The university fair at CATS Canterbury

It's an exciting time as we prepare for our October university fair at CATS Canterbury next week. Over 70 universities will be here - many chosen to be invited because students were particularly interested in them. In addition there are visits from universities to the college most weeks now. We are shortly hosting Hong Kong, Oxford and Imperial and have just launched our Critical Lawyers Group for our law students backed by the University of Kent - a top UK law university. 

Meanwhile our students are encouraged to participate in over a hundred different activities at the college including over 10

Different leadership awards. Our IB students are going to Bewl Water this weekend for a series of team building and exciting activities.

Having a broad range of interests and activities is valued highly by US and UK universities and every student has a Key Professions and CATs Baccalaureate booklet listing all the options available to them. This information is also readily available on the CATS App as we help students develop into outstanding candidates for university education.

How we teach English as a Second language at CATS Canterbury

Making sure your English is at the right level for university entry in the UK is really important for us at CATS Canterbury. We are a leading centre for international

languages offering over 26 different languages and are award winning experts in our field.

English level for UK university entry

So how does this affect you getting to a top university? 

Well, universities will require you to have met a certain level - often expressed through IELTS. To study subjects like law you may need to have IELTS 7, whereas other subjects may ask for 6.5 or occasionally 6. You need to check your chosen university and subject carefully to see what level they need.

We also offer the Cambridge Academic Englsih course for students who are keen to take this qualification.

Our English courses challenge you to develop your skills ready to use in all your subject areas as well as in your day to day life.

If we recognise a student doesn’t have the level of English they need for university entry by the Spring term, we support them to take a pre-sessional course in English at their chosen university and register them for the appropriate SELT (Secure English Language Test) IELTS (UKVI IELTS) test.

All students spend some time studying Academic Skills, in addition to general language development and exam preparation. Every student has five hours of English a week to support them for their IELTS and university entry. However, for students with lower English skills we offer:

1. Up to three extra English lessons a week to support them as part of their course

2. A Saturday morning English class on top of normal tuition at a very low cost

3. Additional help and support from subject teachers when needed.

For those students with very high English scores we recommend they consider taking critical thinking classes and EPQ - the Extended Project Qualification. The academic focus of this is really popular with top universities and it is excellent preparation for university application. We also get students to take online university courses with world famous universities - which again looks great on your university application.

Our students will be following a mixture of English courses depending on their level of English command at the time they join us.

AEM (Academic English Module)
AEM is for students with weaker English, who will be progressing on to AS or UFP (younger students are placed on GCSE programme with an extra English support). AEM students study English for 25 hours each week. This includes a mix of general English development, with work towards appropriate English exams as well as taking academic content like Maths, Science and Business which helps them with their English vocabulary for academic purposes.

GCSE and Pre-Programme
Students on GCSE and Pre-Programme are usually studying towards IGCSE English as a second language. A small number of the strongest students are studying towards IGCSE English (first language) and may also take IGCSE Literature too. They all have at least five hours of English and some students will have additional English Literature sessions each week. Students taking the full GCSE course follow UK government advice on subjects called the English Baccalaureate and this covers Sciences, Humanities, Maths and English, along with sports, art and performing arts - all great for discussion and English development.

Students studying on the GCSE programme who have the lowest levels of English, are given extra English support. They have English lessons for 12 periods each week. They also take History, Sciences and Maths - all with a focus on improving their English. All our younger students take Art, Sport, Performing Arts and Business/Economics.

Our one year Pre Programme has the widest range of subjects where students study with us for a year and prepare themselves for A level, IB and Foubdarion courses. As part of the Pre Programme there is an option to take iGCSE Maths and English which are the only two specific GCSEs which could be asked for in the future.

Remember we are all here to help and our senior staff give academic counselling to every student to help make sure they are doing what is exactly right for them.