The Duke of York’s Royal Military School is a prestigious British boarding school set on a large, spacious, secure campus in the Kent countryside. Founded by The Duke of York in 1801 it still retains its royal connections, with its current Patron being The Duke of Kent. Situated not far from Dover, the school is accessible for all the London airports and the Eurostar terminal at Ashford. The impressive buildings and setting are very traditional and grand, but there is a heart to the campus which offers a warm, welcoming environment to our students each summer.
At The Duke of York’s we test each student’s level of English shortly after arrival and then place them in a class according to their age and their assessed level. Students are divided into Junior (8-12yrs) and Senior (13yrs+) classes. The morning lessons focus on reading, writing, speaking and listening, and our afternoon ‘Active English’ session gives students a chance to acquire and strengthen language skills as they participate in various interactive sessions throughout their stay, such as drama, music, cookery, sport and arts & craft. All students receive a certificate of course completion, an English Language report and an activity participation report at the end of their stay.
The Duke of York’s offers a vast selection of on-campus activities for all our students to enjoy in the afternoon and evening. There are many hectares of green playing fields for football; tag rugby; cricket and other team games; a full-size Astroturf; many tennis courts; 4 squash courts; an athletics track; a large indoor swimming pool; an indoor sports hall; courts for volleyball and basketball; biking areas; table tennis tables and much more. They also offer regular dance sessions led by a professional instructor. There arealso competitions in football, tennis, basketball and swimming.
Day Trips
The Duke of York’s is handily placed for quick motorway access allowing us to visit a variety of attractive destinations which include London for sightseeing and shopping; the London Science Museum; the London Natural History Museum; Chelsea Football Club or Wembley Stadium; the London Eye; Buckingham Palace; Canterbury and its world-famous cathedral; Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures theme parks; Leeds Castle and Ashford outlet centre; Hever Castle and Royal Tunbridge Wells; Hastings and 10-pin bowling; Port Lympne safari zoo and the historic coastal castle at nearby Dover.
Social and Cultural Activities
The Duke of York’s campus itself offers such a wonderful village atmosphere that living here for a few weeks in the summer becomes one big social event for our students. Supervised afternoon and evening activities include treasure hunts; karaoke nights; the ‘Summer of Talent’ show; disco nights; quiz shows; the fashion show and casino nights. They also offer arts and craft sessions, including tie-dye T-shirt design in the art studio; mask making; face painting and jewellery making. In our regular cookery sessions, we offer the chance to bake your own fresh brownies, flapjacks, cupcakes and biscuits.
Juniors (8-12yrs) have a weekly A&A™ day (‘Action and Adventure’) included in their programme, participating in such activities as assault course; mountain biking; camping and survival (on campus); orienteering; dinghy racing (in the pool) and mini-triathlon.
Catering & Accommodation
All meals are provided and are taken in the magnificent dining hall, truly a Harry Potter experience for students and guests. Students are given packed meals on day trips. The Duke of York’s offers a range of rooms for the different ages:
Aged 16-17 years: single rooms with en-suite WC and shower facilities plus access to a large common room.
Aged 15 years: multi-bedded rooms where each student has their own private single unit, offering bed, desk, chair and wardrobe.
Aged 12-14 years and 8-11 years: multi-bedded rooms (up to six) where each child has their own private unit consisting of bed, desk, chair and wardrobe.
These rooms all open on to large, welcoming common rooms within the house which provide a homely, social area for students to relax in and make friends. All showers and toilets were recently installed. Each residence is run by a Head of House and staff are on call 24 hours per day.
