Meet our staff

Sarah - Head of Student Services.

My name is Sarah and I am a new arrival to British Study Centre in Oxford. I moved to Oxford from London quite recently and as a newcomer to the city it still 'takes my breath away', because it is such a beautiful and inspiring place.

I have a BA in English Literature, a Celta Qualification and have taught, travelled and worked in many different areas before coming to Oxford. At home, I have two sons aged 10 and 12 who keep me busy as well as a large and bouncy puppy who loves walking on nearby Port Meadow and swimming in the River Thames.

Meeting such a wide range of people from all over the world is certainly the best thing about British Study Centres, and I can vouch for the hard work, friendliness and enthusiasm of the Student Services team to ensure that you have a good time in Oxford.

Dawn - Accommodation and Office Manager.

Hi, I'm Dawn. I've been here over 5 years now and I am the Accommodation and Office Manager. I've completed and passed a counselling course. I'm responsible for all accommodation placements including Homestay & Student House.

Before all this I did a National Diploma in Travel and Tourism and Business studies, then managed an Independant Travel Agency and a department in a Tour Operator for the following 12 years. Have travelled extensively all over the world for both work and pleasure.

Holidays and travelling are very important to me, as well as spending time with family and friends, walking the dog, re-vamping my home and eating out! That's about it really. Hope to see you soon.

Katia - Student Services Officer.

Hi, my name is Katia and I work in the Student Services Department. I come from Italy but I have been living in Oxford for almost 5 years and I strongly suggest you come and visit it as it's such a lovely place! Here you can meet so many people from all over the world and I really enjoy hearing all the stories of our foreign students!

I also love travelling, music and especially dancing the tango!

Having learnt to live abroad myself, I can really understand any problems you might have when you are away from home, so if you have any questions, come and see me and I will do my best to help you during your stay with us.

I hope to see you here at our school very soon.

Alex - Student Services Officer.

Hi my name is Alex I work in the student services department and also organise the social programme here in Oxford.

I grew up in the city of dreaming spires but have spent the last 25 years travelling the world first with the Royal Navy and more recently on Cruise Ships. I have travelled to many different countries and enjoy discovering new cultures and especially enjoy sampling new foods. I have a home in Thailand which I visit whenever I can.

I enjoy Scuba Diving and Karaoke in my spare time.

Helen - Student Services Officer.

Hello! My name's Helen. I started working with BSC Oxford with the student services team in March 2007. I help with bookings and also finding accommodation for our students.

Before coming here I worked as a picture researcher for several years in a publishing company, and before that I taught English for over eight years. I worked mostly in Colombia which I loved. I have also taught in schools here in England. I've lived in Oxford for 7 years.

Tim - Resources Manager.

Hi everyone,

I've now been here since 1999 and am still enjoying it as much as when I started. I joined the school after teaching in both Thailand and Spain. In 2001 I gained the DELTA qualification and became involved in materials design for courses such as 'British Studies' 'Media and Communication' and 'Pronunciation and Communication Skills'. More recently I have become one of our Assistant Directors of Studies and a teacher trainer on the CELTA courses we run here in Oxford.

Outside of work is now mostly spent doing things with my partner and our two young children, Heather (2 years) and the new little boy in the family, Kosta (9 months). Apart from them, I continue to have a passion for cooking, especially Thai food, which I got addicted to when working there.

Kainan - China Student Manager.

Hi, I'm Kainan, the China Student Manager at BSC. I've worked in the international education field for 20 years now. I used to be a TEFL teacher at a couple of universities in China. I completed an MA in Education Management at Oxford in 2001 and I have been living and working at several international schools and colleges in Oxford since then.

Although my job here is to help the Chinese students at the school, I cherish the opportunity to develop my English, Russian and Japanese at the same time.

When I am not at work, you can normally find me shopping and chatting with my daughter who herself is an overseas student at Oxford. I enjoy travelling, reading, all sorts of music, cinema, gardening and cooking.

I hope to see you soon and taste my hand-made Chinese dumplings!

You yuan xiangyue zai nujin!

This profile is also available in Chinese.

Kate - Accounts Administrator.

Although based in Oxford I am responsible for the accounts administration of all three British Study Centres Schools of English. I have been here since 2000 and can see a tremendous growth in the Schools, especially Oxford. This obviously means I have a very busy role.

I originally come from London, and am relatively new to Oxford, as our family lived up north for over twenty years, moving down to this area with my husband's job. I live in a very pretty little village, but it's a bit isolated with only a pub, church and post box. My three children have all grown up and I'm waiting patiently for them to have families of their own.

Lynn - IT Network Manager.

My name's Lynn and I am responsible for all aspects of IT at the school, which basically means anything with either a length of cable attached or a plug on the end of it. Formerly I was an IT and Teeline tutor and currently teach some IT to the FY students at the school. BSC provide excellent computing facilities for students to use as well as wi fi access which is free to users. I enjoy helping staff and students to solve their computing problems so do not hesitate in coming to see me should you require any help with the computers or connecting your laptops to the wifi.

My hobbies include ballroom and latin american dancing, learning Spanish, country walking at the weekend with ideally a pub lunch at the end of it, and I enjoy spending time with my grandchildren aged 8 and 4.

Elaine - Academic Director

Hello. I'm Elaine. I'm the Academic Director at the Oxford school. I design courses and support our excellent team of teachers. I also do some teaching, particularly on the Academic Foundation Year and teacher refresher courses. I've been teaching for 12 years and worked in Greece and Italy before coming to Oxford. I recently went back to school myself in order to study for a master's degree and enjoyed being a student again.

I look forward to seeing you at the school.

Maura - Assistant Academic Director

I have been an English Language Teacher for over twenty years, most of which I spent overseas. I have worked in Spain, Morocco, Mexico and all over the Middle East. You can probably guess that I love sunshine and blue skies! Now I live in Oxfordshire with my husband. It may not be so sunny here, but we do have some of the most beautiful countryside in England. I enjoy long walks at the weekend, especially when we finish by having lunch at a country pub.

As Assistant Academic Director, managing courses is a large part of my job. This means that I am responsible for making sure that you are in the class that best meets your needs. Come and see me if you want to talk about your class or level.

Hayley - Teacher.

Hi, my name's Hayley. I first taught at BSC in the summer of 2002 and have been a full-time teacher here since July 2004. For the 2 years in between, I lived and taught English in Porto, Portugal which was hard work but a great experience.

I enjoy teaching to all ages and levels but particularly like working at BSC because we have a really good bunch of friendly, relaxed staff and students. I'm also having lots of fun living in Oxford - there's always plenty of choice of things to do and new people to meet.

Outside work, I love travelling, any kind of dancing, socialising and eating out. I'm currently eating my way round Oxford trying every restaurant in town!

Rob - Teacher and Teacher Trainer.

Hi, my name's Rob.

After returning to the UK after nearly four years teaching English in Vietnam I joined BSC in September 05. I'm currently teaching classes in exam preparation (FCE) and pre-intermediate speaking and listening. I'm an English language examiner for Cambridge and hold post-qualification certificates in teaching English to younger learners and in teaching English for business.

I'm currently studying for my Diploma with BSC, which will keep me busy for the next nine months. I'm particularly interested in developing my teaching of pronunciation in multi-lingual classes. When I do get free time I love swimming, running and meeting up with my friends. I'm also looking forward to spending time getting to know Oxford.

Sian - Teacher.

Hi, my name's Sian. I've been at BSC since August 2005 but I know Oxford well as I grew up in the area. I have a degree in French and have spent time studying and working in the country. For the past 3 and a half years I've been teaching English in Northern Spain and Sicily and I came back to Oxford this year to do the DELTA course. Studying for the course means I don't get much free time at the moment! but I enjoy travelling, and going snowboarding whenever I can.

Simon - Teacher and Teacher Trainer.

My name's Simon and I've been involved in English language teaching for over 20 years. I've worked in language schools in the UK and Italy, teaching a wide range of ages, levels and types of courses. I've also run workshops and training courses for teachers in Oxford, London, Italy and Peru. The things I most enjoy about my job are meeting people from all over the world, developing new materials for use in the classroom and planning new courses.

Sam - Teacher.

Hi there, I'm Sam. I have been teaching at BSC since July 2006 and have loved every minute of my time here so far! I really enjoy my job because it offers the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, while at the same time it allows me to live in the beautiful city of Oxford.

Before coming here, I lived, studied and worked in the USA, Italy and South America so, like all the staff at the school, I know what it feels like to be away from home. But travelling, together with eating, reading, laughing and getting to know new people are some of my favourite activities, so I look forward to meeting you soon!

Zoe - Teacher.

Hi. I'm Zoe. I've been teaching English for five years in Britain, Spain and the Czech Republic. I've been at BSC since summer 2007.

In my free time I love reading, swimming and going out with friends. I also enjoy travelling and meeting people from new countries - so I hope to see you here soon.

Dave - Teacher.

Hi, my name is Dave and I teach here at the Oxford School. I've been teaching for about five years and have taught in Japan and the Czech Republic, both great places to live and work.

At the moment I'm studying for my Diploma in English Language Teaching and this is keeping me busy! Oxford is a nice city and I enjoy the green spaces. In my free time I enjoy music, reading and chilling out. I hope to see you here.

Karina - Teacher.

Hi, I'm Karina. I've been teaching at BSC since April 2007 and really like it here. Before coming to Oxford I taught English in Australia, Germany and Singapore.

I was born and grew up in Singapore and have also lived in Australia, Germany and France. I love travelling and meeting new people. When I'm not busy studying for my DELTA I like to visit new places and spend time with friends. See you soon!

Mish - Teacher.

Hi my name's Mish and I've been teaching at BSC since September 2006 which is when I first came to Oxford. Previously I taught English in Worthing for six years, so moving to Oxford was strange for me, being away from the sea! Now I love Oxford and I'm sure you will too!

Since coming to Oxford I've renovated my house and completed my DELTA teaching diploma. One of the loveliest things about living and working in Oxford is being able to cycle to work along the River Thames! When I'm not working I enjoy horse riding or cycling in the wonderful surrounding countryside.