What We Do

Etherton Education is an international summer school provider running academic summer courses as pre-sessional introductory courses for students going on to study at a British boarding school. The courses are also suitable for students who just want an experience at an English summer school.

Our primary focus is English for Education, teaching students the English required to study a variety of subjects in English. We also work on spoken English and the confidence a student needs in this area. We introduce students to boarding school life and our timetables are academically structured and reflect real life at a school in the UK.

Alongside the academic studies, we introduce the extra-curricular aspects of life at a British boarding school. All of our courses feature introductions to British sports and extra-curricular activities such as trips, Social Activities and Sunday Clubs. These activities give students a chance to relax, and spend time with new friends and our Student Hosts.

Our Aims

1. To help students prepare in every way for their future education at a British Boarding School.
2. To improve students’ ability to study and learn in the medium of English language.
3. To boost students’ knowledge of studying their main academic subjects, focusing on technical language and British study skills.
4. To give students an immersion experience by surrounding them with British Student Hosts for 50 hours a week, allowing them to practise social English with friendly native speakers.
5. To give students the experience of living in a boarding school and experiencing the routines, discipline and opportunities of living with other students.
6. To explain to students how to be happy and successful at their future schools.

Our History

Etherton Education has run academic summer courses in British boarding schools since 2002. The Directors are Peter and Anne Etherton. Both have been involved in teaching English to international students for over 40 years. They have strong links with Hong Kong and China and both taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Peter is the author of over 100 textbooks, including Oxford English. He is a former British Council ELT Specialist and IELTS Examiner. Anne has wide teaching and administration experience, and is a former Principal of an International Study Centre.

Etherton Education was founded in 2002 because the Directors know how difficult it is for international students when they first come to Britain. They wanted to design academic summer courses in an international summer school environment which would really look after students well and provide a bridge to their future education.

Continuous Improvement

We now deliver our academic summer courses with staff who bring great breadth of experience and ideas to the courses. Our student to staff ratio is around 3:1 overall, i.e., three students to each staff member. This ensures we can provide support and supervision to our international students.

Our Teachers are all subject specialists who have experience working with international students. We also employ excellent young British students each summer, who work closely as Student Hosts to our international students. They help them to feel at home and integrate confidently into the summer school academic programs, both academically and socially.

We conduct continuous assessment of the value of each part of our courses and seek feedback from staff and students to make sure we are delivering the best courses possible.

Working with British Boarding Schools

We have partnership agreements with around 150 British boarding schools. The partnerships help students who need a Child Student Route Visa (formerly Tier 4). Students can apply for one visa to include both the summer English course and their next school, without having to return home. We work closely with our partner schools and the list is continually growing. Please click HERE to see more about our school partnerships.