Page 47 - ELG1909 Sep Issue 466

INTERVIEW .

Managing “Two expert schools with over 140 years’ combined experience!”

your way

to the top

ELC Eastbourne is the second school Team spirit – John Veale, top left, with
the admin team at ELC Eastbourne:
that John Veale has taken up the Radek Kwietniewski, Melinda Morgan, ELC EASTBOURNE ELC Eastbourne ELC Brighton
EL Gazette rankings. He tells Melanie Butler William Orr and Giuliana Bracciali.
the secrets behind his success ELC is a QRW IRU SURͤW RUJDQLVDWLRQ with an international
reputation for providing a wide range of quality English language
courses, expert teachers and excellent student services.
John Veale is like a good football manager – he has taken an EFL worked in different places, it is clear that ELC is a seasoned
‘team’ up the rankings not once, but twice, and with two very different organisation; it has worked out who it is and why it’s here and is
‘clubs’. But in EFL, as in football, not all good players make good comfortable in its skin.”
managers. It was this sense of educational tradition that drew him to the job.
Veale’s early EFL career was fairly conventional: teaching in Japan, “Before I joined, staff at ELC had recently gone through a process of Helping you to build your future since 1962
Spain and London, and he started a Masters degree. So how did he defining their mission statement and values. It may sound cheesy, but
make the shift into management? the results won me over. • General English
“Luck mostly, I landed a job at ARELS – as English UK was called When we go through inductions for new staff, we even use words
then – and that is where I started to learn about the complexities of like ‘community’, can you imagine?”
the world beyond the classroom. And at ELC Brighton the mission statement is not just words on a • IELTS Preparation
It is surprising what you pick up and who you meet while stacking piece of paper. This is a school with an ethos.
chairs at an agent’s workshop like Study World…’’ “There is a concerted effort to put these values into practice ̽ &DPEULGJH )LUVW $GYDQFHG 3URͤFLHQF\
John’s first job as principal was at a brand-new school in Brighton. through how we work, too. It helps when you see the scholarships
He now runs a school that was founded in sedate Eastbourne in the and other charitable work ELC contributes to. Perhaps this lies • 50+ Sussex Experience
1930s – how does that feel? behind the enduring success of ELC over the years, it is ingrained
“ELC Eastbourne certainly has the feel of a grand in the organisational culture. There aren’t many schools
old school, the new chandelier fits right in. There where the staff room door is open and students can be • English Plus Golf, Yoga, Tennis, Horse-riding
is a strong academic background with a group of There aren’t beckoned in for a chat.”
experienced teachers and staff who empathise many schools where Both in Brighton, and now with ELC Eastbourne, • Courses for teachers of English
with students. The academic support overall is John has taken his team to the top – both are EL
very thorough and we work hard on making the the staff room door Gazette Centres of Excellence, based on British
environment a comfortable one. is open and students Council inspection reports. • English courses for business professionals
I personally enjoy working on the range of So, what, in his varied experience are the three
courses we have from Summer Vacation to Fifty can be beckoned most important things to focus on to create an
Plus, so we work with many different ages as well in for a chat. exceptional language school?
as cultures. Every day is different.” “Listen to your customers, enjoy yourself and read
And the move from Brighton to Eastbourne? the Accreditation Unit’s criteria, requirements and
“Eastbourne is on the up as a seaside destination, with a renovated additional guidance document carefully. Those nice people at the
town centre, and there is lots to do and see. At the same time, it offers British Council
something quite distinct from the hubbub of Brighton or other larger Accreditation
centres.” Unit have spelt
We are within easy reach of London of course, so it is easy to pop it all out for you ELC EASTBOURNE
up and see the sights. But then rather than get the tube back to Zone far better than
5, you can escape back to the South Downs National Park. You are I ever could.”
surrounded by iconic countryside, where the air is clean, queues rare If you want
and the pace calmer. Eastbourne offers a real slice of English culture; to become
no wonder Sherlock Holmes retired here to keep bees.” a Centre of
John went from working for a commercial chain to being part of Excellence, www.elc-schools.com
an established not-for-profit trust. I asked him what was the biggest as John Veale
difference he found in working for an educational trust. knows, you
“The school I helped to set up in Brighton was not a large need to play by
commercial chain at the time and never had that feel. But having the rules. ELC Eastbourne
46 September 2019