Letter from Somerset

DOMINGO MESEGUER, LETTER FROM SOMERSET 

“Hello pupils at El Limonar! My experience in England is going very well. I am in a school called Chilton Cantelo, in the south-west of England. It is quite a big school (roughly 400 students). The people here are very friendly.

In this school you have the option of boarding, but you can also be a day-pupil. You have a range of languages to choose from, such as Woodwork, Religion and Classical Civilization, and the rest of the lessons are the same as in El Limonar. You can also play rugby and cricket.

The main difference regarding learning is that, unlike in Spain, here they follow the GCSE courses (General Certificate of Secondary Education). They basically work hard and focus on the last two years, which are years 10 and 11 (Secondary 3 and Secondary 4). Then you do your GCSE exams and, according to your results, you may go to a Sixth Form College (like Bachillerato in Spain), where you do A-Levels. Then most people go to University. Most of the students, boarders included, are British, except four boys from Hong Kong and me. The boarders come from many different parts of England. Most of the parents of the boarders work for the British Armed Forces, mainly the Navy.

One of the main differences is that we have three hours of school on Saturdays! For the rest of the weekend, some boarders go home and the rest go on afternoon trips to town or to Tesco, which is like Carrefour in Spain. On Sundays we go to town to watch a film of our choice in the cinema.

The school grounds are surrounded by lots of trees and there is a lot of grass. There is even a river at the back of the school. We also have a small wood. The grounds are divided into different areas: Riverside (the boarding house for boys) and the Main House (a big old mansion where the girls and the younger pupils board and where the dining room is). We also have rugby, football, basketball, cricket and hockey fields.

Finally I would like to say hello to everyone and I hope you have a great term. This is a great experience which I truly recommend.”