People

Having received a new video featuring international boarders talking about their experience of life at Ackworth, a small and nurturing co-educational British boarding school in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside in Northern England, we simply had to share it:

Dear Gina, 

On behalf of our family and our son, we would like to sincerely thank you. Thanks to your support, our son has the opportunity to attend Trent College – an impressive school with a beautiful campus, lots of hockey, and incredibly kind and helpful people we had the pleasure of meeting. Our expectations have been far exceeded! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Yours,

Christina
 

We always love to receive good news from our clients, and this feedback from the proud parent of someone who recently completed his time at a British boarding school we recommended is particularly glowing!

"Thanks to the fabulous Gina Dickinson, almost 4 years ago we discovered Taunton School - it was Covid time and we could not really visit the premises. For us, Taunton School was definitely more than a lucky punch!

I love autumn. Not only for the colours as the trees get ready for their renewal, but also because this is when most of the students we help to choose a British boarding school start in their new setting, and I have the pleasure of hearing how they are getting on.

While they are busy with their studies, and the wealth of activities and opportunities the schools are offering them, their parents’ words offer the best answer to why you should choose a British boarding school. Here are a few examples.

In her 20+ years as an educational consultant, Gina has helped many families choose the right British boarding schools for more than one of their children, both sequentially and, on occasion, concurrently for twins. Should a family stay true to one school or keep an open mind? Here are her thoughts on the subject.

When siblings attend the same boarding school, it can be fun for them to have a shared experience – they can, and no doubt will, sound each other out on the quality of the facilities or the funny ways of certain teachers!

What a year! As we wind down to our seasonal closure, we wanted to reflect on how our British boarding schools have dealt with everything 2020 has thrown at them, and to pay tribute to their staff and students.

The coronavirus pandemic has overshadowed most of this year, at best restricting what we can do and where we can go, at worst closing everything down. Everyone has had to adapt. While we know that people are drawn to British schools’ rich history and tradition, what this year has shown is just how up-to-the-minute they are too.

Our brilliant British boarding schools may be closed to the vast majority of their students but, behind closed doors and/or from the safety of their homes, some of their staff are working hard to help bolster supplies of essential personal protective equipment (PPE) for key workers and to support them in other ways. To name but a few…

We are consistently impressed by the children who have the courage to leave their own country, family, school and friends to attend one of the UK boarding schools we have recommended, and we love to celebrate all their achievements. Finn is perhaps one of our greatest successes; having joined Year 12 at Warminster School in September 2018, he was appointed Head Boy for this academic year.

Dear Gina,

Time flies and we're already more than halfway through term. Charlotte is really happy at Durham, so we wanted to thank you again for your excellent advice.

At every stage of the process we felt the benefit of your individual attention and always had the impression that you really wanted to find the right setting for Charlotte, knowing the schools as you do and getting to know her. That was very reassuring for us, and really important as we negotiated the jungle that is the British school system and all its various opportunities.

At British schools, the Headmaster or Headmistress is not the only head of school. One or more representative from their last year at school is elected or appointed Head Girl and/or Head Boy.