11-15 year olds, girls and boys (English level: Intermediate B1 to Advanced)
Academically, Canford School is consistently ranked among top 100 independent schools in the UK, and it is also among the top 10 most beautiful schools in the country. The Academic Summer Boarding Courses at Canford School offer international students an unique opportunity to live and study in this prestigious public school. The programme is designed to inspire young professionals through combining academic studies with professional experiences to develop key knowledge and skills for their future career prospects.
Lessons integrate theory and practice, combining classroom instructions and practical workshops with industry experience visits. Students are encouraged to discover their career passions through a series of engaging and challenging academic seminars, lectures and workshops, where students are required to take the initiative, think critically and to cooperate with others to solve problems, simulating what we do every day in a work environment.
Students will also gain direct industry experience from industry-leading professionals to develop the skills and attitudes needed beyond the classroom. Each week all students will take part in a group presentation project of Time to Shine, to cultivate their confidence, research, collaboration, presentation and public speaking skills.
Students can choose one specialist subject to study over a two-week course programme when applying the course. Students can choose different subject if they stay for four weeks. Available subjects are:
- Introduction to STEM
- Introduction to International Relations
- Introduction to Leadership
- Art & Design
The comprehensive syllabus is combined with fun activity programme and cultural excursions, where students are encouraged to exchange ideas, collaborate, show initiative and improve their confidence whilst having fun.
Course essentials:
Canford School Academic Summer Boarding Courses consist of a well-balanced programme of course tuition, multi-activities, sports and excursions. It includes:
- 30 hours of academic tuition over two weeks
- 3 full-day excursions over two weeks
- Full social and activity programmes outside classrooms
- End of Course Report and Certificate
- Maximum class size is 15, and the average class size is around 12.
- Comprehensive travel insurance
- Return London Heathrow airport transfers are NOT included in the course fees. £130 one-way supplement charge if required.
Subject Outlines:
Social Programme:
Outside classroom, students will improve language skills and learn new skills through an action packed social programme with a wide range of sporting, cultural and entertaining activities, such as:
- Arts & Crafts
- Zorbing
- Combat Archery
- Pedal Karts
- Basketball
- Football
- Circus Skills
- Climbing wall
- Discos
- Fashion Shows
- Film Evenings
- Inflatables
- Quiz Nights
- Karaoke
- Music & Dance
- Roller Disco
- Swimming
- Table Tennis
- Talent Show
- Tennis
- Treasure Hunt
- Sports Tournaments
- Secret Cinema
- Staff Safari
- Silly Olympics
There are also optional English Plus elective courses run by professional instructors, which students can choose one each week, at an additional cost. Each weekly course is six hours in total, replacing the Multi-Activity Programme on two days per week.
- Horse Riding (£275 per week): taught by British Horse Society at their school in the New Forest.
- Adventure Sports (£275 per week): off-site activities such as kayaking, paddleboarding, high ropes, laser tag and archery tag.
- Robotics (£150 per week): use the Edison robot to learn new coding languages including Scratch and Python.
- Game Design (£150 per week): using Bloxels game design software to build own video games.
- Football (£150 per week): football training, coaching, skill workshops led by UEFA Licensed Football coaches.
- Ultimate Crafts (£150 per week): Workshops show and teach everything from clay jewellery making, jesmonite pottery, to hydro dipping and upcycling.
Excursions:
Excursions are a vital part of the summer experience for international students to gain a cultural understanding of the UK alongside English language study. Students will have 3 days excursions over two-week course to experience the rich cultural heritage of Britain. The choices include:
- Buckingham Palace
- The Shard
- London Eye
- London Dungeons
- Oxford
- River Thames Punting
- Thorpe park
- Windsor Castle
- Warwick Castle
- Bristol
- Bath
- Brighton
- Cambridge
- Winchester Castle
- Adventure Barn
- Marwell Zoo
- Eastleigh
- Southampton
- Waterpark trip
The followings include a typical two-week sample timetable and a typical day of Canford School Academic Summer Boarding Courses, which is subject to change. Students will receive a detailed timetable on their arrival.
Boarding:
Students will stay in purpose-built school boarding houses, made up of comfortable single, twin and small-dorm bedrooms with shared bathrooms and spacious common rooms. Girls and boys are accommodated separately.
Students will be roomed with someone of a similar age, but different native language. However, we will do our best to meet any specific accommodation requests (e.g. sharing a room with a friend). We require early notification from parents for special arrangement.
The friendly and supportive house parents and residential staff team are available 24 hours per day to support students.
Meals:
Well balanced, nutritious cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided in the beautiful dining hall. Water and drinks are provided with meals.
Packed lunches are provided for excursions.
Facilities:
The School boasts excellent facilities include modern teaching rooms, indoor swimming pool and tennis courts, dance studios, 9 hole golf course within the grounds, modern accommodation and 250 acres of impressive grounds.
The boarding houses have well equipped games rooms that are very popular with children throughout the day. Each House also has at least one TV room where students can watch TV. Student can access to computer room with free Wi-Fi.
Laundry:
Laundry is done once a week. All bed linen is provided and is laundered once a week. Towels are not provided.
Canford School is situated in 250 acres of parkland near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, located in south west England, it is one of the largest schools by area. Canford is within reachable distance from Bournemouth, Southampton and Portsmouth, which are some of the largest southern cities outside of London.
Canford was awarded Public School of the Year 2019 by Tatler, Boarding School of the Year 2018 by Independent School Parent magazine and was a finalist in the Senior School of the Year category in the TES Awards 2020. Canford was recently ranked among the top 10 most beautiful schools in the country by The Daily Telegraph. The beauty of the campus combines with a range of first class modern sporting, cultural and teaching facilities. Within the grounds are a boathouse, 12 grass sports pitches, 2 full sized all weather pitches, 30 tennis courts, a 9 hole golf course and one of the few original Real Tennis courts in the country.
Academically, Canford is consistently ranked among the best co-educational independent schools nationally. Canford ranked 2nd in the South West region for its A Level results 2022, and 4th in the region for combined A Level/GCSE results 2022, and among the top 75 in the country at national level. At A Level, 40.4% of all Canford grades were awarded A*, 72.9% A*/A and 92% A*/B last summer, compared with nationally, 14.5% of all grades awarded A* and 35.9% A*/A. In the Independent Schools sector overall, the average was 28.7% for A* and 58% for A*/A. At GCSE, 79.6% of all grades awarded to Canfordians were 9-7 (A*-A), compared with a national overall figure of 26.3% and 53% in independent schools on average. Such results have enabled our Upper Sixth leavers to move on to top universities on a wide variety of courses, with over 80% taking up places at Russell Group/Sunday Times Top 12 institutions in 2023, and 44 places at Oxbridge and 41 places to Medical Schools achieved in the past 5 years.
