Helping families choose best UK schools for their children

hen she founded the Academic Families 11 years ago, Lorna Clayton had its purpose defined.
Academic Families was founded in response to requests from families looking for the best British education for their children, but they did not know how to go about it.

Since she had been living in Kenya, she understood the market well and was raring to go to run this programme, which also has presence in Uganda and Rwanda.

Today, the organisation assists hundreds of families from all over the world, but with their sweet spot is East Africa and particularly in Kenya, because they have better knowledge of the country.

“We had a lot of requests from parents not just from Kenya, asking us how to access the best international education for their children, but also, we had schools saying…’we know Kenya and want to know how to get Kenyan learners to come to our institutions’,” she says, during a recent visit to Kenya, where they also held Overseas Boarding Schools Expo.

In their guardianship programme, she says they have 400 children from different parts of the world and about 28 from Kenya, but they seek to expand the programme since many people still do not know about it.

Clayton says they support families from their initial interest all the way through to leaving for the UK. Primarily we help them find the best schools, we understand the child and the parents’ aspirations, their strengths and weaknesses and then find the best schools to match them.

We recommend the families to visit the school and the child and see what field is right for them and support them with the applications.

But why Kenya? Clayton says Kenyans are very international and highly regarded around the world, they are hard workers, can interact with everyone and also have good education.

“It may be challenging, but it is good for your children. The world is a small place and they all need exposure. Kenyans are great and also in great demand,” she says.
Clayton says that they help families choose once they get the offers from various learning institutions.

Different cultures

There are about 450 good quality boarding schools in the United Kingdom and around 30 in Canada, which offer all sorts of fields and it is important for parents to understand the different cultures and aspirations, academics, drama or whatever a child needs to find the right school that can suit them and can fit in.

One of the major challenges in this programme, she says, is that people will always worry about sending their children far away but they provide guardianship and though the children are full time borders, they are supported on weekends and holidays.

“Think of us like a big sister, we do everything to support your child, but also tell you what needs to be done as well. In issuing visas, the UK Government is very strict and the school has to commit to safeguard the student, have a good guardian and we provide that support so we work in partnership,” she explains.

At the moment, she says the programme mainly focuses on high school students, especially from around 11 years to about 18.

To be part of the programme, she says parents should have an international outlook and have to be prepared to send their child, miss them and know they are doing the best for their children however hard it may be, which ultimately, is for their benefit.

Support network

Similarly, affordability is key since it costs about GBP£35,000 (Sh6.3 million) annually and still have to get other things, such as uniform and personal effects.

“We help them find the best schools because, how would you know a good school? Kenyans still do not know about the programme, we have come across many people who are in the wrong schools,” she says.
Claytons adds that international schooling is good for everyone because it gives an opportunity to interact with different cultures and systems.

“An international education gives a global prospectus to learning. It prepares students for the working world. International schooling provides the support network for a student before they progress to the independent life of a university student,” she explains.

Though the number of students in the guardianship programme is still not as high, she says African parents recognise the benefit of a global education.

“Some already send their child to board in Kenya and so it is a natural progression to move to the UK. They want their children to have a broader spectrum of choices and opportunities, to try new things and have exposure to more competition than is currently available in Kenya. They want them to understand other cultures first hand – not only British culture but also the other international cultures that are in UK boarding schools,” she explains.