Europa School, Culham, experiences

[KellyABC]

We're applying for Europa entry reception 2023. Just wondered if anyone had any experiences of the primary school that they are happy to share? So hard to get a reall feeling for a school with one visit. Thanks in advance!

I have a DC at Europa who started in Reception and is now in Secondary, and another DC who has graduated from 6th form. The Primary school is bilingual - children are taught in 2 languages. There have been one or two new pupils in my DC’s class each year. Veryfondoftea is right that this is a big commitment, but not impossible.

Those that succeed are often from bilingual families (not necessarily in the language they are learning at school, but it helps if the child is used to operating in two languages). It also helps if the child has an aptitude for language and enjoys learning, and if the parents are actively supporting (e.g. by learning the language alongside their DC or arranging extra tuition).

@Cass505 The school has a waiting list for every year group except year 11 and 6th form. In primary the waiting lists are large as the school is oversubscribed. Which sadly means some children do spend years on the waiting list. No one is denied entry if they not speak the languages.

A few notes about the IB at Europa in response to your assertions.

Europa does not have 90 students per year group in 6th form, the school is growing and only lower years have a 3 form intake. Year 9 onwards there are 60 pupils per year and for 6th form it is even smaller, some students leave and elect to do A levels and others join.

Europa does not insist on bilingualism at 6th form either but new students do need a good language GCSE or a home language as studying a foreign language is compulsory for the IB and Europa does not currently offer an ab initio (beginner) language.

In 2022, 100% of the student in upper 6th passed their IB diploma, with approximately half electing to do it bilingually. This is entirely their choice.

In 2023, all bar one passed initially, happily that has just risen to 100%. Again the students get to choose their courses and all study languages but do not have to do a bilingual diploma, but the numbers doing so are far higher than the UK average.

The results are excellent. Easily comparable with fee paying schools.

Finally, the language level of students at Europa is very high, significantly better than most secondary schools and all(?) primary schools in the area. My children are testament to that.

Please contact the school if you would like to visit to find out more accurate information about Europa, I am sure they would be very happy to welcome you.

Thank you for your offer but since I am very familiar with the school and myself work as a translator, I have studied the benefits and results very closely: the results are very mediocre given Europa’s privileged intake (no disadvantaged pupils for example) and the amount of teaching parents are doing. I remain surprised at your knowledge of 2023 results as I have been unable to locate them on Europa’s website. Please post us a link. I’d be interested in knowing how many have sat the bilingual diploma - the only raison d’être of this school after all. The long waiting lists remain very odd nevertheless. As I mentioned above I’d consider this B+ school (according to government data) only if I lived within walking distance from it, which is not the case. Note most state schools have B- A-level results but they tend to have 25-30% of disadvantaged students, which Europa does not.

I am not sure these impressions are accurate or helpful. The primary offers language immersion so 2 and a half days in each language. Language tutoring occurs but is not that common. It is true that there are lots of native speakers, which makes it tricky for some of the others. Students aren’t ‘managed out’ but the curriculum is very challenging. The MYP and IB are very rigorous and parents need to do their research before pursuing the dream of having a bilingual child. I have children who have done/ are doing the IB and it is tough- 6 subjects + loads of other commitments. We are talking 50-60hour weeks

I have considered this school as we are a multilingual family. In the end our decision hinged on ethos: this school was created for children of EU bureaucrats, not for children of leading European thinkers. That perspective helped us to clarify and inform our choices, today in 2024. I think if you consider this angle, it will explain many of the contradictions in admissions, results, ultimately life outcomes if you have contacts with those who graduated long time ago.

As I started this thread I think it's worth updating. A year later our child is in reception at this school and absolutely loves it (as do we). Worth noting that we are not a bilingual family and many of the others in the class don't speak the stream language either. There are children from different backgrounds, not at all the children of EU bureaucrats (as suggested above). Was a pity to see how negative some of the comments above are, given that this primary school and its staff are really lovely. As for the secondary school, our child may or may not attend it - so not worried about that at this point.