Monday, 21st August marks both an end and a beginning for the students who are taking part in the Summer English Course at RCN. A group of about 20 students are currently on campus before the start of term in order to begin studying English and familiarizing themselves with the campus before the majority of students arrived. The summer course students spend each morning in class practising English, working on group projects and learning more about RCN as well as about each other. Outside the classroom, the students are taking part in a variety of activities. The Course is being run by a superb group of teachers and volunteers.

From 21-23 June staff from 13 UWCs met at UWC Atlantic to consider how to improve support for those students who come to us from non-English-speaking backgrounds. The conference, which was organised by staff at UWC Maastricht and UWC Atlantic, brought us together to identify and share good practice, identify areas in need of development, and work towards creating a unified action plan to establish solid support structures across the UWC movement and in our individual contexts. The conference was opened by Peter Howe, the new Head of UWC Atlantic, and the keynote speaker, Dr. Marco Tamburelli, a Senior lecturer in Bilingualism at the University of Bangor, Wales, led to us to consider the importance of actively encouraging mother-tongue use on our campuses. Two days of intense conversations gave us all much to think about and take back to our communities. It was stimulating and nourishing to learn from each other and to engage with others who “spoke the same language”. The support for those learning English needs to go hand-in-hand with the pastoral support systems and we hope that the next conference can include staff involved with both areas of UWC life. With the help of our newly formed network and a UWC Hub group space where we can share materials and ideas, we look forward to improving the support we offer to all students, not just those who are learning English.