Page 27 - ELG1906 May-Jun Issue 465

EU special .
SPECIAL FEATURE
Demand grows for year-round Down in

young learner provision Devon UNSPLASH/ALYSA TARRANT

Stick with the specialist schools says Melanie Butler
Melanie Butler explores
he demand for year-round courses for likely to be true throughout the English- rise and rise and rise of the year-round young
groups of young learners is growing speaking world: few English native speaker learner specialists. These include not only young learning in Devon
across Europe, most strongly in teachers are trained to teach under-16s, the ten boarding schools who can take short
T Italy and Spain, but what kind of and until very recently very few year-round stay groups, but also nearly forty private evon offers the best quality of life in England, according
provision is best for them? language schools in the English-speaking language schools. to an analysis by wellness charity Happy City. According
On average the best provision for world offered young-learner courses outside Although most chains do better with to the Evening Standard newspaper, high levels of physical
young learners is found among the the summer. adults, there are high-scoring chain Dactivity, low unemployment and good local living
young learner specialists, judged by UK schools, like St Giles Highgate and British conditions all helped this county in the south west of England grab
inspection results. Study Centres Edinburgh. There are also the top spot.
Young learner specialists are awarded an BELL ENGLISH successful summer operators, like UKLC It is also the ideal location for children’s holidays, as
average of six strengths by British Council and Bell Young Learners, now offering generations of English parents will tell you. Devon has a good
inspectors, while the national average across courses year-round. Then there are the well- climate, great beaches and one of the lowest crime rates in the
all provider types is five strengths. established, year-round specialists including country. This is picture-postcard England, right down to the
However, just because a provider is good Sidmouth International School and Globe famous cream teas.
with adults, doesn’t mean they will also English, both in Devon. This is also the Small wonder, then, that it has become the young learner capital
do well with young learners. In a study region which boasts the largest number of of the UK. Of the twenty accredited language schools and summer
of British Council inspection reports, young learner schools. schools in the county, 17 take young learners in the summer and
24 UK providers whose young learner Not all young learner specialists excel. exactly half welcome under-16s year-round.
provision is inspected separately from their The ‘pop up’ schools which only open when Devon takes its duty of care to young international students very
adult courses, we found that, on average, a closed group books in can have problems seriously, and it always has done. The two oldest EFL operations here
adult provision is awarded five more finding good teachers. Schools in the main were junior summer schools: Country Cousins, on the North Coast,
strengths than junior operations. This is a Bell St Albans takes young learners adult EFL destinations also seem to struggle. was started in 1951; while Isca, the best family-run summer school in
statistically significant difference. year-round And schools new to accreditation often fall the UK, was founded in 1966. When two year-round schools opened
Of course, these figures only refer to the Now for the good news – ten per cent of down on child protection. So always check here in the 1970s - Sidmouth International School and Globe English Devon offers quintessential English life, down to the cream teas
UK – no other English-speaking country all accredited language schools in the UK the inspection reports. Centre - they took young learners year-round virtually from the
publishes inspection results. There are a now have more juniors than adults year- But in the UK at least, the young learner beginning. They are both now EL Gazette Centres of Excellence, two
number of reasons, however, why this is round. We are seeing, at least in Britain, the specialists are on the rise. of just five in the entire country. Isca School of English - Exeter
When Jane and Darrell Dumenil of Sidmouth International opened Teaching English to teenagers (12-17) for over 50 years
its young learner courses for 8 to 13 year olds in 1983, they began to
work with the local council on child protection. Learn English at the top family-run
The county developed strong support measures for international
students, even vetting host families many years before the British summer school in the UK
(+*)% $ # !
Council introduced it is own safeguarding checks. The Devon • Ɛƒ v|u;m]|_v bm o†u ƑƏƐƕ ubঞv_ o†m1bѴ bmvr;1ঞom
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system works in tandem with the national regulations, making the -m7 =-1bѴbঞ;vķ Ѵ;bv†u; orrou|†mbঞ;vķ -m7 1-u; o= †m7;u ƐѶv
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county the safest place in the UK, and possibly the world, for young • †mbou _ol;v|-‹ v†ll;u ruo]u-ll; Ő †m; Ŋ †]†v|ő
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Because the region has always welcomed young learners, it
" has a well-developed infrastructure to support them - great Please get in touch with us for more information:
! host families, teachers experienced in dealing with this age
group and activity and leisure programmes especially suited to v1- "1_ooѴ o= m]Ѵbv_ +44 1392 255342
the young. Ɠ o†m| !-7=ou7 u;v1;m| study@iscaschool.com
www.iscaschool.com
Exeter EX2 4EN
Partly as a result, the average Devon language school scores Exeter EX2 4EN www.iscaschool.com
above-average on its inspection reports, and a higher proportion
than average appear in the EL Gazette rankings of the top 100
schools.
Over the years, the development of local airports has made the
region directly accessible for many more students. According to Kevin
McNally, managing director of Torquay International School, another
" $ " ! % " & local Centre of Excellence, students from long-haul destinations can
! " also use the hub in Amsterdam and land directly in Bristol. This is just
! $ % another reason that parents and agents should consider sending young
# ! learners to study in a part of England which one traditional song
compares to Eden:
! When Adam and Eve were dispossessed
! & Of the garden hard by Heaven,
# " $ ! $ They planted another one down in the west,
'Twas Devon, glorious Devon.

EU14 May/June 2019 editorial@elgazette.com EU15