English Tuition (English as an additional language)

The EAL Department is the most important department in the school for international students. The boarding community has included students from Hong Kong and mainland China, Thailand, Taiwan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Germany, Austria, Spain, France and Slovakia. The department focuses on their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills developing their vocabulary and grammar to ensure that their level of English improves significantly each year they are at Battle Abbey School.

International pupils applying to Battle Abbey School take an on-line placement test to assess their level of English and their speaking level is checked in a Skype video call. We accept overseas students whose English is at a level which allows them to follow their full curriculum subjects. Pupils enter the school in years 7 and 8 with elementary level English and Year 9 at low-intermediate. For Year 10 their English should be upper-intermediate and for Year 12 upper-intermediate to advanced depending on their subject choices. Applications from students whose English is not at this standard are considered if their subject choices are appropriate. Pupils receive EAL lessons (please refer to Fees page of the website) subject to language requirements for their year group and subjects.

International pupils at Battle Abbey School follow Cambridge ESOL examination courses (English for Speakers of Other Languages) KET and PET (Key/Preliminary English Tests) FCE and CAE (First Certificate English and Certificate in Advanced English) and in the Sixth Form IELTS, the International English Language Testing System, a requirement for university applications.

The EAL Department is supported by native speaker Russian, Cantonese and Mandarin teachers who, as well as EAL, teach GCSE and A Level courses in each of these languages.

Regular INSET sessions are held by the EAL Department to ensure that subject teachers are aware of proven methods to make their lessons ‘EAL-friendly’ and how to work with the EAL Department to provide cross-curricular help.

EAL students completing Year 13 at Battle Abbey School have gone on to study a wide range of subjects including Art at St Martins, Computer Science with Business Management, Electrical and Electronic Engineering with Mathematics, Fashion, Marketing and Management, Business Management, Business with Finance, and Accounting, Finance and Management.