1. Etherton Education
Pre A Level Academic Summer Course
July 2010
Course Report for: VAICIURGIS, Dominycas
General: Students attended a four-week academic summer course run by Etherton
Education. The course was designed to give students the best possible preparation
before they commence their A Level studies, and to introduce them to British
education and culture. The course began with a one-week programme based at the
London School of Economics’ Bankside House. Students visited LSE, Imperial College
and University College London. Cultural trips included Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tower
of London and the Houses of Parliament. There were subsequent day-trips to both
Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Weeks 2-4 of the course were based at Wellington
School in Somerset. Students studied General and Social English, English for Academic
Purposes and English through Drama. They were able to choose Pre-A Level courses in
Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Art, ICT, History, Geography and Business Studies.
We also introduced western manners, over twelve different sports, a wide range of
social activities and cultural visits, and Sunday clubs. British Teachers and British
Student Hosts ran the programme, which had an overall staff-student ratio below 1:3.
A note on the content of this report:
In each section of the report the first part outlines the work covered in class by all the
students and the second part comments on the individual student. Each student also
receives overall grades for effort and attainment.
Should you have any further queries please contact Etherton Education
on +44 1823 672234 or email info@ethertoneducation.com.

2. Drama Mr Matthew Burke BA History & Drama (UNM), ESL, IGCSE E2L Examiner,
IELTS Examiner.
For the past three weeks the students of A have taken on the basics of Drama with great vigour. Though
time has been short, their acting skills have been successfully developed to a basic level. The goal of this
class, as it was the first time for almost all of the students, was to introduce the basic skills of acting to
them, while improving their creativity and English skills in a fun atmosphere, thus allowing them to gain an
enhanced level of confidence for their future development. Besides introducing popular dramatic
icebreakers for each lesson, activities to enhance their imagination, body language and acting skills while
on stage and in front of others were also performed. Whether it was from miming to narrating a skit, to
performing a short scene or participating in class activities; their imaginative minds were executed
excellently and their confidence reached new levels.
Individual Report: Effort: A Attainment: A
Dominycas has been an excellent student to teach. Always eager to take part in the class exercises with
BIG energy and a smile, he has shown what an “A” student is in Drama. His extra effort in class and
attentive attitude was lovely to see. Whether he was learning something new or something old,
Dominycas gave it a 100 percent. Dominycas has done extremely well and his energy and creative flare will
be missed.
Economics Mr David Higgins B.Sc.(Econ),(Lond.)
The class has studied topics related to the recent world financial crisis in relation to the UK, America and
the Asian economies. The emphasis of the course has been the implication for future “A” Level questions.
Particular consideration has been given to information which has yet to appear in the basic text books. The
causes and consequences of the role of the Banks have been given special consideration. The class has also
considered the marking criteria of the examination system and the skills required from successful students.
Special attention has been given to English language development classes and homework has been
targeted at improving vocabulary and the specialist use of language in business and economics.
Individual Report: Effort: B Attainment: A
Dominycas has always demonstrated a high level of application in his approach to learning; he has a good
intellect and adapted well to a new learning environment. His written work and performance in class tests
have been of a good standard and have demonstrated considerable analytical abilities. I have no hesitation
in recommending that he should continue to study economic and business related subjects should he wish
to do so.
English Ms Holly Perreau CELTA, BA Applied Language Studies & TEFL
This month we have covered the following topics: adverbs of frequency, phrasal verbs, modals, quantifiers,
presentation skills, expressing opinions, comparing and contrasting, question forms, filling in tables,
summarizing, skimming and scanning, prediction and drawing conclusions, matching headings and visuals
to complex texts, meaning from context, and reading comprehension.
Individual Report: Effort: A Attainment: A
Dominycas has produced some excellent pieces of written work here at Etherton Education and is able to
answer questions in class confidently and without much hesitation. He is diligent and attentive in the

3. classroom. His written English is very neat, and he uses complex and difficult grammatical structures. His
spoken English is good, with fair intonation, and his pronunciation has improved since he has been here in
England. He can improve his speaking further by practising as often as possible with another English
speaker. I think Dominycas will do very well in the future.
History Mr Jolyon Drew A Level History, Grade: A
Individual Report: Effort: B Attainment: B
The members of this class are a bright bunch with huge potential individually. They were introduced to the
techniques needed in order to study and evaluate the importance and truth of historical sources and they
carried out exercises in doing so with much confidence.
ICT Ms Anjali James BSc Sociology; PGCE (qualified teacher status) plus degree conversion to ICT
The ICT short course for these students has consisted of learning to make an effective presentation with
the following considerations: identifying their target audience; presenting appropriately to meet the needs
of the target audience; copyright issues and the law; effective research; writing skills identifying necessary
information from research and rewriting that in their own words; appropriate use of graphics, text,
hyperlinks and animation. The software that was used was Microsoft PowerPoint.
We also did an introduction to spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel software including: formatting the
spread sheet (i.e. wrapping text) and data (i.e., converting columns to currency); appropriate columns
headings and title; formulas and functions including ‘If’ statements for modelling; presenting in Formula
view; selection of information to create graphs and presenting the information graphically including
appropriate titles, values and legends.
The ICT coursework was delivered through a project about a fictional holiday company, ‘Etherton holidays’.
The presentation was designed for first time visitors to London; the spreadsheet displayed information
about client take-up of holiday destinations with flights and accommodation.
Individual Report: Effort: A Attainment: A
Over this short period of time Dominycas has taken the opportunity to develop his ICT skills and learn the
appropriate technical language as well. He has been diligent and enthusiastic in his approach to this
subject resulting in a good standard of work - producing an effective PowerPoint presentation and
Spreadsheet.
Well done Dominycas you have achieved a lot in the short space of time that you have been here; best
wishes for a happy future when you return to school.
Maths Mr Brian Johns MA (Oxon) in Mathematics, Master of Business Administration, P.G.C.E.,
Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, Affiliate of the Institute of Actuaries.
The class studied the GCSE Mathematics Higher Level workbook, to ensure that they are familiar with the
work already covered by their peers in England. In July the class concentrated on the Probability and
Statistics part of the syllabus, whereas for August other mathematical topics were scheduled, including a
preliminary look at calculus.
Individual Report: Effort: A Attainment: A

4. Dominycas has worked extremely well and enthusiastically, and has an excellent understanding of the
subject. He is certainly capable of studying A-Level Mathematics.
Physics Mr Tom Wilks BSc(Hons) PGCE CPhys MIfL MIMA MInstP MCIEA
We have used a common approach to key concepts and definitions applied across all major UK A-Level
Physics examination boards. We have focused particularly on scientific terminology e.g. variables, precision
and accuracy, and have reflected on our practical experiments to highlight areas for improvement. Our first
practical used the classic, simple, harmonic experiment with a simple pendulum where we extended this to
calculate the acceleration due to gravity. We then progressed on to Newton’s Laws, Newton’s Law of
Universal Gravitation and the equations of motion as discussed in a simple rocket experiment. To increase
confidence in considering safety issues in practical situations, we then heated ice and water to boiling
point and applied the terms of latent heat of fusion, the specific heat capacity and the latent heat of
vaporization. Finally, we investigated static electricity with a Van de Graaff generator and introduced
simple electrical circuits to discuss the key concepts of charge, current and voltage. Graph plotting skills,
graphical analysis and dimensional analysis techniques have been introduced and discussed frequently,
along with the broad applications of Physics beyond University.
Individual Report: Effort: B Attainment: B
Attendance (100%); homework submission and accuracy (80%); A Level Physics introduction test (67%).
Dominycas completed his graph to a good standard but needed to take more care with the scale of his
plots and in drawing the line of best fit. Unfortunately, this was repeated in his test so he will need further
guidance on how to prepare a graph to cover over half the available paper. Dominycas demonstrated a
good level of knowledge for units and his confidence has grown in class discussions. With his continued
motivation, I believe that he will produce good results at A Level.
Psychology Ms Rebecca Kealy Psychology BSc
The psychology workshop was designed to give students a taste of the subject. Classes covered a basic
introduction to different areas of psychology and psychological theories. A class was also dedicated to
research methods, statistical analysis & ethics.
All students were required to participate in class discussions and debates. They were also asked to present
a famous psychological study in front of the class, and state why they thought the study was important,
and if it followed the ethical guidelines set by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
Individual Report: Effort: A Attainment: A
Dominycas has done very well in this class. He is attentive and shows good understanding of the subject.
He has done very well with some tricky vocabulary, and helps classmates if they are having difficulty. He
participates willingly in class discussions and debates displaying a good understanding of the material
covered.
House Report Mr Harry McFaul BA Jt Hons, MA, NPQH
All boys have lived in a single-sex Boarding House and have followed a routine based on what they will find
in most of the schools in the UK with regular registration times, callovers, signing-out and excellent
pastoral care from the British boarding staff.
Every week students have taken part in two social activities designed to build confidence, team-building,
social interaction and integration. This year the activities have included Quiz Night, Spaghetti Bridge-

5. Building Night, Outdoor Garden Games, the Fashion Show, High Tea, a Formal Dinner, a Masked Ball and
Ten-pin Bowling.
On Sunday mornings students took part in a wide variety of club activities designed to widen their
experience and introduce new skills. The clubs this year have been Singing and Music, Paper Craft, Spanish,
Kite Making, Board Games, Creative Writing, Sugar Craft, Masked Ball, Dog Walking and Bush Craft.
We have also taken students on one- day visits to places of cultural interest. This year we visited Longleat
House and Safari Park, Taunton, Bristol Science Museum and the SS Great Briton, Cambridge and Oxford. In
addition to this, we spent the first week in London where they could experience life a university Hall of
Residence (at LSE’s Bankside House) and visited the most touristic attractions in the capital such as The
Tate Modern Gallery, The London Eye, The British Museum, The Houses of Parliament, Shakespeare’s
Globe Theatre and the Tower of London. We also took them to some of the most important colleges in
London (Imperial College, UCL and LSE) for an informative session about university courses.
After lessons students experienced at least a dozen different sports. We have introduced them to the rules
of British sports which they may not have encountered before, such as badminton, football, basketball,
tennis, rugby, swimming and cricket.
In all of the activities above, students have been under the care not only of our boarding staff but also of
the 20 British Students Hosts (mostly university students) who have provided constant opportunities for
them to practice their oral English, learn about the British culture and how to make friends with British
people.
Individual Report:
Dominycas is a very sociable and polite young man who engages in all the many activities and events with
great enthusiasm. He has a splendid sense of humour, is very polite and well-mannered. He is a charming
young man who is reliable and industrious. Dominycas interacts well with all students regardless of culture
and is popular with other students and staff alike.
Director’s Report Mr Peter Etherton BA (Hons), MA (Lond.), MA (Lancs.)
Dominycas is a charming student. He is clearly well-motivated and highly industrious. These qualities,
together with his undoubted intelligence, have produced some excellent results in his academic subjects.
He has impressed his teachers in many ways, not least with his maturity. At the formal dinner at the end of
the course he proposed a toast and his English was so impressive. He has always been keen to discuss the
books he was reading and he was one of the few students to read the English newspapers. He has been a
delightful participant in the course and I am sure he will do very well in the coming years. He has my very
best wishes for the future.

6. Building Night, Outdoor Garden Games, the Fashion Show, High Tea, a Formal Dinner, a Masked Ball and
Ten-pin Bowling.
On Sunday mornings students took part in a wide variety of club activities designed to widen their
experience and introduce new skills. The clubs this year have been Singing and Music, Paper Craft, Spanish,
Kite Making, Board Games, Creative Writing, Sugar Craft, Masked Ball, Dog Walking and Bush Craft.
We have also taken students on one- day visits to places of cultural interest. This year we visited Longleat
House and Safari Park, Taunton, Bristol Science Museum and the SS Great Briton, Cambridge and Oxford. In
addition to this, we spent the first week in London where they could experience life a university Hall of
Residence (at LSE’s Bankside House) and visited the most touristic attractions in the capital such as The
Tate Modern Gallery, The London Eye, The British Museum, The Houses of Parliament, Shakespeare’s
Globe Theatre and the Tower of London. We also took them to some of the most important colleges in
London (Imperial College, UCL and LSE) for an informative session about university courses.
After lessons students experienced at least a dozen different sports. We have introduced them to the rules
of British sports which they may not have encountered before, such as badminton, football, basketball,
tennis, rugby, swimming and cricket.
In all of the activities above, students have been under the care not only of our boarding staff but also of
the 20 British Students Hosts (mostly university students) who have provided constant opportunities for
them to practice their oral English, learn about the British culture and how to make friends with British
people.
Individual Report:
Dominycas is a very sociable and polite young man who engages in all the many activities and events with
great enthusiasm. He has a splendid sense of humour, is very polite and well-mannered. He is a charming
young man who is reliable and industrious. Dominycas interacts well with all students regardless of culture
and is popular with other students and staff alike.
Director’s Report Mr Peter Etherton BA (Hons), MA (Lond.), MA (Lancs.)
Dominycas is a charming student. He is clearly well-motivated and highly industrious. These qualities,
together with his undoubted intelligence, have produced some excellent results in his academic subjects.
He has impressed his teachers in many ways, not least with his maturity. At the formal dinner at the end of
the course he proposed a toast and his English was so impressive. He has always been keen to discuss the
books he was reading and he was one of the few students to read the English newspapers. He has been a
delightful participant in the course and I am sure he will do very well in the coming years. He has my very
best wishes for the future.