UFS International (Usutu Forest School International)

UFS International follows the Cambridge Assessment International Education programme through the primary and high school, and holds full accreditation from Cambridge International Examinations. External Cambridge examinations are taken from Form 4 through Form 6, with the examination fees set by Cambridge and billed separately from tuition. Below the Cambridge years the school runs its own early years programme. The school reports that its primary pupils win scholarships to leading high schools, which it presents as evidence of the quality of its broad-based curriculum.

UFS International runs from the early years to the end of secondary school. The pre-primary phase covers Grade 000 and Grade 00 and the reception year. Primary is organised in a junior phase and an intermediate and senior phase, the latter covering Grades 4 to 7 with an emphasis on character and a strong academic foundation. The high school, launched after a parent survey in 2014 and officially opened in November 2015, covers Form 1 to Form 5 with a separate Form 6 year, and students sit external Cambridge examinations from Form 4 onwards. Tuition is published in six bands across these stages.

The school describes a holistic education in which academic work is complemented by cultural, sporting, service-learning and leadership programmes, and says its comprehensive curriculum is meant to make students self-aware, locally aware and globally aware so that they can make the most of their potential. Its motto, carried on the older school badge, is Aim High; the badge introduced in 2017 uses trees to stand for wisdom, knowledge and strength and rays of sunshine for growth, health, power and passion. The school also sets out a clear commitment to safeguarding and the welfare of children, with its own student safeguarding policy binding on staff, governors and volunteers.

The school publishes a detailed fee structure: an assessment fee on application, a once-off non-refundable registration levy, a refundable deposit payable over two years for high school entrants, tuition by stage, a stationery and textbook levy, transport fees and Cambridge examination fees for Forms 4 to 6. Tuition can be paid annually, termly or in ten monthly instalments from January to October, with a 5 per cent discount for annual payment by the end of February, and there is a referral credit for parents who introduce a new family. School transport runs between home and school on normal school days and is provided only to students whose termly transport fees are fully paid. Other support includes a fully resourced Learning Support Centre, a bursary fund, and a parent teacher association.

Sport at UFS International includes hockey, soccer, swimming, athletics, basketball, golf, cross country, cricket, rugby, netball, volleyball and mountain biking, and the school takes teams on tours across the border to expose pupils to different coaching and playing conditions. All pupils from Grade 1 take part in the annual interhouse swimming gala and athletics, and in the interhouse cross-country. Judo, gymnastics and rope skipping are offered through private coaches at extra cost. On the cultural side the school offers chess, choir, public speaking, drama, community service, robotics, coding, life skills, a media club and Junior Achievement, and it describes these as both catering for existing talents and introducing new skills to everyone.