Chester College International School, Santiago de Compostela

We’ve had a fantastic experience with Chester College Spanish Summer Camp. Both of my children have been attending from Ireland for a number of years now, and it’s something they genuinely look forward to every summer. Each year, they come home full of stories, new friendships, and wonderful memories. One of the most noticeable benefits has been their progress in Spanish. Their confidence and ability to speak the language have improved tremendously, far beyond what we could have expected from classroom learning alone. The immersive environment really makes a difference. What stands out just as much is how much they embrace the Spanish culture while they’re there. From food and traditions to everyday habits, they truly get involved, and it’s been lovely to see them bring some of that culture back home with them and incorporate it into our daily lives. Overall, I couldn’t recommend Chester highly enough. It’s been an enriching, enjoyable, and worthwhile experience for both of my children year after year.

I am lucky to know the competent, skilled, loving and caring people who run the school. Chester College International school has a long tradition and a extensive experience in organizing summer camps. The school itself has a wonderful location. The cosy building sits in a charming green landscape and the property includes space for sports and other fun activities. Chester has skilled and experienced teachers and monitors that accompany the language learning process and varied activities that include art, musical theater, sports, excursions, trips to the beach, visits to the beautiful city of Santiago de Compostela and other places of interest. It's a good place to practise Spanish (or English), meet other young people and create nice memories.

Our daughter had the most amazing time. So much so that after a first summer staying for one 2-week session, she begged to go back for a full month the following summer. The camp is so well-run. Great teaching, really fun activities and the opportunity to make Spanish friends as well as learning Spanish. What more could we ask for?

I decided to come to Chester College after taking part in their Spanish summer camp a few summers in a row. I had an amazing year and loved Santiago! I studied 10th grade there as I decided I wanted to improve my Spanish. The classes were really small so I got a lot of help, and I had a Spanish lesson every day so I could improve really quickly. When my level was good enough, I started getting other subjects through Spanish as well like Maths and Science. The teachers are all really nice and give you lots of support if you don't know something. They also helped me to think about my university choices and what career I might be interested in. I liked living in the residence - I shared a room with a Spanish girl and the monitor was really nice - she was from Spain too. At the weekend we went on trips and went to the beach in the summer. The food was really nice too! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to study abroad and do well in all their normal subjects but also get fluent in Spanish and experience living in another culture.

I studied Grade 11 in Chester College International School - a few ago already! Looking back, it was a wonderful decision. From an academic point of view, the recognition of credits was really easy and the transition to my school in the UK was very easy. I reached a proficient level of Spanish by the end of the school year - a language I now use for work and travel all the time. Apart from Spanish, I took a number of solid Science subjects, as well as a range of other Arts ones, including German as a second language. The cultural experience was also definitely a highlight - Santiago is small, safe and beautiful. I stayed in the school residence during the week (which I shared with a group of Spanish and international students) and would go to a host family during the week-ends (that was my choice back then - I could have had the option to stay in the boarding school during the week-ends as well). I am still in touch with my host parents. It was a wonderful exchange overall. I made many new friends I am still in touch with. Can´t wait to go back to Santiago to revisit all those memories.

I loved Santiago! I wanted to choose an area of Spain that was far away from all of the tourists in the Costa del Sol and that's exactly what I got. Santiago is such a beautiful city! The Spanish camp was awesome - the classes were really small so we had lots of help from the teacher and I improved loads over the month. We also did lots of our lessons offsite - going to the local market to learn the names of the food an practicing ordering drinks for real in a cafe was lots of fun. At the site (Chester College) the Spanish camp was held at the same time as a big English camp for Spanish students, so I made lots of friends from Spain which was cool and it helped me with my Spanish as I could practice with them (some of them were my roommates too). At the end of the camp we all put on a big theater production to showcase our work which was fun, I think it helped to have something to work towards. We went on about 3 trips a week - often to beaches or nice countryside. The beaches were so beautiful! Also I hate the extreme heat, and in Santiago it was a really nice temperature (about 25-30ºC) which was perfect for me. I would definitely recommend this camp. Oh and the food was delicious too!