About Earlscliffe

Earlscliffe offers something genuinely distinctive: a small, welcoming school with academic purpose and a truly global community.

Our intensive teaching approach, including small classes and our unique weekly TRaC™ testing, ensures every student makes real, measurable progress, while our award-winning pastoral care (Winners of the BSA Award for Supporting International Boarders, 2025) means they are looked after every step of the way.

With 48 nationalities represented, students learn alongside peers from around the world in an environment that is as culturally enriching as it is academically rigorous.

Beyond the classroom, a varied extracurricular programme including weekly sports, clubs, societies, Earlscliffe Football Academy and a Basketball Academy ensures there is something for everyone.

Just 54 minutes from central London by train, Earlscliffe combines an inspiring setting with exceptional access, making it a truly special place to study, grow, and belong.

Our History

Earlscliffe was built in 1870 as a large, private house in Folkestone’s desirable West End, a short stroll from the sea and Folkestone’s famous promenade, The Leas.

The main building on Shorncliffe Road has now existed as a centre for education for many years. It was originally the large summer home of the Boddam-Whetham family of Kirklington Hall, near Nottingham, and became a school around 1923.

Just as we welcome students from overseas today, so it was during the Second World War when this building was home to the Dr Leonore Goldschmidt Schule, a school for German Jewish children who were brought from Berlin to the UK.

Our Ethos

Earlscliffe is a boarding school of 150 students from across the world, where each student will find support and encouragement from us all as they settle in and then proceed to make their own mark on the school.

As students progress through their studies, pushing forward to attain their academic aims and objectives, they will also forge lasting friendships and lead gloriously busy lives as self-motivated young men and women.

Earlscliffe offers a personalised education that begins at an admissions interview where future plans are discussed, and appropriate programmes and subjects to study are selected.

Click here to learn more about why you should choose Earlscliffe for your academic journey.

Further information on how UK qualifications are assessed can be found at this government website.

Leavers Destinations

Our students go on to study at universities across the globe, choosing from an extraordinary breadth of degree programmes and institutions. With 94 worldwide university destinations and 185 different degree choices, the range and ambition of our leavers speaks for itself.

The majority of our students head to UK universities, with 45% choosing London institutions including Imperial College London, UCL, the London School of Economics, and King’s College London and a further 40% studying elsewhere in the UK.

15% pursue their studies internationally, from Bocconi University in Milan and Stanford University in California to institutions across Japan, Australia, Brazil, and beyond.

These destinations are a testament to the ambition our students carry with them, shaped by the academic foundations, personal growth, and enriching experiences they gained during their time at Earlscliffe.

The support I received from everyone at Earlscliffe was second to none.. Max, Germany

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