Review of Rydal Penrhos school

Our daughter Maria, 13 years old, began studying at one of the private schools in Britain, Rydal Penrhos, in September 2014. I accompanied her to school, wanted to see the school itself and help her get settled in the new conditions.

I would like to immediately note the very good attitude of the local residents towards us Russians. Before arriving at school, we stopped for a few days in Chester. As soon as the British found out that we were from Russia, and even from Siberia, they showed unexpected kindness and friendliness and rushed to help us with great pleasure, even providing free wi-fi, which was not included in the cost of hotel services.

When we arrived at the school, we were surrounded by equally friendly staff. We really liked the school grounds, beautiful, well-groomed, with many endless sports fields. The school is not surrounded by a fence, as is common in our country, but the children are supervised. Despite the fact that this is a closed private school, there is no feeling that you are in isolation, the students are given enough freedom, it is just very well directed.

There is a large selection of all kinds of sections and clubs, and in the evenings the girls have the opportunity to cook something to their taste, in my opinion, this brings them together very much and leaves them feeling at home and coziness. Masha tells us a lot and enthusiastically about her everyday life at school, and I understand that she lives there a fuller, more eventful and simply interesting life compared to what the concept of “school life” includes in Russia.

I would like to add a few words about the living conditions in the school residence. Here they are quite simple, unpretentious and even ascetic, but for the daughter over time this turned out to be absolutely unimportant, because she has everything she needs and even more; what is more important is how easily and immediately Masha developed friendly and very warm relationships with the neighboring girls. Even before arriving at school, our daughter was assigned to a four-bed room with two British girls and an Italian girl. Having found out this upon arrival, we began to ask to move her to a two- or at least three-bed room. She had no idea how she could constantly share her space with so many people, and neither did I. We were convinced to try it for a week, and now Masha has completely settled in and feels very comfortable.

If we talk about how the learning process is organized, then we must completely abstract from our school system. There is no cramming and endless homework (there is the usual). Accordingly, from the very beginning it seemed to Masha that it was very easy to study here. There is a lot of communication in the lesson, topics are discussed rather than outlined, physics and mathematics, in addition to formulas and problems, are given in a practical, applied manner. Education here is like learning, discovering new things and the attitude towards all children, without exception, is very good. I see and hear that my child is happy, cheerful and constantly on the rise. We are very happy for her and for ourselves.