Brandon Learning Centre: British Education - process, preparation and practicalities

  This year, only one Hong Kong-based boy was chosen to join College, the prestigious scholars’ house at Winches ter College. He is Brandon and DBS student, Zachary. Only one Hong Kong-based boy was awarded an Exhibition, recognising academic excellence. He is a Brandon and GSIS student, Victor. Both boys are part of our selective Elite Scholars programme which trains our students to excel through lessons in critical thinking, writing, English, science, humanities, maths and even Latin. Our results speak for themselves. We have an incredible seven boys joining Winchester College Commoner houses in September and are very proud of all our boys and their teachers.  Congratulations to all our new Wykhamists!

We had some wonderful news today: one of our Brandon boys has won an Eton College King's Scholarship award. This has been a particularly good year for our students who seem to be scooping up scholarships and exhibitions in a multitude of schools. The girls have won scholarships at: CLC, Wycombe and exhibitions at Benenden. The boys have aced: Eton, Radley, and Oundle. Brandon has been preparing students for scholarships for over 13 years now.  If you are considering the scholarship route for your son or daughter, the following will help: 1: Understand your child; are they a natural scholar? Some children thrive in academic competitions, others less so. Be honest! 2: Consider a reading list; most prep schools will have a decent list tucked away or the school library is a good place to start. Incorporate fiction, non-fiction and even (gasp) poetry! 3: Be aware of the requirements; do you need to do languages? Cover science? Humanities? What on earth is a General paper? 4:

Many of our parents will take advantage of the CNY school holidays to visit UK boarding schools. Our schools are strict about children taking taking off but February in Britain can be a bleak time and schools really don’t appeal to children when they are seeing through a veil of rain. Here are a few tips to prepare your children so you avoid the experience of one Brandon parent who told me: “Tim came back from our school visits determined never to go to boarding school!” Preparations: 1: You will need coats. And umbrellas! 2: Wear flat and comfortable shoes. Visiting schools requires a lot of walking: Oundle is a sprawling campus as is Millfield and you don’t want to miss seeing some of the facilities. If you are going to an older school like Winchester College, King’s Canterbury, you will be dealing with cobbles. 3: Talk to your daughter or son about what they will be seeing. Check the forecast together so they are ready for anything that the British weather can throw at them.