Overseas boarding students
For over fifty years we have welcomed visiting Waldorf students from abroad for a term or more at Elmfield. Traditionally, overseas students join our school from Class 9 upwards (our Upper School), although occasionally we do have younger students.
We do not normally accept overseas students into the summer term of class 11 as our home students sit public examinations and the timetable can be considerably interrupted.
Overseas students board with families selected by the school; the latter are either teachers or parents of the school. The welfare of all visiting students is regularly reviewed and the boarding families inspected by our own Boarding Committee and this is part of the OfSTED inspection regime. Click here to read our latest OfSTED report, which was an integrated inspection covering both the school and the social care (boarding) provision.
Our visiting students join their English peers in most of their curriculum encompassing main lessons, languages, mathematics, science, music, choir, arts, crafts, sports, drama lessons, etc. All foreign students are offered lessons in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and have a weekly tutorial with a staff member where any questions and difficulties at school or at the boarding family may be discussed. Individual instrumental lessons are available for a range of musical instruments.
Admission
On receiving a letter from the parents of the student we send an application form and ask for this to be returned together with a copy of the latest school report and a character reference / letter of support for the stay by the student’s class guardian. On the basis of these documents and possible further telephone conversations we will decide on offering the student a place. We shall later choose and notify the student and parents of a suitable host family and send an account for tuition and boarding fees.
For all boarding enquiries, please contact lisa.pugh@elmfield.com
Please click HERE to pay the registration fee - we are unable to proceed with your application until this is received by us.
The latest Boarding Policy can be accessed via our Policies and Procedures page.
Exchanges
Students from Class 8 and Class 9 are warmly encouraged to take part in exchanges from our sister schools in Germany and Spain. Students from these schools need to complete and return an Exchange Students Application Form 2023-24 at least one term-time month in advance.
Every Day is an Open Day at Elmfield
“Hello everyone! I thank you all for the super time that I spent at Elmfield School. I can recommend it to everyone!”
“I had a really good time at Elmfield. I appreciated the extra English lessons for the boarding students and the good spirit at the school. It’s a great school not just to learn the language but also to be around great people who make you want to stay longer.”