Summer preparation programme for A-level/International Baccalaureate at Lord Wandsworth College

Summer academic school preparation program at Lord Wandsworth College

Summer academic programs are often mistakenly choosen by the parents of children who already have a high level of English and parents want summer programme brought more benefits. As a result, the child who is diligently taught the language, but at the same time, no one sends in the foreign school, is punished that he did not see the summer holidays and studies chemistry, mathematics, economics and other subjects in English from morning till night. On the other hand, such programs are actually very necessary and useful.

So who needs such a program, and who does not need? First of all the program needs 15-17-year-old children who start studying at foreign schools immediately on the high school curriculum, that is, A-level and IB. This program can also be used as a trial for those children who plan to enter a rating school the next year and they need to prepare for the entrance tests. The only thing that you do not forget to negotiate with your child, this summer he goes to international camp to study, not to relax, and clearly state goals that you want to be achieved.

The following interview with Nastia, who took the preparation IB program with Etherton Education before the beginning of the school year in ACS Cobham, clearly shows the pros and cons of this program.

A review of the student Pre-IB at Lord Wandsworth College

Let's start with summer school. I would advise everyone to take such preparation for everyone who is going to study in high school in Britain, although if you take pre-IB it is not really that, rather it was the pre-A-level. Most of the teachers did not know what the IB program was. But basically, both programs have something in common and it was still very useful. I spent 4 weeks, I liked it, there was no entertainment, only study, but that's what I went for.

Everything was fine, I understood what I was going there to study and not for fun, goals were set and achieved. A good pace was set, and a lot of knowledge was refreshed. We were told that we will not have anything new to teach, we will simply show you how will your continued education. There were homework tasks, then it was evaluated and all reports at the end of the program was sent to our British schools.

The preparatory program has a very tight schedule. you wake up in the morning and just run for breakfast because if you don't get it, you will be scold, if you are late, you may not be in time for the lesson. The breaks are not large, classes in different places and you run, as there are long distances. After class you come back to campus to change clothes for sports, like it or not - have to go. Someone tried to take time off, even showed the temperature, but no one believes you, say nothing, go and sit and look. After sport we have a little time, came, got dressed and ran to dinner. There war an hour for the homework in the evening to do homework in school under the supervision of the teacher, but usually this time was not enough, we still had half an hour of free time after dinner, too, is usually left for homework. It was also two hours of free time before bed, but if you came here to learn, all this time also was spent on homework. Not everyone, of course, went to this camp to learn and therefore was very much dissatisfied. The guys went to the camp to study and have fun, probably they were not properly consulted when selecting a program, as we studied here from Monday to Friday from the moment I woke up and untill bedtime. Actually, of course, entertainment was. Here these two hours before sleep we had some events like a talent show, not everyone loved it, because it was primarily aimed at the development of conversational English skills. Therefore, the program was very intense. Someone didn't like it, someone followed it.

There were many playing fields on school grounds where they play rugby, football,multi-sports hall, swimming pool, tennis courts. Very good lab. My science was only chemistry, I was very impressed with the experience. For example, we watched the heart in a cut, if someone was unpleasant, they came out. Each class has an electronic board. All children have tablets and teachers are working online, all the jobs are uploaded into the group and then you present the completed task to the teacher online.

Accommodation at Lord Wandsworth College

The residence I lived in was quite shabby, the building was built before 2000 and has not been renovated since. In general, summer school students lived in four residences, two for boys that were newer and two for girls. The second residence for girls was new and the conditions there were better. The room was for four people. In the first week we lived only two, I and a girl from Italy. Then a girl came from Hong Kong, and a week later another new girl from China was accomodated.

Basically, children who came were the ones who from September had to stay in British schools, but in my room the two girls were 15-year-old, and they were going to go to an English school next year, this year just wanted to try their strength.

The only thing everyone didn't like is the food. Their Kettering is disgusting. I have a friend, who left to study at school, with who I continue to communicate, she says the food has almost not changed.

In General, I was very glad I went on this program and it really helped me when I began the IB programme at ACS Cobham.