As children advance in education, parents must be aware and ensure the best choice of school is made available to them. Hence, LagosMums hosted a discussion for the admission of children into schools in the UK. This discussion was held by parenting coach, Yetty Williams, education consultant, Mark Brooks and a host of speakers representing various schools in the UK; on the 26th of May 2021. We will be sharing highlights and the full replay of the discussion!
Mark Brooks is the director of Mark Brooks Education, he’s been consulting with Nigerian families for over 12 years; he does a great job, working with families and ensuring that your children get into the right school for them, based on their skill sets. This webinar is for children who are trying to make their way into GSCE, IB, and A levels. He made introductions as each school representative in the meeting introduced themselves; gave a snippet on what each of their school had to offer students in terms of academics, extracurricular activities, and so on.
Here are highlights on the schools by their representatives…
Padworth College
Padworth College was represented by its director; Mark Jeynes, and principal, Lorraine Atkins at the webinar. Padworth College is located just outside of London, it was established in 1963 by Peter Fison; an Oxford University professor, whose vision was to bring Oxford’s educational philosophy of tutorial-style teaching to school-level education. It was launched initially as a girls school but later became co-Ed. As of today, they are an international boarding school for students aged 14 to 19; as the focus is very much GCSE, A level, and Foundation. They have a long history of enrolling students from West Africa.
The college offers a range of academic programs, with a focus on preparing students for entry into university. Most of their students go on to UK universities so that’s their main focus area. They’re a small school, very much like an extended family; they’re made of around a hundred boarders and twenty day students, and a very diverse international student body with about 30 different nationalities represented. The school sits on a 12-acre site on the edge of a small village called Padworth, near the university town of Redding, with London close by.
Padworth College are very much focused on realizing academic potential and working with the students, families and their agents. Click To Tweet
They’re very much focused on realizing academic potential and working with the students, families, and their agents; or guiding them in terms of the right career pathways. Many of the students arrive at Padworth and have a very clear idea of what they want to do at university, and beyond that many come and are still unsure. They focus on helping them think through their university options. Given their focus on their tutorial style, although not surprisingly it’s very small class sizes, every size eight to 10 and every student as a personal tutor. They also meet with the personal tutor daily, sometimes more regularly; that personal tutor supports them in all aspects of their life at Padworth, including their university application.
Cardiff Sixth Form College
Gareth Collier, the principal of Cardiff Sixth Form is the representative of the school at the webinar. They are a part of the Dukes Education family; with them are three other schools in this group, which are Earlscliffe College, Rochester College, and St. Andrews College. Cardiff Sixth Form College is the number one academic school in the United Kingdom for A levels, and the one-year GCSE course and they’ve maintained that position over the last 11 years. If you’re looking for the right place for education, the United Kingdom is ranked as the number one country in the whole of the world, for education. And since the table was started in 2002, the UK has not left the top three for the best destination for education in the world. British education system post 16 can be extremely confusing.
They involve in activities such as sport, music, art, drama, leadership, teamwork, and so on but they focus on academia, and focus on getting children into top universities. There are 22 offers from top universities in the US this year, including Ivy league places in Columbia. They have 72% of their students placed in QS Top 100 universities around the world. They have 14 Nigerian students and 2 Ghanaian students with them; placing 27% of Nigerian students into Oxford and Cambridge over the last four years.
ACS International School Cobham
Mark London is the representative of ACS schhol at the webinar. ACS has an amazing campus on 128 acres of serene countryside, which means they’re able to offer fantastic facilities; such as golf, a sport, performing arts center They have security 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are just 13 minutes by train from Central London, and just as ideally, 28 minutes drive from London Heathrow Airport; so fantastically convenient for Nigerian students, flying into the UK to come to the school. One of the main features of the school is the international diversity that they have. The school was established 50 years ago and has expanded considerably since then.
They’ve attracted different nationalities who are attracted by their international ethos. There are up to 80 different nationalities with them including students from Kenya, South Africa, Sierra Leone, and so on; this creates a friendly environment as nobody feels like an outsider, everybody is part of a global community. In terms of studying, students mix with people who have different ideas, backgrounds, ways of thinking, histories, cultures, etc; and also creates a fantastic environment for learning and education.
Students have a choice of program, and our goal is to prepare students to select the right choice programs to ensure that they can succeed. - ACS Cobhams (UK) Click To Tweet
They offer an American high school diploma; so unlike most other schools in the UK, they don’t offer GCSE or A level programs. Students will work from Middle and High School to gain credits; hence, graduate with a high school diploma as a minimum. In addition, all students will, in high school, take advanced placement courses, which are one-year courses, particularly suitable for going on to American universities. We offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. They were one of the first schools in the UK to offer this program 40 years ago. Students have a choice of program, and their goal is to prepare students to select the right choice programs to ensure that they can succeed.
Ashbourne College
The school is represented by Chris Mutter from the school’s admissions team and Tracy; an alumnus of the school, who shared her in-school experience. Ashbourne is an A-level and GCSE College. They were founded by our principal Mike Kirby back in 1981; Mike is still the principal of the college to this day. They’ve been providing high-quality A-level and GCSE tuition for many years. Their main goal is to get students into their top university choice and QS top 10 universities.
They have a selective environment, so each application is monitored by the director of studies; so rest assured that all of the students’ dashboards are equally aspirational and driven. They have consistently good results, across the last 10 years, they’ve managed to average about 50% A star rate for A level results. They have a long history of international recruitment, not just in West Africa, but also around the world; with 60% of British students and 40% International, and those 40% international students make up around 40 different nationalities. So it’s a very dynamic and very diverse cohort in the college
Students receive individualized support with UK university applications through their tutoring programme - Ashbourne College Click To Tweet
Their class sizes average around six to eight students in each class; hence, students receive individualized support with UK university applications through their tutoring program. They’re flexible, thus, their size allows them to change quickly and put into place bespoke programs for each student. They design each learning program around the student; make sure that it’s structured around their strength. This enables them to unlock their potential; hence, get some excellent results at the end of their time in the school.
D’OVERBROECKS
Andrew Gillespie, the vice-principal of D’OVERBROECK’S is the representative at the webinar. D’overbroecks is a school from the age of 11 based on three sites in Oxford; so if you join, you will join a particular part of the school. If you join a sixth form school, you will be in a sixth form environment; spending 99.9% of the time with sixth form students; basically in the sixth form world. They have about 400 Students, 200 each year studying at A levels, and about 140 new students each year; so it’s very easy to kind of make friends and meet people as there’s a real dynamism to the start of the sixth form. There is also a mix of about 50-50 in terms of boarding and day. The school is located close to the heart of Oxford and about an hour from London.
They have a range of subjects for students who have dreams to go into certain professions. They also have small classes and adequate teaching facilities and staff.
Watch the full replay and get all the details of getting an International Education for your child HERE
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