I don’t recommend the Gateway School of English. I have booked the Junior Summer programme for my niece, who was visiting me to stay for a week in mid-June. I wanted her to have an opportunity to attend the afternoon and evening activities, as I wouldn’t have that much time for her due to work. I have made the required payments for the deposit and the remaining balance prior to the start of the course. It took a little bit of nagging to receive the detailed schedule of the activities, which was finally sent out just 3 days before the course started. According to the schedule provided ahead of the course, the afternoon activities program was meant to run between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., whereas the evening activities would start at 7.m. and last until 10 p.m.On top of that, there were weekend activities and excursions scheduled from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
The programme appeared to be varied and interesting. Unfortunately, on the first day of the course, my niece received an updated timetable, where the afternoon timetable changed significantly and the activities began at 3 p.m. rather than 1 p.m. This meant that instead of the originally planned 45-minute gap between the lessons and the activities, it was now extended to over 2 hours—so not very practical for a minor, living quite a distance away from the school premises. I was not happy at all with such a significant change, communicated at the very last minute. On top of that, some of the evening activities, such as sport night, took the form of simple wandering around instead of a game of volleyball—particularly disappointing given that 30 minutes before driving my niece to the pick-up point, I was informed over the phone that the game would take place. Then, the weekend activity on Saturday, scheduled from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., finished a lot earlier—by 2:45 p.m., so more than 2 hours early—and my niece was already dropped off at the school premises, while I had to make an urgent arrangement to pick her up. Overall, this was rather messy, unprofessional, and very poorly communicated by the school. There are many other language schools in Malta, so consider taking your money elsewhere instead of choosing GSE.
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