check the reports of centres

strict nationality quotas and only
take small groups. not listed here. Remember,
host families are hard to find in
There are five ranking multi- famous destinations including
How do you choose a good summer KEY centre specialists led by Discovery Oxford, Cambridge and London,
PLS Private language school
school for under 16s and do you pick a FSS Family summer school Summer and two boarding school- so the supply of great homestay
programmes is low.
run multicentres.
PM Private multicentre
homestay or residential centre? Melanie BS Boarding School Just one chain, British Study Most successful homestay
BSM Boarding School Multicentre
Butler investigates  Residential option avaliable Centres, does well in residential. programmes are in small historic
Overall, the boarding schools are
towns, such as Chester and
 Homestay option avaliable the best at residential programmes, Norwich, or student cities like
Data from both tables is based on British Council reports as
ow good are UK summer that industry overall. The boarding of 25 of January but they are hugely popular, so Newcastle and Bristol. This is
th
schools? One way of schools average 8.5 and the book early. Most of the boarding because they are safe and there are
knowing is to compare language course providers average 6. Table 1: Homestay summer school ranking 2018 schools in our rankings are already lots of good host families.
Htheir scores to those of However, 6 per cent of Ranking Homestay centre Age Provider fully booked for Chinese students Based on the British Council
all the British-Council-accredited residential centres are currently in 2018. All the top homestay reports, the top destination for
schools. under review by the British 1 English in Chester 14+ PLS programmes except King’s Oxford junior homestay is Devon. Very
To check the scores of every Council (see box) because they are run by private language green, very safe and with the
school, something the Gazette have failed in at least one area. 2 Isca Devon 12+ FSS schools. Chain schools do well with strictest regulation for families in
does twice a year, we total all the Only one, or 0.5 per cent, of the IH Bristol  12+ PLS homestay but can be inconsistent, the UK and, possibly, the world.
areas of strength awarded to each homestay schools is under review. 3 St Giles Highgate, London 14+ PLS
school by the British Council We have ranked the residential Ranking Residential centres Age Provider
inspectors and deduct any needs and the homestay programmes 5 IH Newcastle 13+ PLS 1 Wimbledon School of English 11+ PLS
for improvement noted on the separately. We have only ranked Kingsway Worcester 3+ PLS
publishable statement. those that take under-16s, so there Bishopstrowe 7+ BS
On average, accredited are no university-run courses Anglo Continental, Bournemouth 9+ PLS 2 Discovery Summer 8+ PM
language centres score 4.5, with or courses run by state colleges EF Bristol 12+ PLS
the top 20 per cent scoring 8 areas because they do not enrol younger St Edmunds, Ware 10+ BS
of strength or more. learners. 7 Excel English, London 14+ PLS Heathfield, Ascot 8+ BS
Remember that the average The minimum age and the Kings Oxford 15+ BS 5
quality of British-Council- provider type are listed beside Sherborne Int., Dorset 7+ BS
inspected schools is high by every centre. Sidmouth Devon 8+ PLS Buckswood OSS 8+ BS
international standards. We The top residential school is Torquay International School, Devon 11+ PLS
estimate a score of between 5 and run by a private language school, British Study Centres, Edinburgh 12+ PLS Concord College, Shropshire 10+ BS
7 is very good, while centres with Wimbledon School of English, St Clare’s Oxford 10+ BS
8 points or more can be classed as and several family-run private EF Cambridge 12+ PLS 7
excellent. summer schools also do very well. 13 St Giles, Eastbourne 14+ PLS Taunton Int. Somerset 8+ BS
The graph below shows the Family-run schools are often great Thames Valley Summer School 9+ PM
distribution of scores for summer at creating communities, as you English Experience, Norwich  12+ PLS
homestays. The light blue can see if you read the story of one British Study Centres, Manchester 9+ PLS Absolutely English, Dorset 9+ FSS
lines show the 118 homestay of them on the last page of the
programmes. magazine. Centre of English Studies Edinburgh 12+ PLS Bede’s Summer School 11+ BSM
The mean score for the sector 17 Globe English Exeter 9+ PLS Harrow House, Dorset  8+ BS
is 3.75, slightly below the national 12
mean. Mayflower School of English, Devon 13+ PLS Manor Courses, Hurstpierpont 7+ FSS
The dark blue
lines show the 15 15 Melton College, York 11+ PLS Summer Boarding Courses 7+ PM
residential Industry avg Harrow School Short Courses 8+ BS
centres. Their
mean average is Bell Young learners 7+ PM
6, higher than Distribution of scores Bucksmore 10+ PM
for UK summer schools Intl Student Club, Haileybury 10+ FSS
11 11 11
10
9 17 International Community school, 11+ BS
London 
8 8 8
Millfield 6+ BSM
7
7
7
7
number 5 6 5 NB: 5 residental centres and 1 Windermere ISS, Cumbria 10+ BS
Moreton Hall, Shropshire
11+
BS

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 homestay are under review 21 British Study Centres  8+ PM
3 3 Cambridge Language & Activity Courses 8+ FSS
2 2 2
1 1 1 1 English Country Schools, Port Regis 9+ FSS
0 0 0 Exportise 6+ PM
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 * Table 2: Residential summer school ranking 2018
score
18 February 2018 editorial@elgazette.com 19