English Summer Course at Ashford School, Kent

English tuition is combined with an activity programme: the operator calls this format Academic & Activity. Classes are held in the school’s own fully-equipped classrooms with internet access, and class size is capped at fifteen students. The teaching week is fifteen hours, which the operator counts as twenty lessons. A typical day has two class blocks in the morning with a break between them, lunch, and then an afternoon of sport, arts or an excursion.

The price covers full-board homestay accommodation, tuition, the activity programme and the excursions. The week includes one full-day excursion, two half-day excursions and local visits; students who stay for two weeks also get a London excursion. Paid extras are listed separately and are not part of the course price: travel insurance, afternoon sports options, a hot lunch at school, daily transport and bus passes for homestay students.

Students live with a local host family. Some host families are within walking distance of the school and others are in the residential suburbs of Ashford; the bus station is a four-minute walk from the school. The host provides a bed, breakfast, a packed lunch and dinner. A hot lunch at school is available instead of the packed lunch for an extra charge. Rooms are shared: the operator states that junior students share a room with full board.

Full board. Breakfast and dinner are taken with the host family, who also provide a packed lunch for the school day. Students who prefer a cooked meal at midday can pre-book a hot lunch in the school dining hall, which is charged as an extra. The school has a large dining hall with an established summer school menu.

Afternoons and evenings are organised by the operator: sports on the playing fields and Astro Turf, arts and performance in the large hall, quiz and social evenings, an orientation walk around Ashford at the start of the stay, and a scavenger hunt. Excursions in a standard week are one full day and two half days, with Canterbury and its cathedral among the regular destinations. Horse riding and tennis can be added as paid afternoon options.

Ashford School was founded in 1898 and is one of the United Kingdom’s boarding schools. The summer course uses twenty classrooms, each with a whiteboard, CD and DVD players and a television; a large hall for performances and activities; extensive playing fields and an Astro Turf; tennis courts, a sports hall and an indoor swimming pool; a large dining hall; a computer room with IT facilities; and comfortable common rooms.

Ashford is a historic market town in Kent that dates back to the thirteenth century. The town centre mixes old and new buildings and has the main high street shops and cafes, parks, a bowling alley and the McArthurGlen designer outlet. The town has a fast train to London and easy access to Canterbury. Kent is known as the Garden of England, and Lonely Planet named it a top destination for family holidays.