A guide to studying at Earlscliffe

Boarding School

Earlscliffe is an independent sixth form college during the academic year and offers an intimate, highly-personalised environment. It was built in 1870 and recently underwent complete renovation and refurbishment. As well as its traditional subjects throughout the year Earlscliffe offers university preparation courses during the summer, supporting international students aiming to enroll at competitive universities.

Earlscliffe’s academic reputation is frequently higher than most schools with Earlscliffe sixth form achieving outstanding A-level results, which regularly places them in the top echelon of co-educational boarding schools in the south-east of England.

Earlscliffe is proud to be a UNESCO school and is a leading contributor to European collaborative projects with an enriching international environment.

Earlscliffe is part of the Dukes Education Group, who are a family of schools and education organisations based in the UK, assisting greatly in students’ academic potential.

Location

Earlscliffe is based in the resurgent seaside town of Folkestone in the county of Kent, and is located in the desirable West End of the town. Earlscliffe is within easy walking distance of the elegant Leas promenade and the beach, the town centre’s shops and the high-speed train link to central London.

Folkestone

Folkestone has a population of about 45,000 and is connected to the capital by a regular, high-speed (54 minutes direct) train service. The town is situated at the foot of the North Downs, with views of the surrounding countryside and the coast of France, 24 miles (39 km) away.

The Leas

Earlscliffe is within a few minutes’ walk of the elegant Leas Promenade, which is still virtually no different today from Victorian times. The Leas is Folkestone’s unique clifftop promenade. Designed in the mid 1800′s by Decimus Burton, who also worked on buildings and gardens at London Zoo and Kew Gardens, it includes magnificent buildings, squares and gardens.

Creative Quarter

For our more inquisitive and curious students, Folkestone’s ‘Creative Quarter’ offers a variety of galleries, cafés, restaurants and antique sellers. Folkestone’s ‘Triennial’ has put the town firmly on the international art and sculpture calendar. In the quaint regenerated streets of Folkestone, you’ll discover cutting-edge art in its unique Creative Quarter, which houses over 100 artistic enterprises within its cobbled centre and pastel-painted studio-galleries and shops.

Folkestone Town Centre Shopping

Folkestone’s town centre offers all the usual high street shops and eateries popular with teenagers, from Primark, TK Maxx and JD Sports right through to coffee shops such as Starbucks and Costa.

Earlscliffe campus

The Earlscliffe campus is formed of eight Victorian and Edwardian buildings, all recently renovated to provide high-quality teaching and residential facilities. Earlscliffe is an ‘in-town’ campus of buildings meaning that students can easily walk between classes, meals, accommodation and activities.

The facilities

Earlscliffe does not use host families. All students live in the school’s own, supervised residences which are located within a few minutes’ walk of both the main building and the school house classrooms. All of the school’s buildings were originally built between 1870 and 1910, with four being late Victorian in style and the other four Edwardian.

The rooms

Girls and boys live in separate, supervised accommodation. Most rooms are spacious twin or triple rooms and all have en-suite WC and shower. A very small number of single rooms are available. All rooms have Wi-Fi. The accommodation is attractive: modern, light rooms within historic façades.

The Food

Meals taken in the college dining room are varied and often international, such as Chinese, Mexican or Indian, but of course not forgetting the occasional British fish and chips! Formal dinners every two weeks give our students a chance to dress up and enjoy a three course meal by candlelight. Any special dietary needs can be catered for, i.e. vegetarian, non-dairy etc. Students are given packed meals on day trips.