About Us
As soon as students arrive they can see a family taking care of them. This immediately makes students feel easy.
Our family presence creates a friendly and reassuring atmosphere that comforts students that may be away from home for the first time
With our warm family presence and the safe location of Hurst College, parents are assured that their children are well-looked after and will thoroughly benefit from their stay with Manor Courses.
The Directors are:
- Parents with babies and children at school
- Criminal Records Bureau checked for police records
- Emergency First Aid trained
Jon (Course Director), Nick (Managing Director), Jacky (Director)
The directors
Manor Courses Ltd, established in 1970, organises Residential English Summer Schools for young foreign students and has been a family business for 3 generations.
- Jacky (pictured on the right) is the current Director of the organisation and is the daughter of the founder Mrs. Smith. Jacky has two sons and a daughter; Nick (pictured centre), Jon (pictured left) and Su. While the family lived overseas they spent summers at their Grandmother's summer school. Growing up with different nationalities in the sympathetic and caring environment with young foreign students has given them a wealth of experience in this field.
- Nick is the Managing Director and responsible for sales and marketing. Nick ensures we have a great mix of nationalities coming from all over the world and works closely with the management at Hurst College.
- Jon has been the Course Director for 5 years now, graduating with a Diploma in TESOL when he started teaching in Brighton. Before that he spent 5 years as an English teacher in Japan and Taiwan. He is a member of IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) and QuiTE (Quality in TESOL Education). Jon is responsible for recruitment with Jacky.
- Su qualified with a BA in Hospitality Management and is a perfect Hospitality & Education Consultant. She started as an English teacher in Spain, then Belgium, then Paris and then took a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education. She currently works as a Primary School teacher in London and assists us during the summer course.
During the summer Jacky, Nick and Jon are always live at the summer school. This provides the genuine warm family atmosphere and assists the experience and expertise of the staff team.
Welfare and social programme management
- All of the Directors and 4 other members of management are 'Appointed First Aid Persons'. We also have a qualified full-time Nurse - Nesli can be found in the office whenever a student feels ill, and is ready to rush to any accidents/injuries.
- Our long-term Welfare Manager, Shirley, has worked for us in a number of roles, including teacher, for more than 10 years! Her invaluable experience in psychotherapy and education make her the perfect in the management team. Students suffereing any problems will find her in the office ready to help.
- Tracy, a key Welfare and Domestic Consultant, started as the Junior Course Manager in 1990. Many years before that she was play-group leader to all three of Jacky's children (the Directors she works with every day of the summer).
- Our Junior Course Manager, Lili, has worked for us since 2005 and ensures the entire Junior Course team do a great job of taking care of the youngest children.
- Darren/Grover, the Activities Programme Manager (and health and fitness expert), makes sure every student gets the chance to do a wide variety of activities every session.
- He is supported by 2 Head Sports Leaders who have a number of years working for us and are both graduates of Chichester University's Bachelor of Education in Sports.
The academic team
- The Director of Studies (DOS), Helen, has been an English teacher for a few years in South Korea and has taken a number of teaching training courses, including the Trinity Diploma in TESOL and Diploma in English Language Teaching Management.
- She is assisted by 3 Assistant Directors of Studies (ADOS), one of whom specialises in the Junior Course. All our ADOSs have a good history of working for us.
- Alex has worked with us since 2004 and has a background in IT. Alongside many years teaching in Italy he has come back to MC many times, and is closely involved in our testing and level placement.
- Jane has worked for us since 2006 and has an excellent career in working with children with a wide variety of needs, in both UK and New Zealand. She has previously worked with publishers and recruiters in the education industry.
- Steve has always made the MC Junior Course a success, and manages to return back from such a far off and exotic place as Brazil for his summers!
- This team is supported by the expertise of our 4 Head Teachers, who have either spent a number of years working for us and/or are very well-qualified.