11-15 year olds, girls and boys (English level: Beginner A1 to Advanced)
Canford School is consistently ranked among top 100 independent schools in the UK and is among the top 10 most beautiful schools in the country. Canford School English Summer Boarding Courses are general English programmes aiming to help students develop not only English language skills, but also transferable skills for future academic and career success in the 21st century.
The programmes are designed to build communication, teamwork and creativity skills, with the objective of improving students’ understanding of English and their confidence in using it in everyday situations through weekly research and presentation projects.
Student’s English level will be assessed through an online placement test before the summer, in order to place the student in the right class suited for their level of English. All courses are taught by qualified EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers, using a communicative method which places speaking and communicating as the key objectives. Students will take part in engaging and interactive sessions, group projects and weekly class assignments, to improve the command of English vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation; as well as developing reading, writing, and listening skills. Each week students will also take part in a group presentation project of Time to Shine, to improve their confidence, public speaking skills and teamwork.
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 English Summer Boarding Courses consist of a well-balanced programme of course tuition, multi-activities, sports and excursions. It includes:
- 30 hours of English tuition over two weeks
- 3 full-day excursions over two weeks
- Full social and activity programmes outside classrooms
- 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.
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.
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 are the typical two-week sample timetable and a typical day of Canford School English 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, two hours from London. It is one of the largest schools by area.
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 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.
