Taunton School International

A decent private school. They teach not only subjects, but also independence. Thanks SMAPS!

Alina, 14 years old. In April of 2017, I went to the summer term at Taunton School International Middle School (TSIMS). Arriving at school, I saw two small houses and an old stone building covered with ivy, in which the lessons were held. The first person I met at school was my roommate Lily. A girl from China who also just came to school and was new. The school staff were very friendly and hospitable. I was taken away from the documents and asked to give food if I have one (it turned out that you can not store food in the rooms, because it can attract various insects and animals). I was escorted to my room. She was pleased with the spacious, in the room were three beds and work desks. Lily and I lived in a room together and we had enough space. Then I moved to the common room in the educational building where a roll call was made 3 times a day, and then went to dinner. The food in TSIMS was very tasty, I dare say even tastier than the one I used to at home. Usually there were 3-4 hot dishes and a few side dishes, and various salads and snacks. Desserts were also offered for lunch, but soups were prepared rarely - once in 1-2 weeks and then for dinner. A year ago I went to Alexanders college, where I was not very well fed, and so I was pleasantly surprised by the deliciousness of the dishes at TSIMS. The next two days, the new students (and we were 5-6 people) told about the school, acquainted with the teachers. And we wrote tests on the result of which they were defined in groups. To my surprise, I was in the strongest group - group F. Soon the lessons began. In the mornings we usually met with our tutors and discussed various issues, and then started to study. We were taught history, geography, English, science, computer science, Fine Arts, PSHEE (literally: personal, social and economic education and health). The lessons were extremely interesting and I learned a lot of useful information. Especially we liked the lessons of history, where we were taught to think, analyze, and at the end of the quarter we wrote an essay of 1200 words on the theme of the Caribbean crisis. Twice a week we went to Taunton School for tennis and track and field athletics. There were many clubs and clubs to choose from. I was engaged in gardening, Spanish, badminton, running, went for walks in the woods and visited the club of table games. Every weekend we went on excursions, bowling, climbing walls and other interesting places and twice a week we could go to the town of Taunton. At the end of the year we traveled the whole school (there were about 55 students in the school) to London for three days. I found a lot of friends, the school became my second home, and a place I would gladly return to