Page 28 - StudyTravel Magazine November 2018 Issue
P. 28

secondary Focus                  studytravel magaZIne november 2018





                                                                     Secondary Focus:
                         A helping hand






              Secondary schools worldwide are increasingly looking at ways to
        slowly introduce their international students to the rigours of the mainstream
            curriculum. BETHAN NORRIS talks to a selection of schools about their practices.







         For many secondary schools actively recruiting    transition to the college before they had to face the
         international students, preparation or orientation   elevated demands of serious academic study”. She
         courses are a crucial part of ensuring an optimal   adds, “We found that those students who do not
         transition into school life. Louise Lewis at canterbury   study hSp with us, or study the course elsewhere, do
         college www.canterbury.qld.edu.au in Waterford,   not settle into school life very quickly.”
         QLD, Australia says that they have offered a high    In the uk, tessa howard-Vyse from Bishopstrow
         school preparation course for international students   college www.bishopstrow.com says that the college
         for four years. She adds that they introduced it,   focuses entirely on the high school preparation
         “because it offered students a healthy and helpful   market after the former headmistress of Godstowe
                                                           School spotted a gap in the market and set up the
                                                           college in 2006. “Fran henson felt that students
          % of international secondary students
                                                           needed preparing prior to accessing the British
          studying on academic preparation courses at
                                                           curriculum – through language, academic gaps,
          a secondary school by country
                                                           boarding preparation and basically to be able to
                                                           compete academically at all levels, as well as outside
                                                           the classroom in sport, activities etc,” says tessa.
                                                           “Students can either come to us for fi ve weeks on
                                                           our Academic Summer programme prior to going
                                                           on to their destination school, or they can come to
                                                           us for one term up to four or fi ve terms so we can
                                                           prepare them for a mainstream secondary school,
                                                           academically, socially, culturally as well as interview
                10%    3%      4%      12%     1%          and entrance exam technique.”
                                                              the length and remit of any preparation or
                                                           orientation programme for international students
                Australia  UK  USA     NZ      Canada      varies widely depending on the school. In Australia,

                                                           michael Bartlett from All Saints Anglican School
                               Source: St Secondary school surveys 2017  www.asas.qld.edu.au in merrimac, QLD, says


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