Free counselling
Art, design, performing arts — or a US diploma if that is the wider door. A first conversation about the year you are in. We sit with you like a friend who has already been in that corridor. No pitch. Counselling is free.
The Ānanda Group
Ānanda means bliss. Academy means we take the next decade seriously.
We sit with families the way a friend would — in Hong Kong, London and Vancouver — and walk three CATS Global Schools pathways until the next step is a decision, not a leap. Counselling is free.
What we are
We sit with families in Hong Kong, London and Vancouver. We map the year the student is actually in onto three CATS routes: a US boarding high school in Braintree, a specialist arts college in Cambridge, and Stafford House English summers. We recommend the school that fits — and we are honest when one of them does not.
The schools teach. We make sure you arrive on the right course, at the right moment, with a file that can be read.
The Ānanda Group
Ānanda Academy
US boarding, Cambridge arts, English summers — made considered. The page you are on.
For a bespoke itinerary, please contact Ānanda Voyage
anandavoyage.comFor a bespoke home design, please contact Ānanda Home
home@theanandagroup.com
The founder
Someone who walked the door — then sat on the other side of it.
Our founder knows UK education from the inside. They walked the whole UK door: prep years, GCSE, A-level, a Foundation year, then Central Saint Martins — UAL, 2nd in the world for art and design. That is the same arts door we now sit with families about — not a line copied from a prospectus.
They used to represent the colleges, so they know how a file is actually read — the standard, not the rumour. And they live between Hong Kong, the UK and Canada. The difference between a DSE year, an A-level year and a Canadian Grade 12 is something they have had to explain at the dinner table, not only in a meeting.
The route they took
- 1
Year 7–9 · Prep
The years before the public exams. Settling into the pace of a UK school.
- 2
Year 10–11 · GCSE
The first UK public exams.
- 3
Year 11–13 · A-level · Level 3
Sixth form. Still exam-led — the standard academic door.
- 4
Foundation · Level 4
The specialist year art schools actually read.
- 5
Central Saint Martins
UAL — 2nd in the world for art and design, QS 2026. The highest-ranked undergraduate.
Then the college side of the desk. That is why we can talk about portfolio standard without guessing.
For families
What we can actually do for you.
Think of us as the friend who has already sat in the corridor outside the interview. Counselling is free. The rest is the work of getting a student to the right door, with a file that can be read.
School tours, with Ānanda Voyage
If you want to walk the campus before you decide, we work with our sister house. Hotel, the day’s itinerary, getting you to Braintree or Cambridge in person — so the trip is a look at the school, not a scramble at the airport.
Portfolio, to their standard
We used to sit on the college side of the desk, so we know what they actually read — a CSVPA file, a UAL-facing folder, a song or a monologue. We help shape the work to that standard, not a generic art bag.
The application, held in one place
Dates, forms, references, English scores, UCAS or the Common App. We keep the moving parts in one conversation so you are not translating three school systems at midnight.
Scholarships, fought for
Where a scholarship is possible, we fight for the strongest case the student’s file can honestly support. We do not invent numbers. We press for the best award the work can carry.
US boarding
Boston is close — especially from Canada.
If boarding is on the table, location matters. For families in Canada — Vancouver especially — Boston is a short flight, not an ocean. CATS Academy Boston sits in Braintree, about 35 minutes from the city: ensuite rooms, AP, sport, STEAM, and college counselling from Grade 9. The range of what a student can do next is wide — US universities, a CSVPA Arts Academy track, even a guaranteed Cambridge undergraduate place if they take that route. Closer than the UK. More doors than a single specialist year. We will talk through that honestly.
Read CATS BostonThe three pathways we walk
Braintree, Massachusetts
CATS Academy Boston
A US boarding high school. Grades 8–12, AP Honor Roll, college counseling from Grade 9. Thirty-five minutes from Boston.
Cambridge, England
CSVPA Cambridge
A specialist arts college. UAL diplomas, foundation, BA and MA. A studio of your own, in the heart of the city.
UK · USA · Malaysia
Stafford House summers
English and activity courses for ages 8–18. British Council–accredited in the UK. Often the first look at a school a family later applies to.
Three cities, one conversation
Hong Kong
Where most of our families begin — F.3 to F.6, HKDSE, and the question of Boston, Cambridge, or a first summer.
London
Close to UAL, the offers, and the interviews. A short train from Cambridge; a conversation that also holds Boston.
Vancouver
Pacific families looking at a US diploma or a UK arts year without starting from a blank map.