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High school preparation
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Many high schools around the world now offer international students a preparation programme before they enter into mainstream schooling, while others rely on the services of independent providers. Jane Vernon Smith reports on the latest trends in this sector.
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As Eric Squires, Head of UK-based Bell Bedgebury International School (BBIS), points out, for some students a preparation course is their first experience of studying in a new country and a new learning environment. Therefore, “High school preparation courses are designed to prepare students academically, linguistically, socially and culturally for their future education in [a foreign country].”
“On a preparation course at BBIS, students learn essential vocabulary needed for their term-time studies, acquire valuable study skills and get first-hand experience of the style of teaching at a British boarding school. However,” he adds, “it’s not just about classroom activities. Students make new friends from around the world and experience a variety of activities, and learn about Britain through study tours and excursions.”
As Squires underlines, the value of taking a preparation programme lies not only in ensuring that the student will be able to cope with the language demands of a foreign school, but also in a number of other areas. “I believe it gives students an excellent head start, most particularly in that they have time to acclimatise before beginning their [UK exam] courses. In this way, they do not lose valuable time making adjustments to living and studying in the UK, when they really need to be hitting the ground running with the syllabus,” concurs Joel Roderick of Oxford Tutorial College in the UK.
Lyn Gilbert, Director of International at Ivanhoe Grammar School in Australia, also agrees that high school preparation is about much more than just strengthening language skills. It also enables students to become accustomed to a new accent, adjust to different ways of teaching and learning, find out about how their new school functions and adjust to their new living environment, she explains.
For Blair McDonald, Director at Braemar College in Canada, “A solid preparation for entering mainstream courses makes the difference between obtaining or not obtaining, good grades [therein] – and, hence, being accepted – or not – into a good university. “This,” he stresses, “is the key selling point of such a programme. Everything that follows academically hinges upon it.”
While many mainstream schools have a long history of taking international students and providing preparation programmes to integrate them successfully into school in a foreign country, some others have introduced them more recently in response to the growing number of international students on their roll. In the USA, for example, Darlington School became a trailblazer according to Director of International Student Programs, Kila McCann, having introduced its high school preparation within the past four years.
This, as Gilbert highlights, is a great selling point for high schools. “Students enrol in one institution instead of two; they settle into one institution, not two. They do not make one group of friends in a language school, then have to make new friends when they move to the high school; they are looked after consistently by the one set of experienced school personnel. Parents appreciate these aspects very much,” she explains.
However, when considering high schools that do not run preparation programmes, parents can turn to language schools. Indeed, some language schools have established links with mainstream schools to provide courses on their behalf. One such is Nudgee International College (NIC) in Australia, which acts as the international centre for 15 high schools in the south east of Queensland, and for three in Melbourne, Victoria.
“Instead of all of these schools running separate international centres and the required staff to market, recruit and enrol students, we do this for them,” explains Country Manager, Micheale Craymer. High school preparation students are accommodated through NIC’s homestay department for the duration of the programme, and NIC guarantees entry to its partner day and boarding schools, as long as students meet their entry conditions.
While the general philosophy of programmes tends to be similar across providers, the emphasis can vary somewhat. According to school registrar, Michelle Davies, St Paul’s School in Australia, offers a greater degree of integration than some other programmes, while Craymer believes that what sets NIC apart from the competition is the way it prepares students culturally and socially for living and studying in Australia. At the same time, Squires considers that BBIS stands out from the competition on account of its extensive focus on academic preparation, with 60 per cent of lesson-time being aimed at this, as well as the quality of its English language tuition.
Noting that students today often arrive with a better command of English than in the past, Davies observes that they often need less time in preparation than they did 10 years ago. In any case, the length of programmes tends to vary, with many providers proving flexible in responding to the individual rate of students’ learning. At Ivanhoe Grammar School, for example, students normally spend between ten and 30 weeks in the programme, “depending on English levels and rate of progress,” Gilbert reports.
At Braemar College, meanwhile, each student is provided with an individual programme of study that is tailored to meet their specific academic and language needs. Here, says McDonald, it is normal even for students who enter with little or no English to have begun a gradual transition out of preparation and into mainstream courses by the beginning of the second term – that is, after nine weeks. On the other hand, at US-based Darlington School, the programme is built in to mainstream schooling, as McCann explains. During the first two years, the school provides additional ESL support where needed, while pastoral support continues throughout.
Not surprisingly, Chinese students make up a high proportion of the numbers enrolled in preparation programmes in all countries surveyed. At Oxford Tutorial College in the UK, Roderick comments that almost all are Chinese, while the range at BBIS includes Russian, Japanese, German and Portuguese, as well as Chinese students. Canadian Braemar College, meanwhile, receives high school preparation students from a wide spread of areas, including Eastern Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as China and Vietnam. On the other hand, “Western Europe and Latin America produce very few high school preparation students,” observes McDonald.
“Due to Australia’s proximity to South East Asia, the majority of students who are currently undertaking our high school preparation programme are from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan,” says Davies at St Paul’s School. She notes that St Paul’s also receives international students from Spain, Brazil and Germany. However, “These students usually have a high level of English proficiency, so will enter [straight] into the main school with ESL support,” she adds.
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