Page 29 - ELG2210 Oct Issue 482

THE TOP UK LANGUAGE CENTRES

Do points mean prizes?

Who does best in chain-school rankings?
Melanie Butler finds out PHOTO JOSEPH REDFIELD NINO FROM PIXABAY

ho takes the prizes among the chains? Generally, the
answer is top prizes go to schools with the highest number
of areas of strength awarded on inspection. It’s not so
Wsimple when it comes to chains though – two other
elements are critical for success: consistency and price point.
Consistency is measured by the distance between the lowest
performing school and the highest one. In a smaller chain, with five
schools or fewer, these should be clustered within a single standard this involve juniors. Both have expertise with under-16s: Bell has been
deviation, which here is a 4.5 point range. Those with six schools or teaching them for over 50 years, while Kings famously runs boarding
more can be allowed a little leeway. schools. When it comes to teaching under-16s, stick with the high-
On consistency, our top ranking small chain is ELC, a not- scoring specialists.
for-profit trust whose three schools score 13, 14 and15 points What about price? High-ranking courses usually come with top-end
respectively. And our top ranking larger chain is EF, whose eight prices. Our budget pick for excellent value is CES, which has all its
schools are ranged neatly at between seven and 12 points, but schools neatly bunched together around the national mean average
neither of these chains run accredited junior programmes, typically score of 5.5, with the majority scoring higher. Yet it’s website prices
the weakest link in any chain. come in, depending on destination, at around £13-£15 per 60 minutes
All the five year-round schools run by EC, for example, score of teaching on a four-week course. Other well-known, but lower-
between 10 and 12, making them all Centres of Excellence and scoring outfits have list prices as high as £17-£19 for the same style
making EC the best performing top end international chain for course in similar locations.
students aged 16 and over. However, its junior summer operations, Finally comes this year’s fastest riser: Stafford House. All its year-
run under the Embassy brand, comes in below the mean average round schools improved their scores in their last inspection, with
score on inspection. London and Canterbury making it into our Centre of Excellence list,
When it comes to junior operations in year-round chains, two stand as did Brighton, now awaiting a spot check as a new part of Bayswater
out: Bell among the small chains and Kings among the bigger ones. Colleges. Improving your inspection score in the middle of a pandemic
Although both have one lower scoring outlier, in neither case does – that’s a result!

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