Sheena Trist - Schools Placement Manager talks about her recent trip to Windsor!

I recently attended the British Boarding Schools Workshop which was held at the Beaumont House Conference Centre in Windsor, Berkshire over the weekend of 7-9 November. The workshop was organised by Suzanne and Anthony Rowse of SR Events and, as always, their organisation was impeccable.

At the event were over forty boarding schools and colleges and I managed to have appointments with 21 of them. I got to meet a lot of new schools and so they have now been added to the Bright World portfolio and I hope to be able to suggest these new schools to prospective new students and to start a good working relationship with them.

I also had the opportunity to meet Registrars and Marketing Managers that normally I only deal with by e-mail. It is so much nicer when you can put a face to a name! Also I met several agents that, again, I normally only know via e-mail.

To cap off the weekend, my husband joined me and we went to Wembley Arena to see Queen and Paul Rodgers. A brilliant show and a great end to a very busy weekend.

Carol Gill blogs on about her week at work

The week started well although Lana had just come back from Thailand so it was quite busy. I was expecting a busy week as this weekend is an exeat weekend when lots of our students have to leave school just for two nights so we help them with arrangements and they stay with their host family.

All was sorted out a couple of weeks ago and I was just ready to put the finer points of the week in place when certain students starting to change their minds about what they were going to do! How annoying is that!! It is really embarrassing having to cancel our host families although we do have to pay them if it is that late, but they have all made special plans to host their students. It also takes ages to unravel the work I have already done.

I dont mind too much because I do understand young people - I have four children of my own! I do realise that youngsters have a much better social life than I do!

Anyway all is OK now, everyone is happy and sorted out in the end. I am just off to spend a weekend with my family and leave Lana with the emergency phone!

Jane Forester is off on holiday for a week so I had better gear myself for another busy week next week - I will let you know how it goes - watch this space!!

Carol

Bright World's new Website!!

Hello Lana here. I am so excited today that our new website has been launched. We really like it and we hope you do too. If you are a recognised Bright World Agent or a valued parent you will now have access to our secure zones which we hope you will find useful for reading news items and also referring to important documents.

Watch this space as we will soon have videos available to upload as well!!! I am just working on that!!!

Nearly Christmas - I can hardly wait!

Lanax

First Term News

The gap in our blogs shows just how busy the Bright World Team has been since the start of term. I can hardly believe that all students arrived well over a month ago and already they are on half term this week and next, all safely with their host families or going home to see their families back home.

We are already making plans for all of our students' return at Christmas. Sometimes I think that people don't think there is much to this guardianship job but I can tell you that Jane, Carol and I have been flat out here in the office taking care of our guardianship programme and students.

In addition to that our Local Coordinators have been busy visiting all the students and are now poised to visit them all at half term where they are in new host families.

We do, however, feel that what we do is worthwhile as we have had some lovely comments from our students, parents and our overseas agents as to what a great job we are doing so although it is a hard and challenging job it is a very rewarding one.

Brittany Wong - a budding artist of the future.

Brittany Wong is turned just 5 years old in June 2008 and lives and goes to school in Hong Kong. She is the daughter of Jimmy Wong, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Overseas Studies Centre, Bright World's No 1 agent for several years running.

We are all very impressed with the art work that has been created by Brittany. This is a self portrait and shows remarkable talent for an artist of her very young age.

We are keeping our eye on Brittany - we think she has a lot of talent and could be a budding artist in the future.

Well done Brittany from the Bright World team.

Summer - what summer??????!!!!!!! Lana Foster blogs on about our weather

I cant believe the summer is practically over. Well actually it never really began here in the UK! The weather has been very disappointing here - rainy summer fetes, grass too long on our lawns because it is too wet too mow, tomatoes stay green in the greenhouse.

Jake, our dog won second prize in the Best Veteran Dog at the Small Dole Summer Fete. It didn't rain either! That was the highlight of the summer for us!

We are now looking forward to dark nights, log fires and sheepskin slippers - it will be Christmas before we know it!

Welcome back to all our students. We hope you had a great rest and are ready to start the new school year. We hope your exam results were what you wished for.

Lana Foster

Summer Sales begin at UK universities?

Department stores and shops have their summer sales to clear stock in preparation for their new winter wares, universities have what has been universally known for years as ‘clearing’. However, whereas the department store ‘summer sale’ is more often a cynical attempt to get rid of stock that no-one else wants, university clearing is a genuinely useful way for students who have not secured a place at university to get a good course at one of over 100 institutions in the UK who still have places available. Clearing is designed for students who have applied through UCAS and who have either been rejected from their choices, or who have not managed to get the required grades to meet the conditions of their offer.

The student may not have met the conditions stipulated by their first choice university, or may have only just got around to even applying. It can often be a stressful time for students – the initial disappointment of not getting a place at their first choice is tempered by the knowledge that they will have to spend long hours on the telephone to international offices, faxing or emailing over grades - only to find out that the course of their choice is now full.

Attempts to make clearing easier for international students have alleviated this. International Offices spend busy months travelling to exhibitions throughout the world during July and August to make on the spot offers to students armed with their supporting documents and latest grade sheets.

Bright World works closely with their partner universities during this time of frenzied university placement activity. Students wishing to apply for a place are advised to get all their relevant documents ready. This means that as well as their transcripts, they will need to submit their academic references and a personal statement. If they are applying for a university placement in an art based subject, they would normally be expected to also send in their portfolio. For those students who have not applied through UCAS and who have sent in their documents for a place and meet all the conditions, a Record of Prior Acceptance form will be sent to them which they need to complete and send back to the university.

The important thing to realise during Clearing is that students need to meet the all the conditions for entry. If the university stipulates they need IELTS of 6.5 there is no point applying for a September place during August with an IELTS of 5.0 - your English won’t be up to scratch and there won’t be enough time to study for a presessional.