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RANKING 2019 .

Veterans race

to the top

Traditional family-owned language schools dominate the rankings in the
market for over 16s, reports Melanie Butler
he traditional British private chain schools charging a substantial The average age of a top performing
language school is a family-owned premium also appear in the bottom 25 per language school for adults is 47 years old and
operation. Typically housed in a large cent based on British Council reports, so it most are still owned by their founders and
TEdwardian building, it has year-round pays to check. their families.
students over 16 and takes younger learners If we strip out the chain schools, a pattern Typically, most of these schools are also
in the summer. of performance emerges: 20 per cent of active in industry bodies, not only in the UK
These schools make up 57 per cent of the independent private language schools score but overseas. The list of schools includes
operations accredited by the British Council significantly below the sector average (1 nine out of the ten members of The English
but one third are now part of a chain. SD), and 20 per cent score significantly Network, four are affiliated to International
The mean average in this sector, 4.5 net higher (1-2 SD). Statistically this sector has House (IH) and thirteen are members of
areas of strength, is a little lower than the ‘fat tails’. IALC, Quality English or both.
industry as a whole, mostly because the most If we look at the top independents, we
common score is just one area of strength, can see one thing they have in common:
compared to the industry most common score they have been around a very long time. Top 20 Independent language schools
of three. The oldest school in the UK, London for adults (showing date of foundation)
In many cases, the lower scoring schools School of English is 106 years old and still
are at the cheap and cheerful end of the featuring in the top ten in this list. Only Rank Name Date
market and still represent good value for one, IH Aberdeen, was established in the Wimbledon School of
money. However, a number of international last twenty years. English* 1964
= 1
ELC Bristol* 1969
LSI Portsmouth 1985
IH London 1953
Bell Cambridge 1955
= 4
English in Chester* 1976

Lake School of English 1978
Cambridge Academy of
8 1975
English
9 London School of English 1912
The English language
Centre Brighton 1962
Churchill House School 1971
of English
=10
IH Newcastle 1978
BEET Language Centre 1979

IH Bristol 1987
London School of
16 1993
English Canterbury*
Torquay International 1972
School
Accent International 1988
=17
Excel English 1989
ZOETNET *date fi rst accredited by British Council 2006
IH Aberdeen

32 January/February 2019