For pupils who do not wish to undertake formal English tuition there is still an option to attend the Summer School! Pupils can choose to sail in the mornings and then do adventure in the afternoons, or they can sail all day if they wish. Pupils are placed in morning and afternoon groups with UK pupils, making this a popular and fully immersive programme. There are two sailing courses available. One is a Royal Yachting Association sailing development course or more experienced sailors can enrol onto the race sailing course. Race sailing is run by the school’s Race Sailing coach and teaches specialised race techniques, including maximizing boat speed, handling, starts and race tactics and strategy. Windermere School’s race team members assist on the course for pupils wishing to race against experts! In the afternoons pupils can join the adventure programme which includes rock climbing, caving, canoeing and kayaking, ghyll scrambling, abseiling, and mountain days.

The course is designed to teach programming, in English, so that pupils can design and build websites and create apps. Pupils work through set tasks and create computer programmes for a variety of uses and the level is set at the aptitude of pupils so is available for all pupils, from those just starting out on their programming journey through to others working at more advanced levels.

The course is taught in English and is a fantastic way to help pupils grow their subject specific vocabulary knowledge and as well as conversing casually with friends on the course.

Lessons are taught by professional EFL teachers, some with over 20 years of experience teaching English as a foreign language for Windermere and other local schools. Pupils sit a placement test upon arrival to gauge their English capability. They are then placed in classes with pupils of a similar ability, with a maximum class size of ten.

The classes are designed to improve levels of written, verbal and comprehension skills through a variety of classroom-based lessons and external trips. At the end of the course a report is produced grading pupils’ progress in speaking, listening, pronunciation and intonation, grammar, behaviour, participation, and overall progress. Pupils receive three hours of tuition a day from Monday to Friday. The courses are designed to complement the adventure and sailing programme, where pupils are taught in English alongside UK pupils, so they have the confidence to speak and make new friends easily.

Are you a budding writer who wants the opportunity to use the environment of the Lake District to inspire your own writing? Do you want to better understand the way in which writer’s use literary techniques to make their writing more appealing? Then this might be the course for you! Based on a weekly theme, the creative writing course uses the beautiful area around Windermere School to explore texts and then gives pupils the opportunity and freedom to try their own hand at writing. Previous themes have included investigating the ghost stories of the Lake District, using the local woods as a backdrop for writing a murder mystery, and the ways in which fairy tales can be used to satirise the modern world. The course aims to increase writing fluency and develop confidence, as well as exposing pupils to a broad range of texts, literary devices and writing styles.