Secrets of Earlscliffe students' success

I wanted to visit Earlscliff for several reasons: when we started to offer summer camp of this school to students I haven't realized that it was not an independent school but international. I have formed that impression due to the fact that the owner and headmaster Tim Fish for many years met with me as a Director of another British independent school and when he introduced hes new school I was very impressed with the photos and videos of the campus and Tim's enthusiasm. As a result, I had an impression that this school was a boarding school for British children. My students who went to Earlscliffe summer camp were so happy there that wanted to return only to this school/ But next year the school changed it's summer program, adding to the study of English leadership and debates courses, mini-MBA, preparation for the universities and the age of summer students became higher. This was such a disappointment for a little girl who was unable to return to this school next summer that I realized this school was worth special attention.

The school website states that during the academic year Earlscliffe is a high school that works only with the international students. Knowing the feedback of their students, I wanted to attend school and to understand how Earlscliffe was different from other international schools and what makes the atmosphere of the school different from others.
I arrived from one of the London Central stations San Pancras to the the seaside town Folkstone by train, travel by high-speed train took 50 minutes and it runs every hour. The weather was perfect, the sky cloudless, a light breeze from the sea and the typical for South England cottages were highlighted with April sun. Magnolia blossoms completed bright picture everywhere.
College Earlscliffe appeared as quite a small building, and knowing that the school had only 100 students, I imagined that this was the entire campus. When we went to see 4 other buildings located a just 10-minute walk from the main building I was obviously impressed with the size of the campus.

The school was opened in 2014 by Tim Fish who had a very clear idea of how his College will be different from all other schools.
The first question I asked Tim "what makes Earlscliffe different from other international colleges in the UK" took Tim by surprise. College is no different from independent British schools, the only reason why only international students studying here lies in Tim himself. For him it's more interesting to prepare international students who had never studied in the British education system for entrance to British universities.

Program

Earlscliffe is a classic Six Form British College. Therefore, the main program of College – A-level. Within five years of existence the College became 4th in Kent, where the largest concentration of boarding schools in the UK, for A-level result. Earlscliffe offers more then 20 of the most popular A-level courses. Hear the classes are very small, in some classes there are only 2-4 students.

To prepare foreign students for 2-year A-level course there is a one-year program which is called here an International Transition Year. This program accepts students of 15-17 years old who have completed at least 9 grades at home and who need to improve academic English and increase knowledge in basic school subjects that they can study at GCSE level for one or two trimesters (for students who do not want to take exams at the end of this program) up to one year if the student is confident in his abilities and examination results will only enhance his chances to get into a ranked University.
For students 17 years and over who have already finished school in their country and want to prepare for entry business course in any British University Earlscliffe offers a special 1-year program Diploma in Business, which accredited by the ATHA and recognized on State level as the equivalent of two A-level courses . This degree is much easier to get with honors then to receive two A-A* on the A-level. During studying the Diploma students add to the program any course of A-level of their choice which might be the native language of the student or art and these results will be recognized even by universities of top twenty.
The secret of Earlscliffe students success lies on three pillars invented by the founder of the school: Test, Rank and Coach.
Test: Students take weekly progress tests in all subjects they are preparing for final exams. Such a system becomes a habit and very soon improves the results as you need constantly prepare to the tests.
Rank: Test results are sent to parents, agents and posted on the school Board, where every student sees to what place he moved among his classmates this week.
Coach: For students who show an insufficient result are offered extra one-to-one classes which improves their performance, while for parents this support is included in the price.

Earlscliffe Campus

The school owns 5 buildings including the just-opened during the last holidays new residence building for boys, in which in the day of my visit for the first time arrive boys returning from school holiday. Also this building is going to accommodate a couple of classrooms, for example, to here will move the Department of Art.

All in the school there are 4 residence, all rooms for 1 or 2 students, very spacious and amazingly bright, especially due to the fact that on the day of my visit through the huge windows rooms were litght with sunshine. All rooms also have private facilities.

The school has almost no sport facilities and this is the only fact what distinguishes the College from independent British schools. All students can use the facilities of the sports centre, located 10 minutes from the school.

In conclusion, I want to recommend the school for those students who need more attention from teachers and mentors to achieve excellent results in studies