What is the Best English Language School in the UK?

The Best English Language Schools in England

There are a huge number of English Language schools and centres in the UK. Most websites will tell you there are over 400 schools! However, which one is the best? Moreover, how do you know? To find out, we are going to look at the top-ranked schools according to the EL Gazette Centres of Excellence 2021-2022.

LSI/IH Portsmouth

LSI/IH Portsmouth is a friendly, large, year-round English Language School specialising in language courses for adults aged 18+. It has 55 classrooms over eight floors, and offers a huge variety of different courses such as: 

• Full-time General English
• 30+
• IELTS Preparation
• Cambridge Exam Preparation
• OET Preparation
• Executive and Business English
• Specialist English
• University Preparation

LSI/IH Portsmouth offers a wide range of courses to suit many abilities, needs and ambitions. As a result, Every year, hundreds of students from all around the world come to LSI/IH Portsmouth to study English. Some come for just a couple of weeks, some stay for months. They all have one thing in common: they want to improve their English at a school where they feel comfortable and supported, something that LSI/IH Portsmouth can guarantee.

Wimbledon School of English

Wimbledon School of English opened its doors in 1964. The school has 21 classrooms over three floors and offers a wide variety of different courses for juniors and adults from General English to Exam Preparation to Medical English Courses. If you time it right, you could combine your studies with a trip to the famous AELTC tennis championships!

Summer Boarding Courses, Shipley

SBC is a residential summer school, which takes students between the ages of 8 and 17 years old. SBC was first established in the summer of 2008, and students who enrol can currently take courses at Eton College, Headington Oxford, Oxford, Oxford College, and Canford.

ELC Brighton

ELC Brighton was founded in 1962, has 32 classrooms and takes students from 16 years of age all year round. In addition, during the summer, they offer closed group courses for students aged 13+.

ELC Bristol

ELC Bristol is located in the South West of England, with 18 classrooms between two buildings. It takes students from the age of 16 and offers General English, Exam Preparation, and even English plus Drama and English for the musical theatre!

London School of English

London School of English is over 100 years old, offering a range of courses including English for lawyers from their beautiful building in West London situated right near the beautiful Holland Park. 

With perfect scores, these top 6 schools are all ranked joint no.1, according to EL Gazette.

 

How Do You Decide Which English Language School Is the Best?

The EL Gazette is a good place to start! The EL Gazette is one of the most respected magazines in the world for English language teaching professionals. It is available in 160 countries, prints 1500 copies a month, as well as being available in digital format. According to their website, their digital edition had a whopping readership of 50,000 in 2018!

Every year they publish a fair and impartial list of the best schools in the UK based on the summary statements from British Council inspection reports as part of the Accreditation UK scheme. These statements are publicly available and can be accessed here.

What is Accreditation UK?

Accreditation UK is a quality assurance scheme for English language course providers. The scheme is run by the British Council together with English UK and it aims to give assurance of quality to international students who are studying or plan to study English in the UK.

In order to be accredited by the scheme, language centres must undergo a rigorous inspection process, widely regarded as the toughest in the industry. The inspection includes an assessment of five areas which are broken down into 14 different criteria:

1. Teaching
2. Course Design
3. Care of Students
4. Accommodation
5. Premises and Facilities
6. Leisure Opportunities
7. Staff Management
8. Student Administration
9. Strategic and Quality Management
10. Publicity
11. Learning Resources
12. Academic Staff Profile
13. Academic Management
14. Learner Management

Schools which accept juniors are also inspected on a 15th criterion: care of under 18s. For each criterion, the inspectors give one of three judgements: met, not met or strength. If a centre has two or more criteria which are “not met” within an area, they will normally be judged as needing improvement in that area.

How Does the EL Gazette Rank Schools?

The EL Gazette uses this information to calculate each school’s score by subtracting the number of areas which need improvement from the total number of strengths. 

So, for example, if a school had six areas of strength and one area which needed improvement, their final score would be five. The average score for schools in the scheme is four out of 15. The top schools in the country all scored a perfect 14 out of 14 or 15 out of 15. To make it fair, this score is then converted into a percentage.

 

How Did LSI/IH Portsmouth Get a Perfect Score?

Let’s go through the 14 criteria and look at why LSI/IH Portsmouth got a perfect score for each one.

1. Teaching

LSI/IH Portsmouth had good results in this category because our lessons were found to be engaging, well-planned and well-managed. Teachers provided good explanations and examples to students, and used a variety of teaching techniques in order to meet students’ needs. During focus group meetings, our students all said how much they appreciated our great teachers. Check out our Full-time General English, 30+, IELTS Preparation, Cambridge Exam Preparation, OET Preparation, Executive and Business English, Specialist English, and University Preparation.

2. Course Design

Our courses were found to be clearly-structured and well-suited to our students’ needs and interests. The inspectors also noted that we try hard to make sure our students also develop independent study strategies to make sure that they can continue to learn and improve even after they leave us! They also commented on the range of learning opportunities that we provide for students outside of the classroom including accompanied lunch for our Executive and Business and 30+ students, structured class visits to local places of interest, and our conversation club and job club.

3. Care of Students

The inspectors found that LSI/IH Portsmouth looked after our students’ safety and security well, with “an admirable level of care and concern for students”. We have an excellent student welfare team who are here to listen to any student problems and help with any student issues. There is always someone available to deal with any student concern, no matter how big or small!

4. Accommodation

LSI/IH Portsmouth was found to have excellent accommodation facilities with high levels of student satisfaction in this area. It was noted that we inspect all our accommodation to make sure it meets high standards, we are good at identifying any problems and resolving them and our providers are given written information and advice which is comprehensive and helpful. Check out our accommodation options!

5. Premises and Facilities

During our inspection, LSI/IH Portsmouth was noted to have well-maintained, clean and comfortable premises with professional and pleasant classrooms, attractive and well-furnished common areas including an “extremely attractive” student lounge where students can grab a coffee or socialise and play pool, and a range of affordable nearby eating options.

6. Leisure Opportunities

The inspectors appreciated the range of leisure activities we provide for our students – from telling them about interesting activities happening in the local area, to helping them with independent travel to our “very full” social programme which includes activities almost every day and an excursion at the weekend. Check out our full social programme!

7. Staff Management

LSI/IH Portsmouth was judged to have many areas of strength here. This is because all of our staff have clear responsibilities, are recruited with care, are guided by excellent human resources policies, are given regular and thorough appraisals and are engaged in a strong tradition of continuous professional development.

8. Student Administration

The inspectors found “a high level of student satisfaction with the professional and flexible attitude of staff in terms of customer service in all areas”. They appreciated the fact that we liaise with students both before and after their courses to make sure their needs are met and that we strive to offer a personal and individual service to our students. Furthermore, inspectors could see that “students’ satisfaction with the school is viewed as important”.

9. Strategic and Quality Management

LSI/IH Portsmouth has a clear and meaningful mission statement which is “to be the best English language school we can be and to give our students the best experience they can have in every aspect of their stay while they are at LSI/IH Portsmouth. We strive to be the best in all we do”. The inspectors found that all LSI/IH Portsmouth staff were committed to this and it was evident in every aspect of the school.

In addition, LSI/IH Portsmouth was found to be well-staffed and well-organised with good channels of communication all of which ensures that everything runs smoothly for our students at all times of the year.

10. Publicity

The inspection found that all of our publicity materials are accurate, informative and ensure that we give prospective students a clear idea of what our school is really like. This means you can trust that you’ll have a great learning experience at LSI/IH Portsmouth that’s as inspiring as it is insightful! 

11. Learning Resources

Our learning resources were judged to be excellent with points of strength awarded in every category. This is because teachers have access to a huge variety of high-quality up-to-date materials, we have well-equipped classrooms (many of which have interactive whiteboards), and we have well-organised fully-staffed study centres for students to use after school to continue their learning if they want to.

12. Academic Staff Profile

LSI/IH Portsmouth performed well in this category because we have a great team of well-qualified teachers, with almost half holding the highest English language teaching qualification possible. The inspectors found our teaching team to have a “very good range of teaching expertise and experience which is relevant to the range of courses and levels taught” and noted that we offer thorough training and preparation to all of our teachers to make sure they are equipped to teach effectively on all of our courses.

They also recognised that our academic managers are all highly-experienced and highly-qualified.

13. Academic Management

The inspectors found LSI/IH Portsmouth to have effective management systems whereby our four Directors of Studies offered teachers excellent support and training including regular lesson observations, helping teachers to develop and improve and assuring quality and great performance for students.

14. Learner Management

LSI/IH Portsmouth performed extremely well in this category because it was clear that we strive to really understand our students’ needs and we take care to place our students correctly. We also make sure we monitor our students’ progress closely and we provide additional support when necessary.

Want To Learn More About Us?

To find out more about who we are, check out our YouTube Channel, Twitter feed, Blog, Instagram and Facebook page. If you have any questions, get in touch with us! We’d love to talk to you and tell you more about why LSI/IH Portsmouth is such a lovely school! Contact: admissions@lsi-portsmouth.co.uk.

So if you’re looking for the best English language school in the UK – we would strongly suggest you consider Portsmouth.