Page 19 - ELG2304 Apr Issue 484

SUPPLEMENT
Suddenly Contents

CALCULATING THE RANKINGS
it’s Summer 20 schools based on inspection
How we choose the best summer

This year’s summer school special
looks at what is changing in the vacation
market and what is still the same RANKINGS REVEALED
The All the summer operations
f you take a quick flick through our summer supplement 21 which are Centres of Excellence
this year, you may ask yourself the question: what
has changed? After all the top summer schools in
Iour rankings are more or less the same (see page 21).
One may have gone up a little, and one may have gone ARE BOARDING SCHOOLS BEST?
down but by and large all the familiar names are there. Our best-performing sector
And so they should be – it is rare that a summer schools 22 takes a bow
drops down the rankings very fast. Partly this is because they
are only inspected every four to five years, but also because
good schools tend to stay good, at least until they change
owners, or are hit by a pandemic.
BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOMESTAY
However, following Covid 18 summer operations have 23
closed or left the accreditation scheme. So, we must Where to go if you’re bored
say goodbye to former stars, like Absolutely English of boarding
and Thames Valley both of whom have been forced to
close or boarding school favourites like Moreton Hall
and Windermere who have decided to say goodbye
to British Council inspections. IRELAND AND MALTA
We examine the secrets of boarding schools on page 22 Small is beautiful but these
pointing out they don’t have it all their own way with 24-25 summer destinations are
a handful of language teaching operations including
SBC, Discover and Bell multicentres beating them at filling up fast
their own game. But with very few exceptions, boarding
schools score highly
Outside the on inspection and they
are our best performing
bustling metropolis sector this year, jus
there are great pipping universities at
the post. If what you
schools with great are looking for is great COPYRIGHT PEXELS.COM
host families education, it should be
no surprise to find that
educationalists do best.
But some things never changes, and some children
do best, not in residential school, but living with families
instead. Many people believe that UK host families are
unfriendly and expensive. But we British would advise
that this depends on the location. Across the world, host
families in megacities like Beijing or London or Manhattan
charge a lot of money for a little space and often appear
stressed and unfriendly. That’s mega-cities for you. As we
point out on page 23 outside the bustling metropolis there
are great schools with great host families living in picture
postcard regions like Devon or exciting student cities like
Bristol and Newcastle.
But it is outside the UK that the summer school
market is really on the boil. On pages 24 and 25 we
look at the two new stars of the European summer
market: Malta and Ireland. They too are struggling with
shortages of accommodation but are devising interesting
new alternatives. Care to spend the summer in a private
Mediterranean resort hotel? Or, to
explore the fascinating historic towns
which dot the seaboard of Ireland?

MELANIE BUTLER,
EDITOR IN CHIEF
editorial@elgazette.com 19