Bit of Britain key to school's philosophy
Charlotte Observer - February 28, 2005
By Freed Kelly
Institution attracts parents with small class sizes, manners lessons
At a school tucked behind a strip mall in Ballantyne, 3-year-olds are studying the same reading and art lessons as their counterparts on the other side of the Atlantic.
Instructors - recruited from Great Britain - teach the metric system, world history and other requirements of the British National Curriculum. Lesson plans include core subjects such as reading and math, but also emphasize world studies and manners. For example, students as young as age 3 study French and foreign cultures. The result: children who are able to read and write before kindergarten and ar prepared to live in a global society, organizers and parents say. The British-American School of Charlotte, opened last fall, is one of five such schools in the United States. Headmaster Allan Strange said the goal is to teach children that "what happens on the other side of the world impacts what happens here." British Schools of America is a chain of for-profit private schools originally designed for British ex-patriates who wanted to continue the British National Curriculum in the United States. But their small class sizes and international flavor have attracted Americans, too.
The Charlotte school has 21 students ages 3 to 9 and all are American except from one from Britain and one Canadian. Organizers want to attract up to 420 students in what would be the equivalent of pre-school through eighth grade. Tuition is $14,000 a year. There are also British Schools of America in Boston, Chicago, Washington and Houston, where enrollment has soared since the first one opened in 1998. In Boston, enrollment has jumped from25 students four years ago to 240, school officials say.
The schools are so desirable to instructors in Britain that when British Schools of America advertised for 22 teaching positions, 1,200 applied. Eventually, organizers say they plan to open British schools in 20 major cities across the United States. Children start school at age 3, using games and singing to learn world studies and reading. They receive certificates for showing polite manners such as holding the door open for someone. The curriculum is structured in three stages rather than grades. As a result students are grouped according to their age. Maria Yon, a professor of education at UNC Charlotte, taught third-grade in suburban London for one year in a teaching exchange program. The British system creates independent learners, she said. When we went to the library to do a book report, I didn't have to tell them what to do," Yon said. "They weren't doing work for grades. They were doing it because they were supposed to. Here, we do a lot of hand holding." But, she said, it is difficult to say which system works better, praising American education for its structure and accessibility. In September, the British American School of Charlotte opened in the former All Saints Elementary School at 7000 Endhaven Lane, behind a row of offices and restaurants near Interstate 485.
Classes are so small, that often an entire classroom can sit around one table. Nationally, British Schools of America dictates that its schools have no more than 20 students in a classroom. The walls are painted bright colors and are covered with famous statements such as "imagination is more important than knowledge" and "reach for the moon and if you miss, at least you will be among the stars." Students enjoy the school so much, parents say they don't want to take their school uniforms off, Strange said. Ed Burnam, enrolled his 3-year-old daughter, Blake, at the school. Blake, an artist who has a master's degree in education, is an American who lived in Great Britain from 1999 to 2001 and came away thinking highly of the school system. He said he was recently impressed when he heard his daughter count to eight in French.
"In America, we have this thing about pushing kids too hard," said Burnam, 45, of Charlotte. "She was bored at her old school."