Immerse yourself in a world of new discoveries with Buckswood Overseas Summer School (BOSS) - a hidden gem in the realm of international education. A unique program that goes beyond traditional summer schools, BOSS offers students worldwide an unparalleled blend of learning, culture, and adventure. But what makes BOSS truly stand out? Why should we be on your radar?
In this blog post, we will dive into the lesser-known facts about BOSS, unravelling its distinctiveness and why we’re a top choice for students across the globe. Get ready to explore the lesser-known things that make BOSS more than just a summer school. Prepare to be intrigued, enlightened, and inspired as we embark on this journey together. This is your exclusive sneak peek into the world of Buckswood Overseas Summer School - a school where dreams take flight, horizons expand, and students transform into global citizens.
1. One school, one family - more than just a summer school
This piece of information may be obvious to some but we still talk to people on a daily basis who are completely unaware that BOSS is part of Buckswood School, a school for both local and international students that was founded in 1933. We currently have 450 students “preparing for life” (the school’s motto) at school, 50% of who are from the local area while the other 50% hail from over 40 different countries which means that our campus really is a global village. Our year-round students live and study at Buckswood from September to June and it is during their Easter and summer holidays that BOSS takes over the campus to run our courses.
BOSS not only offers an excellent opportunity to our students in terms of their “BOSS experience” but also to experience life away from home and life at Buckswood School. It is true that we have had many students over the years who have come to BOSS for a couple of weeks and left Buckswood over three years later ready for university!
For more information about Buckswood School, please visit www.buckswood.co.uk.
2. We completely own the Buckswood campus
Unlike the majority of summer schools in the UK who have to rent a university campus or another school’s campus, we completely own our own campus, and what a campus it is. Spread over 43 acres and a history dating back to 1450, it really is the perfect place to live, to learn, to explore, to make friends and to have fun.
Our specific location is in the picturesque village of Guestling, East Sussex and our nearest town is the world-famous Hastings which is just 15 minutes away. We are very lucky to be in the middle of the stunning East Sussex countryside and yet 15 minutes away from the hustle and bustle of Hastings and a couple of hours from London. Being in such a peaceful location means that our students are safe and focussed as we do not have the distraction of city life to contend with. We do of course take our students offsite 4 days per week as part of our excursion programme.
3. We are powered by renewable energy
If you take a walk around our beautiful campus, you will see that a lot of our buildings are topped by solar panels. That’s where we get our electricity from. In addition to the many solar panels, we also have biomass boilers which provide us with heating and hot water and finally, we have a waste water treatment plant which processes the schools organic waste before returning it cleanly to the earth.
The renewable energy that we produce at Buckswood is vitally important as it offers an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat the global threat of climate change.
4. Different year, same students
One of the things that we really pride ourselves on at BOSS is our student retention rate. From day one of BOSS back in 2011, we wanted to offer our students such an amazing experience that they come back year after year. And it has worked. Over the course of a typical year, almost half of our students have been to BOSS before and the rest are often friends or family members of those who have been to BOSS before. Word of mouth is our greatest asset when it comes to spreading the BOSS word and we are very grateful to those of you who trust in us each year and to those of you who continue to spread the good word BOSS!
There are a couple of stats that we are very proud of at BOSS which are:
The record for the most summers in a row is 7. A record that was only brought to an end by the pandemic and the student turning 18.
Several of our students have gone on to become members of our team. Who better to look after our students than those who were once students themselves? And this has been proven time and time again and we are really proud of those who were once students who have gone on to surpass all expectations as members of staff.
5. Different year, same staff
What else makes BOSS so special? Our staff retention. We are constantly on the lookout for the best people in this game. A lot of time is spent finding these people, interviewing them and choosing those who we believe will form part of our dream team and take the best care of our students while ensuring that they have the best time possible. We then offer our team training, support, coaching and opportunities for progression which is why we see staff members returning year after year. This too combines nicely with our returning students who together with our returning staff really give our courses a genuine home-from-home feel. That sense of familiarity and that sense of belonging.
Apart from the BOSS core team of Neil (Director) and Sue (Registrar and Finance Officer) who have both been at BOSS since the beginning in 2011, we are very lucky to have the Buckswood School maintenance team, chefs, housekeeping staff, drivers and more working with us and allowing us to stay on top of things quickly and resolve any issues that might arise as quickly as possible. These people are more members of the Buckswood Family and are another reason why owning our own school is such an advantage as we don’t need to rely on agency staff. The rest of our team are made up of people who come in when we are running our courses however thanks to the high return rate of our team, they are all just as committed to the cause as we are. Some of our staff members have been coming back every year for 10 years with many promotions along the way!
We hope that in reading this blog, you have learnt something new about Buckswood Overseas Summer School (BOSS). If you have, please let us know. Please also let us know if you have any questions or would like to receive more information about BOSS.
Buckswood Overseas Summer School (BOSS) is a British Council accredited young learner language school for international students aged 8 to 17. To find out more, please visit www.buckswoodsummerschool.com or contact us here.
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