TASIS

All about TASIS - The American School in England

The school we have chosen to send the girls to in London is called TASIS, London.  It's a sister school of The American School in Switzerland.  We debated long and hard about this decision, because ASL (The American School in London) has an excellent reputation.  However, we really wanted to live in the country, and ASL is in the center of London. Fortunately, we were immediately charmed by this gorgeous campus.  The campus was converted from a 17th century manor, and it has acres of grounds, a pond (complete with swans), an enormous playground and a real treehouse.   It is K-12, and a fair percentage of the upper school students are boarding students.  The building above houses the Student Center, which is a hang out where kids can buy candy and snacks, or sit and do homework and listen to music. 

This is the Lower School - where Georgia and Caroline have their classrooms.  Georgia's is on the top floor of the octagonal pop out on the left side. 

This is the Main Campus building, with a huge lawn for all-school picnics:



And the pond:

Now that we are all settled, I can honestly say that this was one of the BEST decisions we have ever made!  TASIS is a perfect school for us - small class sizes (Georgia has 13, Caroline has 15), wonderful teachers, a fantastic curriculum, all surrounded by amazing natural beauty.  Each day after school the girls and their friends run around the playground...but we'll see how long that lasts now that it's winter!

A great benefit of being in England is all of the history that surrounds you in your every day life.  The girls have taken some amazing field trips! Here's Caroline at the Prime Meridian:



And Georgia's class went to Chertsey, which is the site of an old Abbey that was originally demolished by Vikings, and then rebuilt and demolished again by Henry VIII when he used the stones to build a castle.  They dressed as Vikings, readied their weapons, and then walked the "Monk's Walk" - a path that the monks took from the church to the abbey.  Here's my little Viking:

And lucky Georgia!  She was chosen to be THE monk to lead the Monk's walk:

But evidently, these were friendly Vikings, because they got along just fine.  Here is G with her buddies Sophia, Bria, Kate and a Viking most of you will recognize - Taylor!

Ah yes, not even the pillaging and plundering could break up a friendship that has been alive since pre-school.  This Viking and Monk took the beautiful walk together:

And if you think field trips are just an excuse to get out of the classroom - listen to this.  When we visited Hampton Court - one of the castles of Henry VIII, Georgia walked around quietly for a while.  Then she furrowed her brow, narrowed her eyes and said (loudly) "HEYYYYY.....This castle was built with rocks that Henry STOLE from those MONKS!"

Who says they're not learning things on field trips?

Lots of love to all!