King's College Saint Michael’s
Description of King's College Saint Michael’s
Year of foundation: 1990
Location: Worcestershire, Tenbury Wells
Age of students: 13-18 years old
Type of education: joint
Number of students: 137, 100% are foreign students
Programs: GCSE, A-level, University Foundation
Accommodation: residence, host family
Cost of studying: from £ 26,000 a year with accommodation
Ranking: one of the most prestigious schools in Britain with high graduation points
King's College St. Michaels is a cozy international boarding school. Education here is conducted according to long-standing British traditions of high-quality secondary education. Today, Saint Michael's College is attended by students of more than 20 nationalities. This creates a special cultural and intellectual atmosphere. In the school, joint education is accepted. At the same time, if you want to get seperate education, you always can find an appropriate option from private schools in England for girls.
The college, located in the heart of England, attracts international students due to convenient location. From the school there are only 3 hours drive to London. The nearest towns of Worcester and Hereford can be reached in less than an hour. Location of the school allows to enjoy magnificent nature of the hilly British valleys.
During off-hour time students will not feel bored. Rch and interesting extra-curricular programs are offered to students. It involves sports, creative activities, exciting excursions. The topics of excursions can be different. The emphasis is put on acquaintance with British educational system. The school organizes excursions to the famous universities and colleges of the country. Also trips have an important adaptive value. Cognitive extracurricular activities allow foreign students to become more familiar with British traditions and culture.
Programs and prices, tuition fees in King's College Saint Michael’s
In high school, the college provides for compulsory passing of mathematics and English. Additionally, students must choose 5 subjects from the list of possible sciences: media, Spanish, economics, chemistry, information technology and computer, physics, biology, geography, creativity (plus art), business. For each subject, students take 4 lessons a week, and English is studied intensively - 10 lessons each. The lesson provides 50 minutes (academic hour) for work with the teacher and group exercises.
From the age of 15 gifted schoolchildren can switch to the complicated program 1 Year GCSE course. On this course a two-year program the children study for 1 year. Basic subjects: business, geography, economic theory and practice, mathematics and English.
Both programs (regular GCSE and accelerated) oblige schoolchildren to get acquainted with the basics of life safety and the Study Skills (practical methods of teaching).
After the exams, students receive a certificate of compulsory secondary education.
The program was created for future entrants and requires studying during the first course 4 subjects. In the second year of schoolchildren pass three of them. This will make it possible to deepen the subject of all courses to the level of specialization and to apply for graduation at graduation points as introductory in priority disciplines. When choosing subjects it is important to focus on the requirements of the university.
A-level is a universal, standard for all colleges program, providing a high level of education and a narrow specialization. High marks on subjects will allow you to choose for admission the best ranking higher schools of Britain and the world. The duration of the program is two years.
Intensive one-year program of preparation for higher education in the British system. The peculiarity of the courses is their orientation towards schoolchildren from other countries. University Foundation allows to acquaint foreigners with British requirements, gives a sufficient level of knowledge of English and subject vocabulary. For the IELTS exam, students are trained in 4 lessons per week, and English is studied 12 academic hours (5 days of school hours). Additional subjects of the program: information technology, culture and mathematics. The humanities choose the direction "languages and literature", and the rest of the students study natural subjects, physics, sociology, business management, economic theory and biology.
From the age of 10, children can take English courses at St. Michael's College and practice the language during excursions, educational trips and entertainment. Courses improve the social skills of schoolchildren and introduce the beauty of the nature of Britain.
20 academic hours are given per week in English. For two days students devote to travel, and after classes can engage in sports or creativity. Children under 16 can enter college with an initial level of language. There is also a version of the courses for those who studied it in their native school at an advanced level. Saint Michael's distributes students in groups of up to 15 people, depending on age and language skills. The summer program starts on June 28 and ends on August 23rd.
The college offers accommodation for 2 - 4-bed rooms or accommodation in English families. Families are selected very carefully, taking into account the time on the road, the traditional values of the family itself. A plus of accommodation on Saint Michael's basis is three meals a day and the possibility of additional socialization with other children. With family living, students get acquainted with English life and traditional pastime. It is provided in families for breakfast and dinner, which will allow you to learn more about British cuisine. Students at the school are eating lunch.
A significant part of the education of students will focus on improving speaking, understanding English by ear. Subject vocabulary and lexical stock will be increased by attending educational events. In the second half of the day, intellectual clubs, quizzes, and reading circles are organized for children. Sports competitions are held in football, badminton, tennis. In the evening, children attend dance or music events (karaoke, discos). For lovers of swimming there is a swimming pool. In Oxford and London, students go on weekends for recreation and excursions. In the nearest from the college of the city there are no trips for the whole day, they are visited by frequent bus departures for several hours.
Accommodation, meals, prices
The college offers two types of accommodation: host family and residence. There are 5 student hostels on the campus where students live for 1 - 3 people in a room. All apartments are equipped with furniture, wireless Internet access. Laundry services are free.
Host families are carefully selected by the school's specialists. Students may live in different parts of the city but there is no need to use public transport. Transfer to and from the school is organized by the school.
Boarding is also offered at the residence. Living in the families of students are at full board. At home they have breakfast, dinner. A hot lunch is provided by the school.
Subjects and sports
Advantages
- High quality of education, that prepares students for further studying at the university.
- Location in rural areas where nothing distracts from high academic achievements.
- Specialization of Saint Michael's College.The emphasis is put on an in-depth studying of English and British culture.
- Mentoring. In school, this form of control and assistance to students is practiced. Each student has a mentor from the faculty. Parents of the student receive a detailed report 4 times that presents academic and personal success of their child.
- Small groups of students. On average, students work in groups of 9 people. The maximum number of students in the class is 12.
- Individual approach to each student. Requirements, wishes, preferences will be taken into account while studying under the chosen program.
Facilities and equipment at King's College Saint Michael’s
A private boarding school occupies several buildings. In the main there are classrooms, a library, a recreation room for students with table football, billiards, ping-pong, TV, Internet cafe, computer class, several research laboratories.
The sports infrastructure of the boarding school: a swimming pool, covered illuminated grounds for mini-football, tennis, basketball, volleyball, grassy football fields, baseball, cricket, gym, sports halls.
Various circles are opened for the creative development of students. All of them have modern equipment and tools.
Admission dates and extra charges
The academic year in Saint Michael's College begins on September 6th. The end of autumn trimester occurs before winter holidays on December 13. New cycle starts on January 3. On vacation, children go on March 28. Dates of the summer trimester: April 18 - June 24.
Additional fees:
- Deposit - £ 750
- Registration fee
- Reservation fee
- Supervision
- Visa fees and services
- pocket money (about £ 30 per week)
- additional excursions; private lessons (music, additional languages, weekends and holidays) - £ 750
- insurance deposit - £ 850 (is returned at the end of school)
Extras:
- Registration fee (for a programme/course) 1000 GBP
Institution on the map
Residence permits, citizenship and other services
- Guardianship services during the studies
- Student supervision
Review about King's College Saint Michael’s
We say many thanks to manager Angelina for help in organizing the trip and unlimited patience for our endless questions!
My girls have returned not so long ago and are very satisfied, asking to go the next year. You can see the progress in the language, so I hope that they will study with more motivation.
I will tell you the points of the pros and cons, maybe it will help other parents.
Pros:
- Organization - the program is excellent, rich, diverse, interesting.
- The camp itself and the territory are very beautiful, green, comfortable, excellent equipment for classes and events.
- The staff and teachers are friendly, they care about children (especially those who still do not know the language well)
- As for the lessons, mostly children work in groups on different projects, talk a lot, everything is calm, without tension.
- International communication - guys from different countries are divided in equal groups, therefore it was very interesting for my daughters to communicate. I think a lot depends on the child's character: they are sociable, therefore, tried to find foreign friends, communicate with them.
- An interesting set of excursions: there are many trips, all the main attractions are covered
- Very cool theme festivals and evenings: both fun and informative for children.
Cons:
- There is a lot of fast food on the buffet (french fries, nuggets, pies), for breakfast there are sweet breakfast cereals (such as Nesquik), oatmeal or granola can not be found. Our daughter goes in for sports and monitors her food, so it was difficult for her to maintain the food regime.
- On trips, a packet lunch is also very unsubstantial (usually a cheese sandwich): lunch was usually not provided, you can eat it yourself, but there are also some fast foods like McDonald's around.
- The excursions themselves could be thought out a little better in terms of organizations. The groups are big, and everything is fast, fussy, the program can change on the go (uncritically, but still). I would like excursions be more educative and informative, and not just "here is such and such a palace, let's move on." But they allocate a huge amount of time for shopping: children are happy, but they spend more money than planned, and it would be better to spend time on useful sights. At shopping, in addition, children are divided into national groups, but I would like to maximize international communication.
- Senior educators and travel leaders seek to speak as loudly as possible and scream so that all children can hear them. :) A little annoying.
- I don't understand the camp’s attitude to medicines. On the first day, they must pass everything to counselors: they say they will be given out as needed, but in fact it was impossible to interrogate them. Thank God, daughters guessed to keep the vitamins for daily use, but they didn’t get more essential drugs.
In fact these are small details, and the advantages overcome it many times. Daughters get a lot of bright impressions! The girls were happy, they didn’t want to leave, they have met a lot of new people and now are chatting and calling up.
Thank you very much again!
My daughter dreamed of studying in Britain. I chose for her a school with strong disciplines in history of the country, culture and academic English.
Anne likes studying in Saint Michael's College, the only thing that was difficult to get used to - asceticism in the home (in the residence) and iron discipline. Teachers care about students' academic success, what they are interested in, what they want to achieve in the future. Any idea is supported here, helps to develop.
Recommendations on when to apply
| Language courses, schools and children's language camps | Primary and secondary education - private schools | Preparation programmes for entering universities - higher education | Higher education (after completing accredited programs A-level, IB, High School) - Bachelor, Master, MBA |
| - we recommend to apply 6-9 months before the start of the course (some camps and schools offer discounts for early booking or for lengthy study programs) - there are some very popular and high demand children's camps, where the applications need to be submitted 1 year in advance (in particular Switzerland , Great Britain , USA , Canada , Austria) | - we recommend to apply one year before the start of the training program, - some schools have a specific time frame (September-November - please specify an individual school) - some schools require tests in several stages (UKISET, internal tests of the school: English, mathematics, logics, subjects, interview, some require a personal visit) | - we recommend to apply one year before the start of the program, - for Foundation and Pathway programs, IELTS and TOEFL certificates are usually required, respectively | - recommended submission one year before the start of the program, - the deadline normally closes in January, for TOP HEIs and, as a rule, in March in other universities - for a bachelor, a Foundation or Pathway preparatory program a completed A-level, IB, High School + IELTS / TOEFL are required - for Masters you need a graduated higher education, in some cases you need a pre-Masters program - MBA requires completed higher education, work experience preferably at least 2-3 years, etc. |
