Page 23 - ELG2304 Apr Issue 484

FEATURES
Homestay is where the heart is

utside the UK, the image of a summer school is not a week
at Hogwarts but a day spent at school with an afternoon
excursion and an evening spent with a host family. There
Oare plenty of great schools in the UK that offer this and COPYRIGHT PEXELS.COM
plenty of children, especially in the mid-teens, who would prefer it.
Perhaps, because they are shy and bookish and don’t want to spend
every evening at a disco or simply because they have done the boarding
school thing and want to try somewhere else.
But where can you find a very good school with very good host
families? The first thing to do is to choose very a good school. Second
comes location – avoid most major metropolises:– and concentrate on
small EFL destinations for the youngest learners, and student cities for
the older ones.
Below is a list of the top ten schools, based on British Council Inspection
reports, offering summer course with homestay accommodation.
14/15 English in Chester 14+
13/15 Isca
12/15 IH Bristol, IH Newcastle, IH Torquay 14+, Loxdale English Centre
10/15 EF Bournemouth, EF Eastbourne, Sidmouth International
9/15 Celtic English Academy, English Experience, St Brelade’s
For other small destinations we have the beautiful Roman town of
Now let’s look at the location. One thing to note is that three of these Chester, the Welsh Capital of Cardiff for Celtic English and St Brelade’s
schools are in Devon. This is no surprise; the county is famous not only on the sunny island of Jersey. Both of the last two schools also run
for its picture postcard prettiness and its cream teas but also for its unique residential options.
system of checking host families through the local government system for And for student cities we have IH in Newcastle, which has the
fostering, pioneered by Sidmouth International School. Isca in Exeter is highest student population per capita in the country, IH in Bristol every
our top ranking family summer school while the owner of IH Torquay on students favourite university town. Then of course in Brighton, there is
the famous British Riviera told the Gazette on arrival from London: “I just Loxdale English Centre – our fastest rising school – which is a member
couldn’t believe how great the families were down here.” of Sussex Safeguarding.

Summer school

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