Page 27 - ELG2210 Oct Issue 482

THE TOP UK LANGUAGE CENTRES

Can you beat the boarding schools?

These year-round stalwarts know what they’re doing, says Melanie Butler

ritish boarding schools are famed across the world for their as many operations in the language school group and their standard
excellence in education, so it should, perhaps, be no surprise deviation score of 3.7 suggests they are a little less consistent,
that those which are accredited by the British Council Nearly 60% of accredited boarding schools are Centres of Excellence
Boutperform all other sectors based on the inspectors’ report. and, while only one has ever made it into our rankings on first
This year they have just nosed ahead of their greatest competitors, the inspection, they tend to hit the industry average score on the first
UK universities. attempt and then head upwards. Perhaps this should be no surprise in
Some language school chains also operate boarding schools. Where a sector which deals with under-16s all year round and where they are
the same teachers were working across both operations at inspection, governed by the fearsome Boarding School Standards, said to include
we include them in the boarding school category. the strictest child protection rules in the world.
Like every other sector, boarding schools have seen their numbers
fall during the pandemic. Five schools have left, though only one,
King’s College St Michael’s, has closed. One new school, Ratcliffe
College, has recently joined the scheme, bringing the total number up
to 24 and the percentage of schools lost from the scheme to 14%, the 1.Bishopstrow, Millfield, St Edmund’s (13)
lowest rate for any sector we have analysed. Boarding 2. Heathfield (12)
Boarding schools have a mode score of 11 net areas of strength, one 3. Buckswood, Concord College, Harrow
point higher than the universities, as is their median score of 10. Both school Short Courses, King’s London, King’s
sectors have a standard deviation of just 3.3, showing the quality is Centres of Oxford (11)
very consistent. Excellence 4. Bede’s, Kings’ Brighton, Sherborne, St
Where boarding schools absolutely dominate as a sector is in Clare’s, Stonyhurst (10)
safeguarding, where an astonishing 75% score an Area of Strength,
nearly three times as many as in the industry as a whole.
The boarding schools can be beaten – the 10 well-established Key The numbers given in brackets refer to net areas of strength
independent private language schools which make up The English awarded at inspection. All schools enrol under-18s and are all
Network have a higher mean average score: 12 areas of strength inspected in 15 areas.
and a perfect 15 as their most common result – but there are half

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