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IB School Selection Report August 2020 This is your EIB consulting report. We’ve drawn this report together in response to your request for information about IB School Selection. Below you will find the agreed brief, a summary of the report, a list of EIB’s recommendations in response to the brief, and an appendix with some additional information.

We recommend you read this report in its entirety, so that the following consultation can be utilised as best possible to answer additional questions you may have.

Consulting brief: redacted is currently outside of the UK, and about to undertake the fourth year of the Middle Years Programme (MYP) (September 2020). In September 2021, he will start the final year of the Middle Years Programme - MYP5. At this time, the family is looking to relocate him to the United Kingdom. In discussion with EIB, they've decided the best option is to transition redacted into an IBO school which offers the MYP, so that he doesn't have to join the final year of I/GCSE preparation and sit the final examinations before transitioning to the IBDP.

• As such, the family have requested a Consulting package (£300) to have EIB draw together suitable profiles of IB schools to offer this pathway to redacted. EIB will conduct and draw together this research into a report for the family, with a particular focus on: • Schools of good reputation, with a good track record for high student achievement and university entry (to be supplemented by EIB

tuition and support, both as a tutoring agency and as a registered UCAS Centre) • Schools with boarding options (although the family are open to non-boarding schools, in which case they'd look to make arrangements

for a hosting family etc.) • A preference for London, where the student's mother lives, so they connect more easily when his mother is at home there • Clear pricing so the family can consider options

Outcomes of the report Summary: EIB has made two recommendations of schools which best balance the criteria of the brief, alongside a short list of schools which meet some of the criteria of the brief that we recommend the family also consider. The report has privileged boarding schools over provision of the Middle Years Programme (MYP), where those schools demonstrate experience with, and measures to support, students joining at the age of 15-16. In doing so, these schools mitigate against the difficulty joining what is, typically, either a five-year (MYP) or two-year (I/GCSE) programme in the final year. Where schools do not demonstrate this, the report privileges proximity to London and provision of the Middle Years Programme above other criteria of the brief. The report also includes some information regarding host families (as well as formal accreditation and costs), Tier 4 Education Visas, and university admissions support, in line with parts of the brief.

Recommendations Summary: There are only two boarding schools in the UK which offer the Middle Years Programmes to IB students: Marymount International School London and St Leonards. The former only supports young women and the latter only offers the MYP to grade until grade 9 (MYP3) before students transition to IGCSEs. However, St Leonards provisions for students who join for only a single year before the Diploma (IBDP/DP) to study a condensed programme of IGCSEs in a single year is the reason why it is one of EIB’s recommendations to the student. Another boarding school, very close to London – Worth School – also is recommended by EIB as being one of the schools which best balance the consulting brief and which similarly offer this condensed IGCSE programme to students. While the family have expressed concern at the student joining I/GCSE programmes in their final year, both EIBs recommendations do not ask joining students to integrate into the final year of the two-year I/GCSE programmes, but offer bespoke solutions for students. This offers a number of benefits:

• It allows the family to consider boarding schools, which overwhelmingly do not offer the MYP in the UK. • It lessens the quantity of material the student must cover by asking students to only focus on around 5 IGCSEs (rather than the typical 10 or

so), which makes the programme of study eminently manageable in a single year. • It also provides the student with the typical suit of qualifications (five IGCSEs, including English and Maths, grades 6/7-9) which schools

typically expect students to have in order to join upper schools (16-18) in the UK, making it easier to move between schools should the student or family decide to move before the IBDP.

EIB has spoken extensively with both school recommendations below and have been impressed by their provisions of these one-year programmes for students. On balance with their other qualities, it’s for this reason they form the core of our recommendations to the family. In addition, we have also provided a short-list of other schools the family may wish to consider, which balance and meet the brief criteria to a lesser extent.

EIB’s Recommendations: In line with the agreed brief, EIB recommends two schools for consideration which best balance the needs of the student. Both recommendations for schools involve the student transitioning to IGCSEs, but both recommendations make ample allowance for students transitioning into their school cohort in the final year before the IBDP in ways which mitigate against the vast majority of issues which a student transitioning into the second year of I/GCSEs would face. Both are boarding schools, in excellent standing. One school - Worth – is located not far from central London which allows the student to travel to visit family in London with ease.

N.B to fees: For each recommendation below, EIB has cited the school’s fees for either the academic year (p/a) or per term/semester (p/t) alongside the number of terms. Most schools have not yet clarified their 2021/22 fees, and so these fees are for 20/21 entry, and as such fees may change for the academic year the student wishes to join. In addition, many schools have additional costs beyond academic fees, including place reservation deposits, insurances payments, and application fees which should be taken into consideration. We’ve provided a link to the full fees for each school next to the academic fees below.

Recommendation #1

Worth School Website | Crawley, outside London | 34 miles from London

Brief criteria met by this school: ☒ Offers the Middle Years Programme ☑ Offers one-year IGCSE Programme ☑ Outstanding Reputation

☑ Good university prospects ☑ Boarding

☑ Close to London ☑ Value for money for fees

Located outside London, Worth School is well-suited to the family’s brief on account of its particular support for 15+ students moving between schools for the final year of what would be either MYP or IB. While the school does not offer the MYP for 15-16 y/o students, it’s one-year, core IGCSE programme is well-suited to prepare students for the Diploma. The school is close to central London so the student may visit their family and is boarding. The school is widely regarded as outstanding, especially among IB schools in the UK. While its fees are high, it’s exceptional reputation, boarding facilities, proximity to London, and one-year IGCSE course is why we judge it “value for money”. 2021/22 Arrangements This school does not offer the Middle Years Programme but does offer a 15-16 y/o ‘One Year Fast Track IGCSE” programme for students to study several core IGCSEs, so that they meet the minimum academic requirements to progress into the Diploma Programme. While the family are eager to keep the student in the MYP, much of this justifiable reasoning is on account of the difficulty of introducing the student into the I/GCSE programme between the first and second year. Worth’s programme removes much of this difficulty, as students are only expected to take 5-6 IGCSEs (smaller than the usual 10 or so), in one year. Students are not mixed with two-year GCSE students academically at Worth but are part of the wider extra-curricular and pastoral environment of the school to ensure they’re part of the broader school community when they commence the Diploma – an approach EIB finds to be very commendable and well considered. Worth typically takes around 18 students p/a for this 1-year programme. Students must take English and a Science as part of the IGCSE programme. More information can be found here.

continued Fees Senior School Day (IGCSE) £ 15,474 p/a £ 5,158 p/t Senior School Boarding (IGCSE) £ 37,452 p/a £ 12,484 p/t Sixth Form Day (IBDP) £ 15,474 p/a £ 5,158 p/t Sixth Form Boarding (IBDP) £ 37,452 p/a £ 12,484 p/t More information can be found here (fees may change for the 2021/22 Academic Year). Next Steps Open days, taster days, meetings with members are available, including Skype interviews w/ the headmaster.

Other Recommended Schools

Transitioning between Middle Year Programmes: Many of the schools on the shortlist of MYP providers have extensive experience of students joining part way through various IB programmes. The MYP is standardised and while schools may teach at slightly different rates or progress through the syllabus in a different order, students should expect little disruption to their studies when moving from one IB school to another. Amongst the primary considerations the student should consider is his Personal Project, which is typically written in the final year of the IB, and which he way want to ensure any MYP school is able to support him with. All EIB’s following recommendations privilege the MYP and proximity to London.