Page 24 - ELG1906 May-Jun Issue 465

EU special .
SPECIAL FEATURE
Serious sport, serious learning Irish high schools clean up...

Tapping into teenagers’ passions can be key, says Melanie Butler Melanie Butler reports on push to regulate high school sector

f Southern Europe is switching to academic junior courses in English and horse riding, for new inspection scheme for Brian Burns of ISI and Padraig Hourigan of them, and did they really know enough about
Ireland’s educational guardianship
summer courses, students from Northern example, are offered across the republic, from A International House Dublin, AGPI worked child safeguarding?”
Europe remain more interested in English Kilkenny to Donegal. providers was launched in April with children’s charities to develop the Millar, who also runs programmes in the
I with specialist sports provision. In Malta, the main offering is watersports, as part of the quality assurance inspection scheme. UK, foresees numbers in Ireland will only
One agent’s website shows that English and available to juniors at BELS and ESE, among framework set up by the Association of In 2018, they created an inspection increase after Brexit, as EU citizens lose
football is most popular with the Germans, others. Surfing and sailing are also common WINDERMERE INT'L SUMMER SCHOOL Guardianship Providers Ireland (AGPI). company, IGI (Independent Guardianship their right to attend British state schools
French and Dutch, while watersports fans are in Ireland. In the UK though, the big name In recent years, the numbers of EU teens Inspection CLG). Now an independent for free, further increasing the potential
from China, Germany and Saudi Arabia. in all things aquatic is Windermere, the only choosing to study for an academic year at an body run by a board of educators and problem. While non-EU children need visas
Sports in English is widely studied at boarding school with a British Youth Sailing Irish high school has increased exponentially, child safety experts, IGI is responsible for and can only attend fee-paying schools,
bilingual schools in Hungary and Spain. Club recognised by the Royal Yachting but the sector remains largely unregulated. conducting inspections and adjudicating there is no record of children who arrive
For seriously sporty students, the focus is Association, and accredited separately for High school programmes in English- applications. from Europe and enrol in a local school.
instruction in English by fully qualified sports canoeing and kayaking. Watersports are big for Windermere speaking countries have become increasingly Declan Millar, who has specialised in High “We don’t know how many there are here
professionals, rather than an activity programme Generally, boarding schools dominate the popular around the world, with students school programmes for over twenty years, told right now,” he told us.
run by enthusiastic young amateurs. UK’s high-level sports programmes. Harrow enrolling in schools in English-speaking AGPI’s solution is not just to inspect
Multi-sports programmes need to be run offers English and tennis, Stonar runs English Centres teaming up with Manchester City, destinations from the Philippines to the guardianship associations, but to form
by qualified sports teachers or coaches. and horse riding, while Bede’s has a range of and Oxford International with Tottenham Philadelphia. In Ireland, however, Everywhere I looked I links with the schools the children attend.
Mostly these are found in boarding school- specialist sports. Hostpurs. language schools have long been heavily saw Spanish or German Secondary schools, both in the Republic and
run courses like Rossal or Bromsgrove, where But there are also some sports coaches who The biggest name in sports though, involved in this market, selecting schools in Northern Ireland, can join as Associate
the school runs the sport while International give the public schools a run for their money. is Millfield school, which has been and host families, as well as English language students enrolled in local Members and agree to work with AGPI
House Bristol provides the English teaching. Exportise, for example, which is owned by represented at every Olympics since support and out-of-school lessons. schools, even in tiny member organisations where possible – and
In the UK, specialist activity centres, such a sports coach, has been running English 1956. This year students at its Bruton Around a third of the members of Irish where not possible, those guardianship
as PGL and Kingswood, which specialise in programmes with a range of professionally campus can personalise their programme. language schools’ association MEI offer towns or villages. organisations they do work with are
activity courses for British kids, have also taught sports programmes since 1988. They choose from a menu of English- these programmes, and half of those either encouraged to apply for AGPI membership.
come into the sector. Exportise also pioneered the football club focussed programmes like performing art advertise guardianship or offer services of the Gazette that the surge in numbers of EU According to the association press release,
The trend, however, is towards English partnership, running football courses with or pronunciation. Then they add on an a similar nature. students enrolling in Irish state schools had “The hope is that this quality scheme will
with a specific sport. a product which has Arsenal Soccer Schools. More UK clubs have activity option ranging from riding to rock In fact, it was language schools that led raised serious concerns. “Everywhere I looked bring some discipline to this business in
long been common in Ireland. Specialist now followed this path, with British Study climbing. the move to regulate the sector. Founded I saw Spanish or German students enrolled in Ireland, and eventually, having reached
in 2015 by Declan Millar of High Schools local schools, even in tiny towns or villages. a critical mass, to attract the support of
International, Therese Dillon of MLI,
government.”
And I began to worry who was looking after
MILLFIELD
ENGLISH LANGUAGE HOLIDAY COURSES ...as boarding schools get bounce from Brexit
English Language and Activity Summer Courses
IDYLLIC COUNTRYSIDE Demand by EU students, especially from subsidises teachers’ salaries. The cheapest Only one of those is an Irish language
· Intensive English Language courses and Spain and Germany, for places at Irish Irish boarding school listed by the Irish Times medium school
Sailing courses for students aged 11 - 17 years SETTING OFFERING A boarding school are soaring, according costs €8,000 a year; the most expensive Virtually all Irish boarding schools are
RANGE OF SPORTS AND to a recent article in the Irish Times. charges just under €23,000. The average Christian foundations. Nationally, the
· Beautiful surroundings of The Lake District,
a UNESCO World Heritage Site ACTIVITES FOR JUNIORS The paper ascribes this to a ‘Brexit cost of boarding in the UK, by contrast is five Catholic boys boarding schools are
Bounce’ as, once Britain leaves the EU, €33,300. the best known, and these have long featured
· Extensive Activity programme including European children will require visas to The Irish elite have long sent their strongly in the Irish Times League Tables,
watersports, horse riding, biking & more attend independent schools in the UK. children to fee-paying schools, though which are based entirely on admissions rates
But visa-free travel is not the only there are relatively few of them. to Irish universities, as it is illegal in Ireland
· Exciting trips to famous UK cities
attraction. According to the Irish Times, only 51 of to rank schools on exam results.
· Award-winning watersports centre Boarding in Ireland is generally cheaper the Republic’s 700-plus secondary schools Although nearly half of all Irish secondary
than in Britain because the Irish state charge fees, and just 18 take boarders. schools are single sex, there are only two girls
boarding schools, both of which are
linked to the Protestant Church of
JEFF PIOQUINTO, SJ Ireland.
The other residential schools
are co-educational Protestant
foundations linked to the Church
JOINT TOP of Ireland, the Methodist Church
or the Quakers. These schools
BOARDING SCHOOL are particularly attractive to
PROVIDER IN THE UK
IN EL GAZETTE RANKINGS international students, at least
those from non-Catholic countries,
and up to half of all the boarders
15 hours of English tuition and two at these schools may come from
excursions per week, plus a full activity and social programme outside Ireland. Students from these
7KH /DNH 'LVWULFW
schools are much more likely to go
VXPPHU#ZLQGHUPHUHVFKRRO FR XN T +44 (0) 1458 444 112 | Somerset, UK to university in the UK, the US or
ZZZ ZLQGHUPHUHVFKRRO FR XN E mahc@millfieldschool.com | W englishholidaycourses.com in another EU country.
Conglowes Wood College, one of Ireland’s elite fee-paying Catholic boarding schools
EU12 May/June 2019 editorial@elgazette.com EU13