Global Academy at TASIS England

Each student takes one main course and one elective course. The main course is the focus of the summer and fills three teaching blocks of the day; the elective takes one. Fifteen main courses are available: Architecture & 3D Design, Artificial Intelligence, Business Management, Chef’s Table, Concept Art and Digital Design, Engineering and Product Design, Entrepreneur Inc., Fashion and Textile Design, IELTS, International Relations & Law, Intro to Psychology, Photography in London, Public Speaking and Debate, Sports Medicine and Studio Art. Seven electives are available: Creative Art, Digital Journalism, Graphic Design, Music, Performing Arts, Robotics and Video Production. Teaching is in English. Several courses end in a presented piece of work — a character concept, three photographic portfolios, a garment or pattern, a short documentary, or selected work prepared for an end-of-course exhibition.

The programme fee covers tuition, accommodation on the campus, all meals, the sports and activities programme, excursions and airport transfers. Transfers are included for students who arrive at or depart from London Heathrow or London Gatwick between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and whose flight details are sent to the school in advance; travel from any other airport or railway station is arranged by the school at an additional cost payable by parents. Two sessions run one after the other, and a student may book either one of them or both back to back; the combined booking is priced as its own option.

Students board on the School campus in separate boys’ and girls’ accommodation, and are placed by age group. Rooms hold between one and three students, and the large majority are double rooms shared by two. Room allocation is decided by the School to keep the boarding environment safe and inclusive; friends and siblings are not placed together, so that every student meets new people. Accommodation is not available before the opening day of a session or after five in the afternoon on the published closing day.

Meals are served by the School dining service and are part of the programme. The menu changes through the week and always includes vegetarian dishes and a salad bar; dishes containing meat, wheat and lactose are labelled. The campus is nut free. Allergies, intolerances and special diets are listed by the family on the medical form before arrival, and the School then advises on the arrangements it can make.

Outside their courses students take part in sports and activities on the campus, led by TASIS England coaches. The published list is arts and crafts, basketball, the fitness centre, food and nutrition, horse riding, soccer, tennis, volleyball and yoga; horse riding is charged separately from the programme fee. The list shifts with student interest and availability. Evenings and weekends belong to the wider programme: London landmarks and West End theatre, Chelsea Football Club, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, and day trips to destinations including Oxford and Brighton.

The programme uses the School’s 46-acre campus in Thorpe, Surrey, west of London. It holds classrooms, boarding houses, a dining hall, outdoor playing fields, a fitness centre and the rest of the sports provision the summer programme draws on. The on-campus Health and Well-being Center has nursing staff on duty around the clock, and a hospital is nearby.

The academy is built for a mixed international group: students arrive from many countries, rooms are allocated so that friends and siblings are placed apart, and the day moves from course work through sport to an evening activity. Alongside the courses students get the wider TASIS summer — new friendships, social events, and weekends spent seeing England rather than staying on campus.