Please visit EF Australia website to see relevant programs, offers and pricing information.

Academics

Boarding Life

Language And Culture

Parents

Alumni

Student Stories

School News

Language Learning

New York

Pasadena

Oxford

Stories from our international boarding schools

Chris Nicholls ‹ EF Academy Blog - 2

We learned more new things when we went to this zoo. After collecting our tickets, the first thing we saw were Penguins and we enjoyed the show of feeding them. First of all, I learned that there are different types of penguins such as African Penguins and Macaroni Penguins. The first type of these kind of animals live in crowded noisy neighborhoods while the other type of penguin spends most of their time out at sea.
After a long show of Penguins, we went on to discover another type of bird which are called sandpipers. We saw this morning that some sandpipers stood on just one leg! And they like to live in the water as well. Then we were ready to enjoy another animal which were the otters. They are good but I don’t like them too much. Otters usually live in freshwater, however, some of the threats to otters can be either pollution or hunting.
The next show that we saw were the seals. There are many kinds of Seals, for example, Eared Seals that are also known as Fur Seals. This is because of their outside ear flap and they have a thick waterproof fur coat. The final thing that we saw was the aquarium which contained different types of fish. Some of these I saw for the first time. At one point I thought that some kind of fish could be dead due to the flash of the camera because it was written everywhere, “Do not use your camera flash.”
It was an awesome morning at the amazing Zoo because we discovered so many new things. We enjoyed every single show of the animals that we saw.

EF Academy Torbay offers summer courses for students at the high school level and excursions are a part of this, here they went to the Living Coast zoo.

Living Coasts summer IAP trip - EF Academy Blog

Living Coasts summer IAP trip ‹ EF Academy Blog

Living Coasts summer IAP trip

Living coast summer iap trip

The Maths faculty have entered teams into the UK Maths challenge for many years now and we have always done very well. This year we really excelled coming third out of 26 schools some of which are the most respected in the southwest region. What is amazing about this achievement is that the students who took part needed consoling because they had not won. This shows the confidence and determination that our students have. Its only a matter of time before we are first with that attitude.
To celebrate we all had homemade brownies in the Maths faculty and the students will receive  their certificates in our end of year assembly.
Angelina, one of the students who took part, tells us all about the experience of taking part in this amazing event.
Speaking of math, the first impression people have is that its hard and sophisticated with questions which will take hours or years to solve. However, when you fight with it side by side and treat it like a friend you will soon found out that Math is just a little cute kitten who pretends to be horrible.
That’s why I decided to participate in the UKMT Group Challenge. This is also how I view Math. In this article, I just want to briefly share some of my thoughts after taking part in this competition.
UKMT, one of the most popular mathematical challenge in the UK having thousands of teenagers taking part in the competition. The group challenge is different from the individual one. Apart from bringing more fun into the game while you are sharing ideas and solving problems together,  it amazes you how a group of 4 people who are from different regions of the world can work together and solve hard math problems.
It was a fine morning, we signed up at the hall and waited at a square shaped table. 25 schools’ elite from Devon were sitting around us, each looks particularly proud. However, in some way, I have a feeling that we will be better than them. Our team was too good to admit that we are going to lose the first ten places.
Group Round, Crossnumber, Shuttle, Relay, we finished them as soon as possible to earn extra marks. The overall feeling was not bad with some pity emotion as a few small mistakes can be avoided and the team can work a bit more effectively. While approaching towards the end, I found out our last round was not good enough to get us the first and a tense depressed atmosphere spread across the room very quickly.
Third place in Devon would not be a bad result at all. Nevertheless, being ambitious means going to London as the best of Devon is the final goal. On the other hand, enjoying the journey and having fun was the most important part, isn’t it? If I have another chance, I would more than happy to do this again and got our school in the final challenge in London.

The Maths faculty have entered teams into the UK Maths challenge for many years now and we have always done very well.

Torbay 3rd in the UK Maths Challenge South West Final - EF Academy Blog

Torbay 3rd in the UK Maths Challenge South West Final ‹ EF Academy Blog

Torbay 3rd in the UK Maths Challenge South West Final

Torbay 3rd uk maths challenge southwest final

4 Staff and 14 students headed into the woods on Saturday evening to take part in the latest leg of the Wild Night Run Series at Stover Country Park.
Night runs are the new fad to hit the cross country world. They take place in fabulous country side locations on often very difficult tracks. The races are open to all ages with different categories and levels of difficulty.  These races are a real challenge but offer a unique experience because of the added difficulty of running at night.
When we entered our team of students we hoped that they would at least be able to complete the race. We knew we had some great runners but we were well aware of just what a challenge this could be especially as the temperature was hitting 0 degrees.
We were amazed at how well some of the students did with many of them coming in the top ten for their age and gender and this was despite the fact that some of them faced difficulties including falling down and some minor collisions.
The 5km route took in sections of woodland, canal path and the Templar Way. (Some of the student had earlier hiked the upper sections of this stone tramway at Haytor as part of their DofE training) Our students and staff did an excellent job of Globalising this local event, and were sterling ambassadors of the School and their nations.
They all put in superb efforts and enjoyed the challenge of off road running at night with only a head torch to guide you through the terrain.
They all received a bespoke wooden medal, and the top performers were podium finishers receiving special medals and sponsor prizes.  The Podium finishers were Ida, Alexia, and  Marcela, along with Jacobo.
Cross country is something we have always done in this school and it is something that is really taking of with our students many of whom have never taken part in anything like this before.
Each year we enter students into the regional finals which are coming up but with the kind of performances we had on the night run and the enthusiastic participation we have in our weekly cross country club which goes out no matter what the English weather throws at them makes us really excited about our chances of getting lots of students through to the national final.

4 Staff and 14 students headed into the woods on Saturday evening to take part in the latest leg of the Wild Night Run Series at Stover Country Park.

The Wild Night Run - EF Academy Blog

The Wild Night Run ‹ EF Academy Blog

The Wild Night Run

Wild night run

Before we get started thinking about the vast benefits of getting involved with community service it’s first of all worth defining exactly what we mean by community service. In an international school such as ours, we have to ask whose community are we talking about? One thing we have always been proud of in our school is the way in which we respond to natural disasters when they happen around the world something that becomes all the more poignant when it’s in countries where we have students from.
This has been the case, sadly, on a number of occasions over the last several years including Earthquakes in both Mexico and Nepal, the Hurricanes that struck much of the Caribbean and the US, and the wildfires across the globe. This is responding to a need in communities thousands of miles away from the school, but not thousands of miles away from our student’s hearts.
<h3>On being globally mindful</h3>
While the above may seem like a technical issue, it is an important one for an international school which places an emphasis on the importance of being globally mindful because for us every community is our community so whether it’s collecting food for a local charity or raising funds for an international one, it all falls under the same banner.
This is why <a href="https://www.efacademy.com/torbay/">in Torbay</a> we’ve created a very important committee within the school student leadership team, The Charity Committee, which is overseen by Ian Mills who works as part of the CAS team. In its origin, it was also headed up by Ziling Yang from China, during her first year as an IB student. Here she describes how doing this type of service has bonded the group together.
<blockquote>“Leading the charity committee was one of the most amazing things I’ve done in my life. Apart from the satisfaction of organizing different events, it is almost indescribably proud for me to see how small drops of water can converge into a rolling ocean. I always believe the key to doing charity work is to bring everyone together and that’s how we can build success.” – Ziling Yang</blockquote>
<h3>How can it matter?</h3>
So, now to the reasons why it’s important for young people to engage in service and fundraising. Well, there are a number of ways of looking at this and one is that young people should want to because of the personal and moral rewards that it brings.
I recall a time when we ran a coffee morning to raise money for the cancer charity Macmillan. I showed the students that helped organize the day what the money would be spent on by showing them the experience of one person who had been helped by the charity so that they could see just how life-changing their contribution could be.
The effect was dramatic and gave them an incredible motivation to raise as much as they possibly could. More importantly, they were now doing it, not because we as a school had asked them to but because they wanted to. We had given them what some had called an education of the heart and soul. Service can and does change lives.
Another example of this was when we collected food and clothes for a local homeless charity called Anode. The students from the IB CAS program collected a huge amount of food and clothing before the Christmas break but thought nothing of it until they got back and were shown a video clip from one of those who had benefited saying how grateful he was. Again the students realized that their efforts had made a real difference.
This is why it’s not enough to give students the opportunities in the hope that they will see the value in what they have done it’s our job as teachers and school leaders to give students the emotional intelligence to want to engage morally with the world this is something that we do very well in Torbay through our award programs like IB CAS and the Duke of Edinburgh.
<h3>The lasting rewards</h3>
The rewards for students from this kind of education for the heart are plentiful giving students a greater awareness of who they are and how they see themselves and those around them. This can have an immediate effect on student’s wellbeing and happiness for a number of reasons least of all the joy they are bringing others.
The rewards don’t stop there because service, particularly locally based community service, engages young people with those in need in their immediate community creating often strong bonds with those they work with and help. This has certainly been the case with the many students we have had working with our two main local charities, a homeless charity that seeks provide temporary housing and <a href="https://www.purpleangel-global.com/">Purple Angel</a> charity that raises awareness and to support those with dementia.
The homeless shelter helped a huge number of homeless people in Torbay get into temporary and permanent housing and has helped them with essential supplies like food and clothing which we have been regular helpers with. Many of our students have also helped to paint newly acquired housing and in some cases have provided emotional support. Our bonds with Purple Angel are deeper still and we now have a total of thirty students who regularly visit dementia patients to spend time with and to help the charity with promotional material.
This is worth thinking about for a moment because our students come from every corner of the world and they are visiting and spending time to talk to dementia sufferers, many of whom are very old. For those they are helping, this is an amazing chance to share their experiences with young people from around the world.
One student, in particular, has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of these people. EF Academy alum Eugene Tan from Malaysia formed a very close link with Purple Angel and continued to do all he could to help, including helping with many of our student visits, and all of this well into his final days on campus. In his own words Eugene explains what he has gained from this incredible experience:
<blockquote>“I started the EF Purple Angels because of CAS. However, over the months that I’ve been going, I’ve learned more about positive outcomes of volunteering and how goodness in action spreads like wildfire.” – Eugene Tan</blockquote>
 
<hr>
 
Students at EF Academy thrive in new environments and use their surroundings to develop personally and academically.
<div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"></div>

Before we get started thinking about the vast benefit of getting involved with community service it’s first of all worth defining what is community service.

Community service – education for the heart - EF Academy Blog

Community service – education for the heart ‹ EF Academy Blog

Community service – education for the heart

Community service education heart

EF Academy Torbay held its annual McMillan coffee morning and we surpassed ourselves in terms of how much we raised and how much cake we ate!!
There are now 2.5 million people in the UK living with cancer. By 2030, it will be 4 million people, and Mcmillan want to be there for them all.
One in three of us will get cancer, and it will be one of the toughest things we’ll ever have to face. McMillan’s goal is to make sure no one faces cancer alone. They provide medical, emotional, practical and financial support, as well as campaigning for better cancer care. And because cancer affects more than just those facing it, they are there for friends and family too.
Many of the teachers and staff in school have been touched by cancer either themselves or having known someone who has had it and because of that reason its something that we care deeply about which is why we really go for it on coffee morning day.
Initially organized by our A Level and IB CAS students who planned the promotion, planning and preparation for the day which included asking host families and teachers to bake cakes for the day and they didn’t disappoint. We had fairy cakes made by students, banana cake made by the CAS Coordinator, cookies made by the cooking club students and white chocolate cakes made by host families.
Students set up stalls with posters and banners and they set up cake stalls and coffee stalls at first break and at lunch. The café and canteen was packed with teachers, staff, students and host families all tucking into cakes and sweets with a nice cup of tea to wash it all down. This is truly a British way to raise money.
It was clear by the end of first break that we had raised a lot of money because we had hardly any cakes left and by the end of lunch time it was even clearer how well we had done when we had to turn people away. But of course they paid anyway!!!
The end result was that we raised an amazing 350 pound and we still have money coming in! This is a credit to the students, the school, host families and the local community and big well done is well deserved and that’s exactly what happened when we received an email sent to the schools Enrichment Coordinator, Chris Nicholls. Have a look below!
Dear Chris,
I wanted to say a huge thank you for holding a Coffee Morning this year. I really hope you enjoyed lots of scrummy treats with your friends and colleagues. And don’t worry if you haven’t had chance yet, there’s still plenty of time to hold your Coffee Morning.
You might not have known but this year was our 25th anniversary – which is a lot of coffee and cake! I wanted to say a special thank you for helping us get to 25 years and for helping us to reach even more people affected by cancer. With your support we can ensure that no one has to face cancer alone.
If you’re yet to pay in your coffee money, you can do so here or visit our paying in page for other ways to pay in.
Thanks for getting together over cake- because let’s face it; cake really does taste better together!
Best Wishes,
Kath Blaize-Smith
Head Coffee Lady

EF Academy Torbay held its annual McMillan coffee morning a charity organization in the UK.

EF Academy Torbay MacMillan Coffee Morning for cancer - EF Academy Blog

EF Academy Torbay MacMillan Coffee Morning for cancer ‹ EF Academy Blog

EF Academy Torbay MacMillan Coffee Morning for cancer

Ef academy torbay mcmillan coffee morning cancer

The Duke of Edinburgh is all about personal growth and development and nowhere is this more apparent than in the expedition. While the award is about lots more than a three-day hike through the countryside the expedition is like a small mirror of the wider award. In this article I will explain how the award sends students on a journey, metaphorically when it comes to the wider twelve-month award and in a very real sense during the expedition.
Success in the expedition involves a number important qualities and can be a real test of a young persons’ desire to be the best they can be in a difficult situation. Get it right and it will be the best three days of your life. Get it wrong and it can be a painful and emotionally draining experience.
Expeditions are ultimately about team work. Students have to be in teams of four and every stage of the expedition from the planning before they have even left to unpacking the wet smelly kit is down to them working as a group. Problems will present themselves at every stage and it is only by working together that students will be successful.
This sounds simple enough but working well in a team takes a lot of inner strength and students will have to think very carefully about the way that they act in every situation. Do they get stressed when things go wrong or do they stay calm and work through problems? Do they respect the wishes of others or only consider their own feelings and ideas? Do they accept that problems are better shared or insist that they know best?
These are all things that students will potentially face during an expedition and for many they may be questions that they have never had to think about before but one thing is for sure. They are questions they will almost certainly face again in school, university, their careers and their personal lives. This is why the expedition is so important and why students always tell me years later whenever they come back to visit, as they often do, that the things they learnt during that relatively short period of time have helped prepare them for the many challenges they have faced since leaving school.
It’s clear from the above that the expedition can see students change in a very short period of time because it essentially forces them to think about the kind of person they are. This also happens in the award as a whole through the different sections that students have to complete. It asks questions about the things they care about and what they can do to help. In the skill sections it challenges them not to give up learning to play the guitar or whatever it is they have set themselves to do just as it gets really hard and again facing these challenges and answering these personal questions will see students grow and develop. If I can climb this hill with this backpack, then I know I can face the next hill and the next hill and then I know I can face whatever is put in front of me well beyond the year I have spent completing my Duke of Edinburgh Award.
<img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-9988" height="389" sizes="(max-width: 219px) 100vw, 219px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/20180416_115752-169x300.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/20180416_115752-169x300.jpg 169w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/20180416_115752.jpg 261w" width="219">

The Duke of Edinburgh is all about personal growth and development and nowhere is this more apparent than in the expedition. While the award is about lots more than a three-day hike through the countryside the expedition is like a small mirror of the wider award. In this article I will explain how the award …

Life’s lessons in one weekend - EF Academy Blog

Life’s lessons in one weekend ‹ EF Academy Blog

Life’s lessons in one weekend

Lifes lessons one weekend

One of the great advantages of being a student at EF Academy is that students already have some experience of living independently. They have learnt to manage their money, their time and their studies without parents to watch their every move. None the less it is still a daunting thing to do from considering which university to consider and applying to heading off with bags packed.
Here in Torbay we do all we can to make this journey as easy as possible by making sure students are as informed as they can be. Debbie Chatterton our Director of University Guidance goes through every stage of the process with them starting with the shaping of dreams into the reality that is the UCAS application.
We also organize a number of visits to UK universities where students can see first had what Uni’s are like and are able to compare different types from the city campus to the all on one site set up.
We also believe that it’s important for us to bring in key experienced people into school to talk to the students and give them the benefit of their wisdom and experience.
It was in this vain that we invited our former Director of University Guidance Katherine Lloyd Clark into school to talk to our first year students about every aspect of university life. Katherine is extremely well placed to talk about such things as she works at Exeter University in the admissions team and has previously worked at Bath University in the same role.
<img alt="" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-9949" height="169" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/uni-talk-300x169.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/uni-talk-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/uni-talk.jpg 550w" width="300">
Katherine spoke to the students about the difficult admissions process for universities and how best to maximize applications but a lot of what she focused on was what life is really like at uni. What are halls like? Should I live in a house instead? What is fresher’s week? How many lectures will I have? How much money will I need for day to day things? Katherine answered these questions and a good many more.
Sometimes though the best people for students to hear from are other students and along side this event we also had former students from EF Torbay come along who have now been at university for a year and it was amazing to have that experience shared, especially from students who have left Torbay so recently.
 
<hr>
 
EF Academy international boarding schools provide a thorough preparation for university and a future that knows no borders.

One of the great advantages of being a student at EF Academy is that students already have some experience of living independently. They have learnt to manage their money, their time and their studies without parents to watch their every move. None the less it is still a daunting thing to do from considering which …

Welcome to university life - EF Academy Blog

Welcome to university life ‹ EF Academy Blog

Welcome to university life

Welcome university life

The end of the term, especially before Christmas can often be a slow painful affair. Everyone is desperate to go home, including the teachers, so everyone watches the clock tick down.
We decided we didn’t want to do that this year and wanted to go out with a bang!
A team including the Head of School, Head of Co-Curriculars, and our dedicated Heads of Houses hatched a plan to give the students an amazing project for the last two days of school – the task of putting together a fashion brand and show with the final catwalk held at the English Riviera Center. The best part was that we wanted it all to be a surprise for the students.
Which meant we only announced the program during the mid-week assembly.
Students were given the task of putting together a fashion brand and show with the final catwalk show held at the English Riviera Center. Students had to put everything together, including the clothes. For the materials, we gave each house a pile of fabrics and accessories. The music was produced by students using professional software, and we gave them branding material.
The brief that we gave students was to produce clothing and music around the following themes: Christmas, space, recycling and their House. Because this was a competition, it was conducted in total secrecy with each house taking over a different part of the school to work furiously for a day and a half.
Each House had ten minutes on the catwalk to show each of their lines so this meant that they must have an item in each line and have produced the music to play.
The wow factor and what showed off the students amazing outfits was the venue, which had been set up by an audio-visual company with a full catwalk, lighting, and a plasma screen. In the lead up to the show, we took the teams down to give them an idea of what to expect and it either scared them or spurred them on to go back to school to get their Houses working harder.
Students worked right until the very last minute to produce their clothing, music, and artwork. Towards the end, tensions rose as it looked like some wouldn’t get their assignments done before the show. But amazingly, they all finished and got their clothes, art, and music down to the venue just in time.
When we planned this we all worried that students would be too exhausted from the end of the term. We worried that some might give a halfhearted effort but the students amazed us. They truly showed how remarkable they are. We had a great sense of teamwork with everyone pulling together and incredible enthusiasm. 
Not only that the quality of the clothes, music, and art that they produced was incredible. Especially when you consider that they only had a day and a half between concept and creation. It was a fantastic way to end the term and despite it being hard work, the sense of achievement that everyone felt was great. 
But you don’t have to take my word for it. See the fun for yourself.

 <style type="text/css"> #gallery-1 {
 margin: auto;
 }
 #gallery-1 .gallery-item {
 float: left;
 margin-top: 10px;
 text-align: center;
 width: 100%;
 }
 #gallery-1 img {
 border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
 }
 #gallery-1 .gallery-caption {
 margin-left: 0;
 }
 /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
 </style>
 <div class="gallery galleryid-13808 gallery-columns-1 gallery-size-full" id="gallery-1"><dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon landscape">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion7/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="320" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion7.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion7.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion7-300x169.jpg 300w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon landscape">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion10/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="320" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion10.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion10.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion10-300x169.jpg 300w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon portrait">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion5/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="1009" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion5.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion5.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion5-169x300.jpg 169w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon portrait">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion6/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="1009" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion6.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion6.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion6-169x300.jpg 169w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon landscape">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="320" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_Fashion.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_Fashion.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_Fashion-300x169.jpg 300w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon landscape">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion1-2/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="320" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Tor_Fashion1-1.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Tor_Fashion1-1.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Tor_Fashion1-1-300x169.jpg 300w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon portrait">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion4/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="1009" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion4.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion4.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion4-169x300.jpg 169w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon portrait">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion2/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="1009" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion2.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion2.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion2-169x300.jpg 169w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon portrait">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion3-1/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="1009" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion3-1.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion3-1.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion3-1-169x300.jpg 169w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon portrait">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion11/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="1009" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion11.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion11.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion11-169x300.jpg 169w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon landscape">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion8/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="320" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion8.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion8.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion8-300x169.jpg 300w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon landscape">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion20/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="320" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion20.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion20.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion20-300x169.jpg 300w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon landscape">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion18/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="320" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion18.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion18.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion18-300x169.jpg 300w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> <dl class="gallery-item">
 <dt class="gallery-icon portrait">
 <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/tor_fashion21/"><img alt="" class="attachment-full size-full" height="1009" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion21.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion21.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOR_fashion21-169x300.jpg 169w" width="568"></a>
 </dt></dl> 
 </div>

 
Here’s to an equally fun and creative 2019!

The end of the term, especially before Christmas can often be a slow painful affair. Everyone is desperate to go home, including the teachers, so everyone watches the clock tick down. We decided we didn’t want to do that this year and wanted to go out with a bang! A team including the Head of …

Torbay’s staff surprised students with exciting end of term project - EF Academy Blog

Torbay’s staff surprised students with exciting end of term project ‹ EF Academy Blog

Torbay’s staff surprised students with exciting end of term project

Torbays staff surprised students exciting end term project

The House competition table is heating up like the end of the premiership football season. We can almost see a winner in sight but its too soon to call.
Last Friday evening was one of the most hotly contested and eagerly anticipated contests of the house competition season, the Great EF Academy Bake Off.
Each House was able to have a team of four students and they had two challenges to compete in. The first was to bake a desert of their choice within the time allowed and the second was to do a technical challenge which was to make scones for a Devon Cream Tea.
Each of the Houses had 15 pound to spend on the ingredients for their bake but it was entirely their choice as to what they cooked.
The competition was to be judged by the baking club teacher Debs, her husband Garry who runs many of our sports clubs and Chris Nicholls the Head of Co-Curricular.
From the very start there was a real buzz about the place as students immediately got to work. They split into teams of two with some taking on the technical round and some taking on their own dish.
All seemed to be making good progress but as the time slipped away you could really see the pressure mounting. Some had made sponge cakes that needed to cool down before being iced while others tried recipes they had never tried before.
The technical seems easy really. How hard can it be to make a scone? Well its easy to make a scone but very hard to make the perfect scone, as anyone in Devon will tell you. It should be crusty on the outside but lovely and soft on the inside and just cool enough to cover in cream and jam.
As time ticked away the students finally heard the immortal words, 5 minutes remaining. Suddenly there was a mad panic to get cakes iced and scone cut ready to be judged.
The teams huddled around their benches as the judges made their way around tasting the fruits of their hard work.
It was clearly very hard to judge because the quality of what was baked was amazing. One piece of baking however stood out and that was an amazing sponge cake topped with icing in the shape of their house logo by Elberry House. The challenge of baking something like this and to have it iced and ready in such a short time convinced the judges that they deserved the win.
An amazing event and great fun for all involved. Not only that but it finished with cakes and scones. What could be better!

Last Friday evening was one of the most hotly contested and eagerly anticipated contests of the house competition season, the Great EF Academy Bake Off.

The Great EF Academy Bake Off - EF Academy Blog

The Great EF Academy Bake Off ‹ EF Academy Blog

The Great EF Academy Bake Off

Great ef academy bake off

Students who study languages and the arts at Torbay had an amazing opportunity to watch the classic Shakespeare play Macbeth at a truly unique venue, Kents Cavern in Torquay. This theatre company have been putting on this show at Kents for many years and we have been regular visitors.
Kents Cavern is one of Europe’s top prehistoric Stone Age caves with an extensive labyrinth of spectacular and easily accessible caverns. This iconic heritage attraction has many quality tourism awards. Its also the perfect location for the dark tale of Macbeth with dark corners for the three witches and evil plots of murder.
A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and death.
Set in this amazing setting no one was sure what was coming next. Witches could be heard in distant caverns and we would be moved around this vast cave system from scene to scene. The actors looked amazing in their costumes and war paint all of which collectively drew us all in top the atmosphere of the play.
As the play grew in intensity the lighting and effect seemed to shadow the dark turns that the play makes as Macbeth slides further and further into madness.
This is an amazing way to learn and understand a play as important as Macbeth because we were able to feel the intense nature of the play because of the setting and the amazing theatre company that put on the production.
At the end we had a chance to ask the actors questions about the play and what hey enjoyed about a setting like Kents. This was an amazing chance to find out what its like to take on a play such as this. A great extension to our understanding of the play and a great night out.

Torbay had an amazing opportunity to watch the classic Shakespeare play Macbeth at a truly unique venue, Kents Cavern in Torquay.

Shakespeare in the caves - EF Academy Blog

Shakespeare in the caves ‹ EF Academy Blog

Shakespeare in the caves

Humanities Students from EF Academy Torbay have just returned from a once in a lifetime experience in London focused on the theme of crime, the legal system and criminologist theory which included a major academic conference, a visit to the Royal Courts of Justice and a guided tour of the East End of London following the ghastly murder spree of the world’s first serial killer ‘Jack the Ripper’. 
We arrived, not so, bright and early ready for the conference which gave us a fantastic insight into both the academic and the ‘real’ world of crime. This unique event explored one of the biggest questions in Criminology: What causes people to commit crime? Over the course of this one-day conference, there were a range of interactive and engaging lectures from some of the UK’s leading names in Criminology. 
The keynote speaker and host on the day was one of the UK’s most influential public criminologists, star of ITV’s Bring Back Borstal and presenter of Channel 5’s Killer Psychopaths, Professor David Wilson. Professor Wilson will open the conference and give an introductory lecture entitled “What is Criminology?” This lecture gave students an introduction to the academic discipline of Criminology and discussed how the following lectures were all linked to the fundamental criminologist question: why do people choose to commit crime? 
Notably, the conferences included a question and answer session with Noel ‘Razor’ Smith, one of the UK’s most prolific ex-bank robbers. Noel discussed in detail, his life story exploring the choices he made that lead to him spending over 30 years in prison. Other speakers on the day included: Dr. Elizabeth Yardley, Director of the Centre for Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University; Professor Graham Pike, Professor of Forensic Cognition at the Open University; Craig Pinkney BA (Hons) MA (Crim), Lecturer in Criminology at University College Birmingham and Urban Youth Specialist; and, Liam Brolan BA (Hons), MA (Crim) a PhD student in Criminology at Birmingham City University and founder of CrimiKnowledge. Throughout the day, students were encouraged to think critically about the material being presented so that they were able to formulate their own views and opinions on the topics in discussion. 
After a brief rest in our hotel we made our way to the ‘Old East End’, around the White Chapel area of the city for a walking tour of the murder sights of the 19th Century serial killer Jack the Ripper. 
“Jack the Ripper” is the popular name given to a serial killer who killed a number of prostitutes in the East End of London in 1888. The name originates from a letter written by someone who claimed to be the killer published at the time of the murders. The killings took place within a mile area and involved the districts of Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Aldgate, and the City of London proper. He was never caught and mystery has continued about who he was with some even speculating that he was an important member of Queen Victoria’s family. 
The following day we made our way to the Covent Garden area of the city and we had a chance to shop eat and take in the sights before we made our way to the river Thames to look at the Houses of Parliament. The afternoon gave us another unique experience because visited the Royal Courts of Justice, the highest court in the land for a guided tour and the chance to play out a murder case in one of the 70 court rooms in the building. We even had the funny wigs!!! 
What a fantastic city and an incredible experience with such value to our understanding of the humanities subject we study.

Humanities Students from EF Academy Torbay have just returned from a once in a lifetime experience in London focused on the theme of crime.

Jack the Ripper in London - EF Academy Blog

Jack the Ripper in London ‹ EF Academy Blog

Jack the Ripper in London

Jack ripper london

There was a buzz around school this week because Hult University visted to talk to our students about the unversity and its courses but also to launch the inspiring HULT Business Challenge.
Hult International Business School is a business school. With 6 global locations it has grown from its single Boston location to 5 campuses in San Francisco, London, Dubai, Shanghai and two rotation centers in New York and Sao Paulo.
In 2005, after the accreditation of Hult’s one year MBA program by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), Hult began opening new campuses. The Shanghai campus opened in 2007. The following year Hult became the first American educational institution officially approved in the United Arab Emirates when its Dubai campus opened. In 2009, Hult acquired the former facilities of Huron University USA in London to open its London campus. Hult’s San Francisco campus opened in 2010.
Hult and EF Academy Torbay have always had strong links and many of our business and economics students have gone on to become undergraduates at Hult and have studied beyond that in Masters courses. Some of the first students to have gone through this process our now leading businesses both internationally and in their home countries. This shows the how the relationships that we have forged together is changing the lives of the students who come to us with barely a qualification to their names.
The event kicked off with a speech from our Head Teacher and she told students about this relationship drawing on her long experience working in EF Academy Torbay and she spoke of her pride at former students from Torbay who reached the final of the Hult challenge.
The students were really impressed with the global nature of the business courses and the diversity of the programs that Hult have to offer but also the opportunity for real life experience in a professional business environment.
Then came the really exciting part and it began with a ‘thought experiment’ about decision making which prompted the students to consider how they make decisions and how this relates to the world of business.
Hult International Business School is the lead sponsor of the Hult Prize an annual international case competition launched in 2010 that asks students to find solutions to global social challenges. The organization is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative. Teams from business schools around the world compete at one of five regional events to develop the best solutions to that year’s social challenge. The best teams from each regional event advance to a global final, at which a single winning team is chosen.
Our students were really enthusiastic about this challenge and the students couldn’t wait to get started. We all had crepes with fruit and chocolate afterwards and this gave students the opportunity to ask questions both about Hult and about the challenge and it was a perfect end the day.

Our students at EF Academy are able to take advantage of many opportunities presented by our sister school, Hult International Business School.

Topics

Chris Nicholls

All posts from Chris Nicholls