Harrogate Tutorial College

HARROGATE TUTORIAL COLLEGE Introduction: We are a small college specialising in high class education. The friendly atmosphere, small classes and high quality teaching create the ideal preparation for success. Academic students are given detailed help with their University applications and over 90% achieve places. The college is well equipped with A/V equipment, computer suite, library, science laboratories and common room. All computers have free Internet access. Location: Harrogate is an elegant, safe, spa town within 20 miles of the cities of Leeds, Bradford and York. It is a major conference town with a cosmopolitan atmosphere and excellent sporting, cultural and shopping facilities. The North of England is well known for its hospitality and students enjoy a warm welcome. International students: They enjoy the college environment and small classes, average four students. They are given support English and Study Skills tuition which also prepare students for the IELTS examination. If their level of English is too low, they take our Intensive English course first. . Courses: The college offers Two Year, Eighteen Month, One Year Intensive and Retake courses in over 30 subjects at GCSE and A Level from: Arts, Business, Humanities, Languages, Mathematics and Science, supported by Study Skills. Two year A level course students take 3 AS subjects in the first year and 3 A2 subjects in the second year. Link courses for overseas students combine either GCSE or A Level subjects with English and Study Skills for university entrance or Access/Foundation courses for direct entry. English is taught all year, both as a main and support subject for the Cambridge examinations including IELTS. Summer courses combine English with sports, activities, excursions, videos, discos and barbecues. These include riding and tennis with professional coaching. We offer Academic, Business, Examination and General English courses. Ages: All Year: 15+years. Summer: Juniors 12-16 years, Adults 17+years. Levels: All Accommodation: Students stay with carefully selected host families or residence near the college. The Student Welfare Officer selects the host families and is always available for help. Staff: Our tutors are experienced and highly qualified, many are examiners.

Harrogate is a safe, elegant and cosmopolitan spa town and a major tourist and conference centre. It is close to three National Parks and has good transport links to major cities. The nearest airport is Leeds-Bradford, 10 miles, with flights via London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin and Paris. The town has excellent cultural, sporting and shopping facilities and the North of England is well known for its hospitality. The college is located in parkland 10 minutes walk from the town centre.

We have a ‘core’ of 5 very experienced teachers and we take on new staff for the summer school. All the teachers are fully qualified and have at least a certificate in TESOL/TEFL, recognised by the British Council. Each class has one teacher, though we rotate teachers so that students get a better range of accents and techniques. During the summer we can have up to 9 or 10 levels depending on student numbers. Students are placed into classes according to level and age. We use communicative teaching techniques using modern coursebooks, and teachers have access to audio, visual and IT equipment. All four language skills are developed and an appropriate coursebook forms the basis of the syllabus, thus ensuring a good balance. Nevertheless teachers are flexible and we ‘negotiate’ aspects of the course content with students through discussions and weekly feedback on Fridays. Coursebooks most often used include the … New Headway series (beginner to advanced) Matters (intermediate to advanced) Compact (elementary to upper-intermediate) and OK (elementary to upper-intermediate) Teachers have access to many other coursebooks and materials and also prepare their own documents for class use. In a typical class during summer school, about 50% of the time is devoted to communicative activities (such as simulations and role plays, information transfer exercises, discussions, and social English activities). The remaining 50% is divided into reading, writing, listening, pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary development. Teachers are regularly monitored by the Director of Studies and continue their professional training through peer observation and regular INSET sessions.

Host families (homestay) and the residence are of a very high standard and are regularly inspected. They are close to the college and provide half board weekdays and full board weekdays. Students have a single room unless otherwise requested and are treated as an adult member of the family.

All activities are carefully supervised by members of the college staff. Staff: student ratio Juniors, 12 - 16 years only in Summer, 1:10. Adults 16+ years, All year 1:12