Abbey College, Malvern
Abbey College in Malvern, Worcestershire, England, is a small boarding school providing secondary education to a diverse and international student body. The present college was founded in 1979 on a site that had been used for education since 1874. Lying on the lower slopes of the famous Malvern Hills in central England, the campus is part of a government-recognised “area of outstanding natural beauty.” Malvern is renowned as a centre for high quality private education and is statistically one of the safest towns in the whole of the UK. The cathedral cities of Worcester, Hereford and  Gloucester are within 30 minutes’ drive and Stratford and Oxford are within a one-hour drive. London is approximately 2.5 hours away by car or direct train. The school sits on a campus alongside the Malvern Hills between Great Malvern and Malvern Wells. It is co-educational with around 100 students on its roll and specialises in secondary and pre-university education and English as a second or foreign language (ESOL). In November 2015, an Ofsted report rated the overall experiences and progress of children and young people as ‘good’ and commended the “enabling and positive atmosphere in the college ”. The report stated that “Young people’s progress, safety and welfare are central to the way in which academic and boarding services are arranged. There is a positive celebration of international boarding and the overall culture of the college is a clear strength that benefits everyone.” The school has since become part of The Independent School Association and now falls under the ISI reporting system. In 2020, Daniel Booker was installed as the college's new principal. The college offers academic courses including GCSE, IGCSE, A level and foundation courses, as well as short courses and high school experience courses . It runs vacation courses for groups and individuals throughout the Summer. Abbey College also has a centre in Prague which offers pathway programmes for medical studies, with routes into universities across Europe. Abbey College Prague provides preparation courses (delivered in English), in cooperation with Charles University's Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies in Prague which are designed for international students interested in careers in medicine or dentistry.