International Summer School at Windermere School, Lake District

Two tracks run side by side on the same campus. The English Learning Programme is taught by the school's own EAL specialists: three hours of tuition each weekday, which the school counts as fifteen lessons a week, and as many of them as the weather allows are held outdoors in the Lake District rather than in a classroom. Every pupil leaves with a written progress report and a certificate. The Outdoor Activity Programme carries no language tuition at all — instead there are two instructor-led outdoor sessions every weekday, which the school counts as seven hours of adventure a day, together with sailing and creative writing. The courses suit both native English speakers and pupils learning English as a foreign language; the adventure track asks for an adequate level of English, since it is run in English throughout.

The fee covers tuition or activity sessions, accommodation in the school's boarding houses, all meals, the evening social programme and a full-day excursion each weekend. An escorted bus to and from the airport runs on the designated travel days at the start and end of every course. Laundry is part of the boarding service. A concierge service is offered as a separate extra rather than as part of the course. Courses are sold in two-week blocks, and pupils may book two blocks in a row.

Pupils live on the school's own campus in single-sex boarding houses, with boys and girls in separate houses. Younger pupils share rooms of four to six beds, older pupils rooms of two to four, and there are some single rooms. Rooms are deliberately mixed by nationality. Each house has a common room with games, television and books, a small kitchen for drinks and snacks, a laundry service and WiFi, and windows on this side of the campus look out over Lake Windermere. Phones and tablets are handed in from half an hour before bedtime.

All meals are provided and served on campus, with hot and cold options at every meal and a salad bar. Fruit, snacks and drinks are available in the boarding houses between meals, and packed lunches are made up for days spent off site. The kitchen caters for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and other dietary needs, and the school operates a strict no-nuts policy.

Adventure runs from the school's own grounds and the fells and water around them: sailing and canoeing on Lake Windermere, rock climbing, caving, ghyll scrambling, mountain walking, archery, horse riding and go-karting. Art, drama and sport are part of the programme as well, and evening social activities run from early evening until bedtime. Every weekend brings a full-day excursion. The outdoor programme is run under the school's AALA licence.

The programme uses the school's term-time campus in the Lake District: classrooms, boarding houses with common rooms and small kitchens, sports facilities and the school's own waterfront on Lake Windermere, where the sailing is taught. Manchester Airport is about ninety minutes away by road, and London is under three hours away by high-speed train.

A fortnight lived in an English boarding school rather than visited: pupils sleep in the school's houses, eat in its dining hall, learn with its teachers and spend their afternoons on the lake and in the fells. Classes and houses are mixed by nationality, so English is the working language of the day whichever track a pupil takes, and those on the English course finish with a progress report and a certificate.