<p>Most of the boarding schools are single-sex, like my friend's school, and the math level moves much slower (my friend had to move down a class when she came back). The environment is not nurturing at all, according to my friend, since most people in England go to boarding school, so the teachers are not very enthusiastic. Many kids in England are away from their parents for five years or more at boarding school, so it's not just a four-year span.</p>
<p>my mom grew up in calcutta with uk style schools, and she said that most uk based schools are quite strict, like u have to line up every morning for inspection, they send kids away very early, and uniforms are extremely strict. and theyre quite religious too- my mom mentioned how she had to sit through reeally long catholic masses and stuff.</p>
<p>Jonathan, the English schools are from an entirely different world. Olivia, I think that the mathematics level is specific to your friend's school, because in general, English schools are much faster in everything. Their whole system is different; they start at four, not five, for example, and they divide children up into different groups that we do (i.e. they do not do elementry, middle, and high). English schools do tend to be stricter, and they used to have a reputation for very severe corporal punishment in boys' schools (though now, unlike in the United States, corporal punishment in schools is illegal in England). Many of the state (that's like public for us) schools are Christian, because England does have a state religion (Anglican). I won't go on, because I could talk about English schools for days, but if anyone wants to know something about English schools, you can PM. All right, I'm obsessed with English history. Sue me. It's incredible.</p>
<p>lol well for me i just love the accent. ;) man im sucha big orlando bloom fan...</p>
<p>There are three English boys at my school (two are brothers), and two of them have Newcastle accents, and one has a Cambridge accent. Before the younger of the Newcastle boys came, people kept asking the elder one and the Cambridge one if they were brothers, which I thought was hilarious, because they look quite different, but more importantly, their accents are completely different!</p>
<p>For anyone really interested in English boarding schools, you may contact me privately, or on this board, if you wish. My daughter actually attended a girls' school in England for a year a couple of years ago, and we, as a family extensively researched many, many of those schools - AND used an English educational consultant both before and during my daughter's time there, in order to educate ourselves about the best schools, etc.....</p>
<p>Some of the information posted in this board is accurate, but much of it is not actually. My d LOVED her time at her English school and has mostly only wonderful things to say about it. Contrary to other statements made here, the environment at many of these schools is incredibly nurturing...dare I say, even gentle.....perhaps much more so than American schools (although the one she's at now in the U.S. is wonderful as well).</p>
<p>Anyway, I too could go on and on about the English schools...but if anyone's really interested, contact me.</p>
<p>have u heard of fettes college or millfield school? ^_^ i really wanted to go there but my parents were hesitant. have u noticed that their prospectuses are sometimes a bit vague about admission procedures? imean usually they just say, turn in this registration form, come to our campus for testing, and we'll tell you. they dont say very much about international students i guess?</p>
<p>I have heard of these schools, and they probably are very good, but they are not at the top of the English independent schools "league tables," as their ranking system is called. The English school system does give parents somewhat more objective info based on test scores (for those who care about such things) at two levels: the GCSE and A-levels. There's always a big "to do" when the league tables come out every year and sometimes a bit of controversy, too. </p>
<p>The U.S. schools, of course, have no such ranking system.</p>
<p>I received a prospectus from Harrow a few years ago. It seemed amazing, but I don't want to go to an all-boys school and I think I rather stay in North America for now.</p>
<p>God, Harrow is amazing. If I were a boy, I would do absolutely anything in the world to go there. It's a huge feeder for Oxbridge, too.</p>