Agents’ Inform­a­tion

At Friends’ School, you will find a strong sense of community that unites all members of the school, a community that celeb­rates the diversity of culture and language brought by students from across the world and achieves excel­lent academic results. For the bene­fit of all students, the school has a policy of main­tain­ing a good balance of Brit­ish and inter­na­tional students in classes and board­ing houses. Friends’ School is not a language school although we accept over­seas students whose English is suffi­ciently advanced for then to learn along­side other students, whilst they improve their English.

Inter­na­tional students at Friends’ School are well motiv­ated and keen to learn. They come from profes­sional famil­ies and go on to study at top univer­sit­ies in the UK and abroad after obtain­ing excel­lent GCSE and A level results at Friends’ School.

Friends’ School, Saffron Walden is in the east of England, 20 minutes from London-Stansted airport, 1½ hours from London Heath­row Airport, approx­im­ately 2 hrs from London Gatwick and 50 minutes from Luton Airport.

Trans­port can be arranged to and from inter­na­tional airports using a reput­able taxi firm well known to the school.

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London is less than 1 hour by rail and Cambridge just 20 minutes away by car.

Saffron Walden is a small, safe market town, 5 minutes walk from school.

There are 380 pupils from 3 to 18, approx­im­ately 60 of whom are boarders aged between 11 and 18.

Students achieve excel­lent exam­in­a­tion results.

Students go on to top univer­sit­ies includ­ing Durham and York.

A full range of academic subjects is taught up to GCSE and 25 A/AS level courses are offered to the sixth form of currently 50 students.

Small class sizes: with approx­im­ate 15 in GCSE classes and up to about 8 in A level.

Creat­ive excel­lence is encour­aged through Art, Drama and Music.

Inter­na­tional students are fully integ­rated in lessons and board­ing houses with access to compre­hens­ive week­day and week­end activ­it­ies
Outstand­ing English for Speak­ers of other languages (ESOL) centre – Students achieve excel­lence in IELTS and Cambridge Exam­in­a­tions syndic­ate qualifications.

As part of the cultural programme resid­en­tial trips, outings and events are arranged by the ESOL department.

The school has a 30 acre site with sports hall, indoor swim­ming pool and multi purpose play surfaces.

There are over 30 clubs and extra curricular activities.

A Cafet­eria style dining room caters for a vari­ety of tastes.

Excel­lent study facil­it­ies includ­ing library, sixth form centre, computer rooms with inter­net access.

Well equipped medical centre with fully qual­i­fied registered nurses.

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Entry Require­ments

Applic­ants whose native language is not English should be reas­on­ably fluent in writ­ten and spoken English and will need to provide evid­ence of their abil­ity. Candid­ates will be required to sit entrance tests in English and Math­em­at­ics. The approx­im­ate English stand­ards for entry are:

  • Year 7 -9: Students should be work­ing at the level of, or have passed, the Cambridge Prelim­in­ary English Test (PET).
  • Years 10 – 11: Work­ing at the level of or have passed, the Cambridge First Certificate.
  • 6th Form: Ideally to have passed the Cambridge First Certi­fic­ate. 6th Form candid­ates will need a good stand­ard of English to enable them to cope with the demands of the AS/A level course.

Applic­a­tions

Applic­a­tions may be made at any time of the year although to avoid disap­point­ment, early applic­a­tion is recommended.

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  • Agents are asked to send brief details and a recent school report on the students they wish to be considered for Friends’ School.
  • If we consider the student to be suit­able we will recom­mend that an applic­a­tion is made.
  • Regis­tra­tion Form is completed and sent to the Admis­sions Secret­ary with the regis­tra­tion fee.
  • Entrance exams are sent out to the agent for invi­gil­a­tion. The agent will be asked to sign a declar­a­tion that the exams have been completed under exam­in­a­tion condi­tions. The Agent may also be asked to inter­view the student on the school’s behalf.
  • The completed exams are returned to the Admis­sions Secret­ary for mark­ing and a decision is made.
  • If the student is accep­ted a formal offer will be made.
  • The accept­ance form is returned to the Admis­sions Secret­ary with a deposit.
  • Join­ing instruc­tions are then sent to the agent and parents.
  • Agents fees are payable based on 10% of the fees for three terms.

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