Parent's Review of ACS Hillingdon in Hillingdon, UK

What is the name of your child's school? (Please report on one school per survey.)

ACS Hillingdon

In what town or city is this school located?

Hillingdon

How would you describe this school? (i.e. American, British, International, Local, etc.)

international

What grade levels are represented at this school?

k-12

How do most children get to school everyday? (bus, train, walk, etc.)

bus

How would you describe the facilities at this school? What extra-curricular activities are available?

The grounds are extremely beautiful, the building is an historic mansion. Very pretty, but the rooms and walkways are small, old and crowded... If they ever finish the construction of the science building, much of that will be alleviated, at this moment, the construction has taken more than a year longer than originally estimated. All the typical sports are available, and many are practiced on campus, however, the few that aren't, take place at the close by university.

What has this school done to help your child transition from the curriculum in your home country into the curriculum in your new country? Are there programs to prepare your child for repatriation?

Almost nothing. In fact, by the way they handle things, you'd think they weren't used to getting transfers. It was highly disappointing and a huge pain. The orientation was nice, though they apparently weren't prepared for the large turnout. They do put you in touch with some local parents who are incredibly helpful. The upper school is very, very small, which has it's ups and downs. There are only 50 kids in grade 10, if that gives you an idea.

How would you describe the social activities available for parents through this school? Are there parent-teacher organizations?

This school has a very active parent community and it's very well organized and maintained throughout the year. The parents are very supportive and helpful. I'd say this is ACS Hillingdon's greatest strength.

What advice would you give to someone considering enrolling their child in this school?

If you are considering enrolling your child in their upper school, I would suggest asking for their curriculum and seeing if it can support your child's personal academic goals. If you are interested only in the IB, this is a great school for it, since it seems to revolve around the IB. If you are interested in American curriculum and AP, this is not the school for you. The school has the most pathetic music program I have ever seen, and the class selection is even worse. They all but force the IB on grades 11 and 12. IMO, if they need to drop the American diploma and AP from their program and advertisements, because they only offer it by way of IB courses. Also, I'm assuming it wasn't always like this, and that maybe this year is an anomaly, but this year the school has been an absolute mess. They take disorganization to a new level. It'd be funny if it wasn't messing with my kids education. I honestly don't understand how this school continues to operate. Their implementation of powerschool was embarrassingly unbelievable. You would think they could figure it out by the end of the year, but no. They can't even get accurate report cards out on time. They seem to have a technology problem in general. The school seems incapable of using it, yet they try without a paper back up plan. So everything falls apart on a very regular basis. If you have the patience to deal with such high levels of incompetence from an extremely expensive school, and are interested only in the IB, this is your school!

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