Yulia Khutman (Gordonstoun school) - review of working with the company Paradise

After finishing 4th grade at a Viennese gymnasium, our 14-year-old son Daniel expressed a great desire to try to study at Boarding school in the UK. We had absolutely no idea where to start and decided to contact a school selection agency.

At first, we intuitively chose the Paradise company on the Internet, then, having met the company’s founder, Natalya Shtrein, via video conference, we were convinced that our choice was correct. After a detailed conversation about our son's character, habits, strengths and weaknesses, as well as our expectations about the new school, Natalya gave us 5 schools to choose from. Based on Natalia’s description, reviews and recommendations, we and our son immediately drew attention to the school in Scotland Gordonstoun, where Daniel successfully passed the interview and test, and was accepted into the ranks of new students.

Here I would like to especially note the well-coordinated work of the Paradise agency staff. They completely took care of all communication and correspondence with the school, helped fill out, and in most cases independently filled out for us, all the necessary documents, helped obtain a student visa in a short time, literally packed Daniel’s suitcase, were in constant contact and responded very quickly to questions from our side.

I personally accompanied Danya to school, I myself was very curious to see what everything really looks like.

The first thing that struck me about Gordonstoun was the size of the school. This is not a school, but a small town, on the territory of which most teachers have their own houses, also a special building is allocated for each subject, and children live in very spacious houses, where there are all the necessary conditions for studying and having a good time.

In addition, there is a huge green area where there are several football and rugby fields, its own sports and fitness club, swimming pool, and much more. My son and I were delighted!

Initially it was agreed that Daniel would go to school for a year, and after that he would return home to Vienna and continue his studies at his old school. However, after six months of studying, Danya began to tell us that he would really like to stay for at least another year to complete the GCSE program.

I, as a mother, who naturally had certain concerns and fears about how my son would live and study independently away from home, I believe that this is the main an indicator that the school was chosen correctly and that the child feels as comfortable as possible in it. As a result, we succumbed to Daniel’s persistent persuasion to stay in school for another year. Daniel considers Gordonstoun his second home; he very quickly joined the international team, largely thanks to his knowledge of English, German and Russian.

He quickly made close friends, already on the first leave out weekend he flew with a friend to London to his home, and now he has to choose who he will fly to first. I still don’t remember a single visit to Danya’s house during the holidays, so that he would not fly to Vienna alone.

My son has changed a lot during his time at school, he has become more intelligent, reasonable, independent and responsible. It was a very good decision on our part to give him such an opportunity, naturally thanks to the huge support of Paradise.

Gordonstoun school