Academic

Management
Manual
2016

2016 Version 1
Version 1.0 2
Contents

The Organisation
Administrative Staff 6
Academic Staff 6
Representing the school 6

The Academic Year 7

Daily Academic Manager Diary

Monday 8
Tuesday 10
Wednesday 11
Thursday 13
Friday 14

Student Assessment & Placement

Levels and Course Book 18
Comparative Levels and Examination Chart 19
Student Placement 20
Class Codes 21
Test Results 22
First Day Interviews 23
Interview Marking Criteria 24

Planning the Classes

Future Course Reservations 27
Weekly Staffing 28
Class ratio reporting 29

Other Administrative Procedures

Class Changes 32
Teacher Absence 33
Student Absence 34
Students Leaving 35
Administrative Records 35
Academic Manager Interviews
37

Meetings
Meeting schedule 39
Teachers’ Meeting 40
Academic Meeting 40
Management Meeting 40
Administrative Meeting 40

Recruitment and Induction

Recruitment 42
Teacher Induction 45

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Teacher Training & Development
Overview 49
External 50
Internal 51
Staff Appraisal 56
Teacher Forums 57

Quality Control and Student Satisfaction

Overview 59
Academic Manager interviews
59
Observations 59
Arrival and Departure Questionnaires 59
Oral Feedback/Academic Appointments 60
Tutorials and ILPs 60
Long Term Student and University Counselling 60

Resources
Overview 62
Curriculum, Methodology and Syllabi 62
Maintenance 62
Renewing Resources 62
Informing Teachers 62
Classroom Equipment 62
Development of Equipment 63

More detail can be found in the Resources Manual

Examinations 65

More detail can be found in the Exams Manual

Student Progress, Assessment and Attainment

Pre-arrival 67
First Day 68
First Week – Wednesday 68
First Week – Friday 68
Moving up/changing courses 69
ILPs 69
End of Level Tests 69
Academic Appointments 70
Learner Training 70
University Counselling 70
Long-Term Student (LTS) Programme 70

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Appendices
Appendix I: The Organisation
I.I School Organisation Chart
[Link] Academic Manager Job Description
[Link] Assistant Academic Manager Job Description

Appendix II: Planning the Classes

II.I Future Staffing
[Link] Weekly Staffing
[Link] Room Capacities
II.V Teacher Sick Days
[Link] Academic Team Use of Class
[Link] Adding scores from GEL to Class

Appendix III: Other Administrative Procedures

III.I Class Changes
[Link] Academic Manager Interviews Report
[Link] How to update Classing
III.V LTS Tracking – How To

Appendix IV: Meetings

IV.I Teachers’ Meeting Minutes
[Link] Academic Meeting Minutes

Appendix V: Recruitment & Induction

V.I CV Checklist
[Link] Standard Recruitment Correspondence - Initial
[Link] Standard Recruitment Correspondence - Confirming
[Link] Language Awareness Tests
V.V Interview Form TEFLI
[Link] Interview Form TEFLQ
[Link] Person Specification
[Link] Teaching Salary Scale
V.X Employment Offer Letter
[Link] Teacher Advert
[Link] Academic Induction Form
[Link] Filing Checklist
[Link] Recruitment Policy
[Link] Staff Application Form
[Link] Reference Request Forms
[Link] Teacher Overview Spreadsheet
[Link] Meet the Team Form
[Link] Suggested Recruitment Procedure
[Link] Non-native speaker recruitment

Appendix VI: Teacher Training & Development

VI.I Development Tracker
[Link] London DELTA Courses
[Link] Suggestions for Seminars
[Link] First Observation Form
VI.V Special Focus ACADEMIC MANAGER Observation Form
VI. VI 20-minute drop-in Observation Timetable
[Link] Drop In Observation Collated Feedback
VI.X 20-minute drop-in Observation Form

Appendix VII: Progress, Assessment and Attainment

VII.I Online needs analysis
[Link] Professional and Teacher Immersion course needs analyses
[Link] Tutorial record sheet

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[Link] End of level test example
VII.V Class academic notes

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IMPORTANT NOTE: The Director of Studies and Assistant Director of Studies job roles were recently
re-named to become Academic Manager (AM) and Assistant Academic Manager (AAM).

The Compliance Officer also acts as an Academic Administrator and may be referred to as either within
the manual.

The Organisation
The Academic Director, Academic Manager and Administrative Staff
The role of the Academic Manager in the school is in essence to lead, inspire, motivate,
develop and support the teaching team and to constantly maintain and promote the standards
of academic excellence within the school. A key aspect of the role then is to act as an advisor
for both students and teachers and to liaise closely with all school administration and
academic staff as well as other members of the management team. A full job description
comprising duties and responsibilities is available in Appendix [Link].

The administrative staff have their individual roles and job descriptions but work in a team and
are familiar with each other’s duties, responsibilities and work procedures. You will be called
on to give help and advice to any member of the administrative team at any point and
therefore you are expected to be aware of the systems of the office.

You are also the main channel of communication between the office and the teachers, and an
important function is to ensure good relations and communication between these two
departments of the school.

Please refer to Appendix I.I to the School Organisation Chart for a complete breakdown of
members of staff and their specific roles at the school.

Academic Staff
The Academic Director, Academic Manager and Assistant Academic Manager work together
to maintain, develop and expand all aspects of the academic programme. These members of
the academic team are able to perform all aspects of the job though generally these will be
divided to act more efficiently. In the absence of the Academic Manager, the Assistant
Academic Manager will take over all day-to-day and weekly duties. A DELTA-qualified
teacher has also been trained to act as cover Assistant Academic Manager in order to
support the Academic Management office whenever the need arises.

For specific Academic Manager/Assistant Academic Manager duties please see the job
descriptions in Appendix [Link] and Appendix [Link].

Representing the School

There will be numerous occasions when you are required to formally represent the school.
You will be required to do the following:

 Receive visitors to the school. They may be agents, representatives of other schools or
professional bodies or prospective teachers.
 Attend conferences, seminars and workshops
 Give talks/presentations at seminars and conferences

You will be performing the role of one of the school’s main ambassadors and therefore
are expected to be well informed about all matters related to your job. You should also
make every effort to represent the school in an active and positive way at all times.

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The Academic Year
This is an overview of how the academic year is organised. Use this as a guide and a
reminder of the main aspects of your job.

Devise Spring/Summer
January Morning Course Resource Review
Seminar Programme

Mock exams for June Annual Special Focus Developmental

February
Cambridge exams Observations
Annual Special
Invisible and Voluntary Peer Observations and First /Second Observations

Focus
March Cambridge Exams
Developmental
Observations
Afternoon Skills
Staff Appraisals (PDRs) –
Resource Review/
April mid-year review
Teenage Syllabus Summer
Review
Recruitment &
Drop-In 20 minute Observations (Academic Team) Induction
May

Mock Exams for

June Cambridge Exams
August FCE/CAE

July
August Summer

Mock Exams for December FCE, CAE, Devise Autumn/Winter

September
CPE Seminar Programme

Quality Plan
Staff appraisals review - current
(PDRs) - setting year
October
Annual Peer Observation annual Begin to draw
Programme objectives up next year’s
plan
Afternoon Option and Supp Material Review
Ongoing Recruitment
November
Review
Mock
Drop-In 20
Exams for
minute
March
December Observations Cambridge Exams
FCE,
(Academic
CAE,
Team)
CPE

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Daily ACADEMIC MANAGER’S Diary
Monday

1. ACADEMIC MANAGER and ASSISTANT ACADEMIC MANAGER take it in turns to

arrive at 7.30am latest. The other person will arrive by 8.00am.

2. Cover. If someone is sick organise cover.

 Update the Excel staffing document (W:\DoS\STAFFING EXCEL/2016)

 Advanced Timetabling so teachers can complete their online registers.

 Update Payroll (W:\DoS\STAFFING EXCEL/PAYROLL)

 The Assistant Academic Manager will help to prepare the cover materials. See
Teacher Absence section for further details.

3. Class registers. Using the report you were given at the end of Friday, chase all
teachers who failed to input their online registers last week and give them until break
time today to have these completed. Make teachers aware of how urgent this is – the
Compliance Officer needs to prepare Compliance Reports on Tuesday morning .

4. Testing Procedure: Oversee the testing procedure:

In a normal week (fewer than 15 starters) the Assistant Academic Manager conducts the
speaking tests.

 Between 7.30 and 8.00am, a member of the Academic or Operations Team is in the
foyer to welcome new students. They are given a Welcome Pack with Student
Handbook. All students are directed to reception to have their passport and visa
documents scanned and to pay any outstanding fees. Students are then escorted to
the relevant testing room as allocated on the testing grids.
 Students who have completed the online pre-placement test will be asked to take the
oral test to confirm level and to complete a written needs analysis. Students who
have not done the online pre-placement test will be invited to do so either on their
smartphones, tablet computers or on paper.
 At 8.00am speaking / communication testing begins – conducted by the Assistant
Academic Manager with help from experienced teachers. Students are taken out of
the testing room in pairs for the speaking / communication tests. Pairs are selected
because they are a similar level or on the same course of study, e.g. IELTS (the
Assistant Academic Manager has a grid with the pre-placement scores and courses
recorded on it so they are able to choose appropriate pairings).
 After the speaking / communication testing, students are taken to the cinema room for
a brief Health and Safety announcement followed by a video or PowerPoint induction
and tour of the school.
 Once the induction is complete students are given their timetables and directed to
their classrooms.
 Late arrivals will be tested and placed into classes as appropriate with minimum
disruption to the class (some may have to wait until break to join). Very late arrivals
are asked to wait in the library until one of the academic management team is
available to test.

In summer, the procedure is broadly similar, however teachers will be asked to help with
testing between 8.00 and 9.00am, before classes begin. In this instance:

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  Students will be pre-allocated to testing rooms. There will be a testing grid per room,
and a teacher will conduct the spoken/written tests as described above (12-14
students per room).
 The process then follows as above with students going room by room to the cinema
for induction and receiving timetables allowing them to be in class by 09.15. The
Assistant Academic Manager helps the Academic Manager with placement of
students and preparation of timetables.

5. Check classes: Once everyone is placed in their respective classes the Compliance
Officer takes registers round every class to ensure there are no students sitting in the
wrong class.

6. Check Room Capacities: It is ideal to identify any classroom capacity issues as

students are being placed, but often there is not enough time to re-organise the
rooms and students. During the morning, check all rooms to see if the number of
students present in each class is acceptable and organise changes as necessary.
The Assistant Academic Manager can help with this and re-check if necessary.

7. Registers. Once all students are in class, the Compliance Officer / Academic
Administrator prints the morning registers for all the classes. This is done from
Class/Classing Word Merge. They then visit each class taking the register and will
report any discrepancies immediately to the academic management office. They
also print the afternoon registers during morning classes and distribute them to the
relevant work stations in the staff room by break time so that all teachers have their
afternoon registers in time for the first afternoon class at 12.40pm.

(Details of register administration can be found in the Office Manual – it is the

responsibility of the academic team to ensure teachers are completing registers in an
accurate and timely manner)

8. Review Placement. During break times and lunchtime, check with teachers that
placements are appropriate or any may need to be reviewed.

9. At lunchtime the Assistant Academic Manager carries out academic appointments

with students. It is useful for the Academic Manager to be on hand to deal with any
queries that may be generated from these appointments. This is also a time when
teachers may come to the office (open door policy) with any issues.

Afternoon

10. Staffing
Use Class reports to update the Futures document (W:\DoS\STAFFING EXCEL)
Review staffing requirements for the next 12 weeks
Check how many students will be arriving on the following Monday (CLASS).
Ensure correct number of classes are available for the following week (open / close
as required)
Prepare Advanced Timetabling and inform teachers of any changes. See CLASS
PLANNING section in this manual.

11. Class registers for today. A member of the administration team will notify you
which teachers have not completed Monday’s online Class registers by giving you a
report with all teachers’ names on it by 5.15pm. It is imperative that you chase these
teachers first thing tomorrow morning so that the attendance is up to date on a daily
basis.

12. Meet Head of School to discuss plans for next week’s staffing and make any
adjustments agreed necessary. Bring along ratios document from previous week to
discuss also, identifying issues you may be having with classes with very low
numbers.

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Before you leave for the day

13. Cover. Check which teachers are available for cover for tomorrow and ensure all
necessary planned cover has been arranged.

14. Whoever started at 7.30 (ASSISTANT ACADEMIC MANAGER or ACADEMIC

MANAGER) will leave at 4.30pm. The other person must stay until 5.30pm, but can
leave early on another day during the week.

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Tuesday

Before Classes

1. Arrive at 8.30 am at the latest.

2. Cover. If someone is sick organise cover. Update the payroll document

(W:\Academic Manager\STAFFING EXCEL\Payroll) with the number of days taken.
Update the current week’s staffing document found under ACADEMIC
MANAGER/STAFFING EXCEL.
Update Advanced Timetabling so the cover teacher can do the registers.
The Assistant Academic Manager will help to prepare the cover materials. See
Teacher Absence section for further details.

3. Class registers. Using the report you were given yesterday, chase all teachers who
failed to input their online registers yesterday and give them until break time today to
have these completed. For afternoon teachers they need to be done by the end of
the day.

4. Review Placement. Check with teachers regarding any students who may need to
have their placement reviewed.

5. Check that any problems or queries related to new students arriving yesterday are
resolved quickly.

During Classes

6. Staffing. Continue with the staffing. Look on the computer to check how many
students will be arriving on the following Monday. Calculate the number of classes
needed and open and close classes where necessary. Make all the necessary
arrangements and inform the teachers of any changes. See the CLASS PLANNING
section in this manual.

7. Previous week register check. Check work records and tutorial sheets on the T:
drive. If there are any missing, check with the relevant teachers. Should any of the
documentation not be to the required standard, inform the teacher immediately of the
necessary amendments. Once checked, hand over the registers to the member of the
administration team to be filed.

Afternoon

8. Testing Preparation
The Assistant Academic Manager will check how many starters there are the
following Monday and arrange for sufficient numbers of teachers to take part in the
procedure, if necessary. They will need to calculate one teacher per 12-14 students.

Calculate the starters by looking on Class/Quick Reports/Starters with Scores.

Select the date range as the Thursday before to the Monday you want to check. This
will give you the starters for the following week.

9. Leavers’ Reports
The Compliance Officer emails the list of Friday leavers to all academic staff. All
leavers have their Leaver’s Report saved on the Teachers drive so the teachers can
complete the report by Thursday afternoon.

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 10. Long Term Student tracking
The compliance officer runs a report to see which students need tutorials this week
and this is sent to the teachers. They also run a LTS report for the AAM and Senior
Teachers responsible for Long Term Students to invite Long Term students to an
Academic Appointment, if required.
See Appendix III.V for details on how to do this.

Before you leave for the day

11. Cover. Check which teachers are available for cover for tomorrow and ensure all
necessary planned cover has been arranged.

Wednesday

1. Arrive at 8.30am at the latest.

2. Cover. If someone is sick organise cover. Update the payroll document

(W:\Academic Manager\STAFFING EXCEL\Payroll) with the number of days taken.
Update the current week’s staffing document found under ACADEMIC
MANAGER/STAFFING EXCEL.
Update Advanced Timetabling so the cover teacher can do the registers.
The Assistant Academic Manager will help to prepare the cover materials. See
Teacher Absence section for further details.

3. Class registers. Using the report you were given yesterday, chase all teachers who
failed to input their online registers yesterday and give them until break time today to
have these completed. For afternoon teachers they need to be done by the end of
the day. You will also be given Monday’s report again – please check if any names
remain here and chase accordingly, making teachers aware of how urgent this is.

4. Academic Manager Interviews

All of the students who started on Monday will need to be interviewed by the academic
team before the end of the week (except for group students). The Academic Administrator
will prepare the list of students needing interviews and the necessary documentation by
Wednesday morning. Each student should be highlighted on the relevant register and
first week questionnaires should be filed underneath each register, personalised for each
new student. See relevant section in Procedures for more detailed information.

The First Week interview takes place during class time and its aim is to establish a
contact between the Academic Manager/Assistant Academic Manager and the student
and to check on the student’s placement and general level of satisfaction. Typical
questions can be found in the procedures section.

Where there are matters to discuss, the interview may need follow-up work in the first
break. It is vital that any matters brought up by the student during the interview are dealt
with - and seen to be dealt with - at the first opportunity.

During the First Week interviews, last week questionnaires are also distributed to
students leaving (this is done at the same time as First Week interviews to avoid
interrupting classes twice). The First Week interviews may take more than one day to
complete, but should be given priority as they are a vital aspect of student care.

Once you have interviewed all the students, you need to write a report. You will find
examples of these reports under Word in W/First Week Interviews Admin and see
Appendix [Link]. After you have done this, inform all the relevant members of staff of any
problems with any of the students by sending them this document as an attachment. If
any urgent student issues arise, these should be communicated orally to the office to
ensure a prompt response and the document may be filled at a later stage as its main
purpose is to maintain a record of student feedback.

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Afternoon

5. Changes for the following week. This involves doing the following:

 RETURNING STUDENTS. Check that Class has automatically put people

coming back from holiday into the correct classes. Go into the Classing section
of Class and allocate any existing students with course changes/extensions.
 COURSE CHANGES: Some students may be changing their courses. For
example if a student chooses to add extra hours to their 3-hour morning class
they will automatically fall out of class for the following week. You will have to
reallocate them for the morning and add their preferred afternoon option(s).
 PRE-ALLOCATION OF NEW STUDENTS: The Academic Administrator will
have entered the new students’ grammar scores from Classmarker onto Class.
You can now allocate classes based on these scores.

Before you leave for the day

6. Cover. Check which teachers are available for cover for tomorrow and ensure all
necessary planned cover has been arranged.

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Thursday

1. Arrive at 8:30am at the latest.

2. Cover: If someone is sick organise cover. Update the payroll document

(W:\Academic Manager\STAFFING EXCEL\Payroll) with the number of days taken.
Update the current week’s staffing document found under ACADEMIC
MANAGER/STAFFING EXCEL.
Update Advanced Timetabling so the cover teacher can do the registers.
The Assistant Academic Manager will help to prepare the cover materials. See
Teacher Absence section for further details.

3. Class registers. Using the report you were given yesterday, chase all teachers who
didn’t complete their online registers yesterday and give them until break time today
to have these completed. For afternoon teachers they need to be done by the end of
the day. You will also be given Monday and Tuesday’s report again – please check
if any names remain here and chase accordingly, making teachers aware of how
urgent this is.

4. Academic

This day has the least number of daily duties and therefore should be used to concentrate
on keeping up-to-date with developments in TEFL through reading and organising
journals. The school subscribes to the following journals:

i) ELT Journal
ii) EL Gazette
iii) English Teaching Professional
iv) IATEFL Special Interest Group Newsletters

The school is also a member of IATEFL, IH Professional Developmental Seminar

Programme, The Oxford House Club, and the St Giles Tuesday Teachers Club.

You will be expected to keep up-to-date with developments and use Thursdays to
develop ideas and strategies for future projects and further development in the school.

5. Staffing

Check the staffing for the following week. The numbers of students coming in may have
risen or there may have been cancellations which have a substantial impact on the
staffing which will mean you may have to open or close classes. If this is the case make
the necessary changes.

6. Checking ILPs

Check student folders to ensure that the correct data is being input in the Academic plan,
the student is receiving tutorials and their written work is being scanned. Speak to the
teacher if any are missing/not completed properly.

7. Speaking Component of End of Level Tests with feedback

On Thursday afternoon, all students who have taken the written component of the End of
Level test need to receive feedback on the test, as well as their speaking test. They need
to be informed of any level change and the change must be recorded in the Level
Change book once it has been carried out in Class.

8. Staff Meeting

Allocate time to the planning of the staff meeting with the Assistant Academic Manager.

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 9. Changes for the following week. This involves doing the following:

 CHANGE THE COMPUTER RECORDS: Reorganise the computer records for the
following week. If you are closing classes make sure you have merged all the
relevant classes and made a note of students’ ID numbers so you can print a new
timetable for them. Make any adjustments on the computer where necessary. These
may include the following; teacher change, room change, and capacity change. All
this is done using the Advanced Timetabling and Classing sections of Class.
Once Advanced Timetabling is finalised, you can print timetables for students
who have had their classes merged, or have any other changes. These can be
handed out on Friday morning.
Prepare notes for teachers to let them know of any planned room changes for
Monday, so they can let their students know to avoid confusion on Monday morning.

Before you leave for the day

7. Cover. Check which teachers are available for cover for tomorrow and ensure all
necessary planned cover has been arranged.

Friday
Before Class

1. Arrive 8.30am at the latest.

2. Cover. If someone is sick organise cover. Update the payroll document

(W:\Academic Manager\STAFFING EXCEL\Payroll) with the number of days taken.
Update the current week’s staffing document found under ACADEMIC
MANAGER/STAFFING EXCEL.
Update Advanced Timetabling so the cover teacher can do the registers.
The Assistant Academic Manager will help to prepare the cover materials. See
Teacher Absence section for further details.

3. Class registers. Using the report you were given yesterday, chase all teachers who
failed to input their online registers yesterday and give them until break time today to
have these completed. For afternoon teachers they need to be done by the end of
the day. You will also be given Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday’s report again –
please check if any names remain here and chase accordingly, making teachers
aware of how urgent this is.

4. Staff Meeting. Make final preparations for staff/teachers’ meeting which takes place
from 8.45 to 9.00.

During Class

5. New student timetables

Let the Academic Administrator know that timetables for all new students who have been
pre-placed can now be printed.

6. Meeting Minutes
Liaise with the Academic Administrator, who should write up the minutes to include staff
attendance, which should also be recorded in the CPD and meeting tracker (W:DOS\Staff
Meetings\Staff Meetings (year). Save copies of any hand-outs for absent teachers in the
Teachers’ Drive (T:\TEACHER DEVELOPMENT\Friday Meetings). The minutes should
also be emailed along with any attachments and hand-outs to all current teaching staff.
Ensure the email list of current teachers is kept up-to-date.

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7. Teacher changes

Make sure you speak to any teachers who still do not know they are changing classes
next week. Email all teachers via Class to inform them of their classes. Attach a copy of
the weekly plan of work/syllabus for absent teachers who may wish to plan over the
weekend, letting them know what syllabus week it will be next week.

8. Class Changes

Check that all students who require a class change are placed into their new class and
given a new timetable.

Please see section on CLASS CHANGES for a more detailed process on how these are
done.

9. Room posters/Room sheets/Class files/ILPs

The Academic Administrator will prepare any posters for room changes for Monday – you
will need to let them know which classes are changing. They will also need to print off the
room sheet for the Academic office, which tells you which classrooms are in use when for
the following week. They will also print 2 copies of the teacher list from Class, one for the
staff room and one for the Academic office, which tells you which teachers are teaching
which classes, and where.

10. Final Preparations for Monday Testing

The Assistant Academic Manager will need to check that all the materials have been left
in the foyer by the administration team in preparation for the starters on Monday morning.
It is usually very busy on Mondays and you may not have time to do this then.

You will need to choose the testing rooms today if there will be more than around 20
students. Generally rooms are chosen for their easy access but this will depend on the
number of starters. When numbers are relatively low, say up to about 50, it is possible to
allocate rooms in such a way as to provide each tester with an adjacent room in which to
conduct oral interviews. For example if a tester is using room 18, room 17 can be
allocated for interviews etc. During busy weeks this will not be possible as all rooms may
be taken up with the procedure and interviews will take place directly outside the
classroom.

Create a testing grid for each room. To do this, see Appendix [Link] for details on how to
do this.

Using the packs in the drawer in the Academic Manager office, create one for each tester
with the relevant number of paper tests (for whoever did not test online) and enough
needs analyses for each student. These are saved in W:\Dos\PRE-PLACEMENT
(Placement Test 2015 & Academic Needs Analysis). Put the completed testing grid on
top. Teachers will collect these on Monday morning at 7.55am ready for an 8.00am start.

Update the Monday Testing Tracking Excel Document which can be found under
Academic Manager/Monday Testing.

11. Weekly payroll for current week. Found in W:\Academic Manager\STAFFING

EXCEL\Payroll. This is saved in the folder in the first week of each month, depending
on the date on the timesheet. Details of overtime hours only are stored on this sheet
(not salaried hours), and it is sent at the start of the month so payroll has an idea of
the amount over and above normal salaries will need to be set aside for payment
th
on/around 25 of the same month. It also includes social programme payments,
sickness tracking and unpaid leave.

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 12. Teacher Utilisation and Ratios. Complete these documents (X:\Academic
Managers\Experience English Group\KPIs) each week. It will be taken to a meeting
with the Head of School on Monday afternoon to discuss. See Ratios and Teacher
Unit Analysis section of manual for further details.

Before you leave for the weekend

13. Cover

Check which teachers are around for cover. You can do this by phoning or emailing.
There will be certain teachers who are around on different days. Keep a list for the week
on staffing or Outlook so that you do not call teachers unnecessarily.

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 Student
Assessment
&
Placement

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Levels and Course Books
Over the next few pages you will find a description of levels, current course books and level
equivalents. All of the information that follows will help you with student placement.

The classes in the morning are divided into 6 levels and the skills classes in the afternoon into
6. Please see the levels charts overleaf for a description of the levels, the exam equivalents
and the course books used.

The levels are also matched to the system drawn up by The Common European Framework.
You will find a global oral assessment scale that is based on this system at the end of this
section.

Level Description Trinity Common Book

European
Framework
Initial Pre - A1 Cutting Edge
BEGINNER
A1 Grade 1 Basic User Elementary
ELEMENTARY
Grade 2 A1 Basic User Third Edition
Initial A2
Grade 3 Basic User New English
A2 INTERMEDIATE
Elementary A2+ File Pre-Int
Grade 4 Basic User
Elementary B1 New English
INTERMEDIATE
B1 Grade 5 Independent User File
Grade 6 Intermediate
INTERMEDIATE B1+Independent Life
B1+ Grade 7
User Intermediate

Intermediate.
UPPER
B2 Grade 8 B2 Speakout B2
INTERMEDIATE
Grade 9 Independent User

Upper
Grade 10 B2 +
B2+ Intermediate / Ready for First
Independent User
Advanced

Advanced.
C1 Speakout C1 /
ADVANCED Grade 11
C1 Proficient User Ready for
Advanced

Advanced. C2 Objective
C2 PROFICIENCY
Grade 12 Proficient User Proficiency

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 Levels and Exam Chart

Common Explanation of the Levels into Overall Ability

European
Level Description Cambridge IELTS TOEIC TOEFL
Framework of
Reference Listening/Speaking Reading Writing

Pre- A1 CAN understand basic

A1-0 BEGINNER CAN complete basic forms,
Beginner instructions or take part in a CAN understand basic notices,
and write notes including
basic factual conversation on a instructions or information.
A1 ELEMENTARY A1 Basic User times, dates and places.
predictable topic.
CAN understand
straightforward information CAN complete forms and write
CAN express simple opinions or
PRE- within a known area, such as short simple letters or 330 -
A2 A2+ Basic User requirements in a familiar KET
INTERMEDIATE on products and signs and postcards related to personal 495
context.
simple textbooks or reports on information.
familiar matters.
CAN express opinions on
CAN understand routine
abstract/cultural matters in a PET
information and articles, and CAN write letters or make
B1 Independent limited way or offer advice within Band 495 -
B1 INTERMEDIATE the general meaning of non- notes on familiar or predictable 57 -86
User a known area, and understand BEC 4/5 660
routine information within a matters.
instructions or public Preliminary
familiar area.
announcements.

CAN follow or give a talk on a CAN make notes while FCE

CAN scan texts for relevant
UPPER B2 Independent familiar topic or keep up a someone is talking or write a Band 660 -
B2 information, and understand 87 -109
INTERMEDIATE User conversation on a fairly wide letter including non-standard BEC 6/6.5 825
detailed instructions or advice.
range of topics. requests. VANTAGE

CAN contribute effectively to CAN prepare/draft professional

CAN read quickly enough to
meetings and seminars within correspondence, take Band 7
cope with an academic course, CAE
C1 Proficient own area of work or keep up a reasonably accurate notes in 825 - 110 -
C1 ADVANCED to read the media for
User casual conversation with a good meetings or write an essay 950 120
information or to understand BEC HIGHER
degree of fluency, coping with which shows an ability to Band 8
non-standard correspondence.
abstract expressions. communicate.
CAN advise on or talk about
complex or sensitive issues, CAN understand documents, CAN write letters on any
C2 Proficient understanding colloquial correspondence and reports, subject and full notes of Band 950 -
C2 PROFICIENCY CPE 120
User references and dealing including the finer points of meetings or seminars with 8/9 990
confidently with hostile complex texts. good expression and accuracy.
questions.

2016 Version 1
Student Placement

Aim:
To place every student in a class suitable for their level, and which meets their needs.

Introduction
You will need to place students in class on a Monday morning once students have arrived
and had their oral tests; alternatively if the student has completed the online grammar test
prior to arriving, they can be pre-placed in the appropriate class. You will also need to do this
on a Wednesday or Thursday when you are reallocating those students returning from their
holidays or extending their course.

Online Testing
Students are given the opportunity, once they have booked, to take an online grammar
placement test and needs analysis. The Academic Administrator will check scores before
students arrive and you can then pre-place them into classes, which will help you to plan
more effectively which classes you may need to open and close for the following week. On
Friday, new students’ timetables can be printed to be handed out when they arrive on Monday
morning. For a detailed guide on how to access and record online scores, please refer to
Appendix [Link]

Placement Criteria
Although level is the first and most important contributing factor to placement, it is paramount
that during the placement procedure nationality mix in all classes is maintained. You should
ensure that where possible there is never more than 30% of any one nationality or mother
tongue in the same class. We should also pay attention to student ages. If a student is
younger than 16, they cannot be in a class with anyone more than two years older than them.
For example, a twelve year-old cannot be in class with a fifteen year-old). Other factors that
may be considered while placing students are student age, motivation and type of learner. In
addition to this, potential disabilities such as lack of mobility or blindness will impact on the
choice of classroom for those students. The school is pro-active in learning of any such
disabilities and where possible it will be possible to plan in advance but from time to time this
may be discovered during the placement procedure and the academic team should work
closely with teachers on how best to deal with these situations.

Monday Morning
As each group of students is tested, you will be given a speaking score for each. The
Academic Administrator will need to record these scores once students are in class, but first
you need to place the students so you can provide them with a timetable for all their classes.
Students who have been pre-placed using their online grammar score will already have a
level, and the teacher carrying out the oral tests will advise you whether they believe this class
will be suitable for the student based on their speaking ability. If the grammar and speaking
scores are at different levels, you will need to decide which class will best suit the student.
Consider how long the student will be at the school, as this may affect whether you place them
based on their stronger or weaker skill (e.g. a student with B1 grammar and B2 speaking may
be best placed in a B2 class if they are only staying for 2 weeks).

For a guide to using Class reports to do this see Appendix [Link].

Course Codes and Class Codes

Before you can place effectively you will need to familiarise yourself with the course codes and
the class codes. The students will be allocated a course code when they register. This will
appear on allocations when you go to place the students. It is the course code which tells you
which class you should place the student into. On the following page you will find a
comprehensive breakdown of possible course codes.

2016 Version 1
Booking Codes

Each course code contains components denoting type, time and subject of the class

When placing students into classes in the Classing section of Class, you will need to
understand the meaning of the various course codes and components to ensure accurate
placement.

Courses start with S, followed by a number depending on the time slot:

S1 – 9.15 – 12.30
S2 – 12.40 – 13.40
S3 – 14.25 – 15.25
S4 – 15.35 – 16.35

The next part of the code is the type of course, eg:

GE – General English
IE – IELTS
AE – Academic English
BE – Business
TO – TOEFL
TC – TOEIC
CAE, FCE, CPE – Cambridge courses

S1 GE to a morning General English class.

S3 IE to a second hour IELTS class.

Class Codes
Here is a list of some class codes with their relevant descriptions.

S10GE0A1a Intensive Morning Level A1

S10GEA2a Intensive Morning Level A2
S10GEB1a Intensive Morning Level B1
S10GEB2a Intensive Morning Level B2
S10GEC1a Intensive Morning Level C1
S10GEC2a Intensive Morning Level C2
S1FCEa Intensive Morning FCE
S1CAEa Intensive Morning CAE
S1/2/3/4/5PVT Private Class, various time slots
+student’s name
S2IELB2a IELTS level B2 first hour
S3IELB2a IELTS level B2 second hour
S2BUSB2a Business Level B2 first hour
S3BUSB2a Business Level B2 second hour
S2MEDa Medical English first hour
S2TICB2 TOEIC B2 first hour
S2TFLB2a TOEFL B2 first hour, class 1
S2TFLB2b TOEFL B2 first hour class 2
S30GEA1a Reading and Writing Level A1
S20GEA2a Speaking and Listening Level A2

Students studying in any of the afternoon classes will need to be allocated the appropriate
number of classes so a student on English 20 will need to be allocated one of the choices in
the afternoon and English 25 students will be able to choose two of the afternoon options.
Though generally English 20 students tend to opt for Speaking and Listening, it is possible for
a student to take their morning class with say Reading and Writing if they should so desire.

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If the student is studying IELTS, Business, TOEIC, or TOEFL you will need to place the
students in 1 or 2 separate afternoon hours, again depending on the number of hours per
week they are studying. For example a student who is of upper-intermediate level and
studying 25 hours per week should be placed in the following:

A relevant morning class e.g. S10GEB2a

S2IELB2a: First hour IELTS
S3IELB2a: Second hour IELTS

Electives such as IELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL and Business are sold as 20 or 25 hour courses.
They need to be allocated either 1 or 2 elective hours depending on their course code.

Test Results
Intensive Morning Class

The following is an approximate guide to how online test scores might be interpreted in terms
of class levels:

Level Description Trinity/ Common European Score

Framework
Beginners Grade 1/Pre A1 Basic User
A1 0% - 25%
Elementary Grade 2/A1 Basic User
Pre – Intermediate Grade 3/A2 Basic User
A2 26% - 39%
Early Intermediate Grade 4/A2+ Basic User
Grade 5/B1 Independent User
B1 Intermediate 40% - 60%
Grade 6/B1 Independent User
Grade 7/B1+ Independent User
B2 Upper Intermediate 61% - 75%
Grade 8/B2 Independent User
Grade 9/B2+ Independent User
C1 Advanced Grade 10/ C1 Proficient User 76% - 90%
Grade 11/C1 Proficient User
C2 Proficiency Grade 12/C2 Proficient User 91% +

Any students not falling within these categories must be given special consideration. For
example, a student who scores A1 for speaking but has a grammar score of 50% or 60%
(which is not unknown) should be placed according to their immediate needs. If they do not
have any special needs i.e. if they are not doing an exam, then they should be placed in a
lower class and monitored closely so that they can be moved to a higher level as soon as
their speaking ability becomes more aligned with their knowledge of grammar.

The afternoon levels

The afternoon classes are divided into 6 levels: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2. Generally
speaking, the student should be placed according to their ability in the particular skill. A
student with an oral score of C1 but written test score of 30% might find that a C1 Speaking
and Listening class is appropriate despite being placed in a B1 or B2 morning class.
Ultimately, the student’s needs should be the determining factor.

The elective classes are also divided into level. Generally, these classes run from upper-
intermediate and above. If there are two classes at each level there will usually be a level B2
and C1 of each class. This will depend upon the students studying at the school at one time.

Version 1.0 24
First Day Interviews

Aim:
To assess accurately the students’ levels of spoken English, to introduce the student to the
academic team, to ascertain any special needs, answer questions and make the students feel
welcome and well-cared for.

The ASSISTANT ACADEMIC MANAGER or teachers, depending on numbers arriving, will

test and interview the students on their first day in pairs. They will be given an oral score from
A1– C2 on their level of their spoken English. You will train the teachers on how to do this and
will sometimes interview students yourself. Please find on the following pages definitions of
interview marking criteria. This is followed by the Global Oral Assessment Scale based on
The Common European Framework Level System. Students will be paired according to level
and will be encouraged to talk to each other about topics relevant to the level, with picture
prompts if necessary. If interviewing late students, they will usually be alone. Remember the
importance of asking open ended questions. Below, are some examples of questions to ask:

 How long have you been here?

 What are your first impressions of London?

 How does life here compare to your country?

 Why are you studying English?

 How long have you been studying English for?

 Did you study English at school?

 What do you think needs improving about your English?

 What do you hope to learn?

 What do you do?

 Do you use English in your job?

 Do you live alone or with an English family?

 What do you like to do in your spare time

 Have you got any questions about the school? London? Anything else?

Version 1.0 25
Interview Marking Criteria
The definition of beginner is as follows:
 Cannot produce either spoken or written language.
 Cannot understand the language in either written or spoken form.

The definition of False Beginner/Pre A1/Elementary HSOE Level A1 is as follows:

 Can produce isolated words and phrases in spoken form.
 May understand isolated words, phrases and limited expressions and can respond to
some basic requests.
 Can produce intermittent spoken language of a very limited nature in familiar
situations and obvious role sets.
 Can give very basic personal information in spoken language, can exchange
greetings, ask for simple information and carry out simple transactions necessary to
daily life.
 Can answer questions on very basic personal details.
 Can produce very short isolated sentences.
 Pauses frequently.
 May be able to understand greetings and respond but cannot yet function socially or
carry out any transactions in the language

The definition of Pre-Intermediate/Early Intermediate/A2 /HSOE Level A2 is as follows:

 Can consistently produce spoken language in familiar situations.
 Can convey general meaning in spoken language where topic is familiar.
 Experiences frequent breakdown in communication beyond the familiar.
 Can formulate questions necessary to daily life and can provide written personal
details in note form.
 Can provide sentence length responses to questions.
 May be able to use the present simple, continuous during conversations.
 Can contribute to conversation on familiar matters with short descriptive sentences,
responding promptly and appropriately although with some pauses.
 Can communicate in simple terms about their family, work and living situation.
 May be able to use past simple and some future tenses.

The definition of Intermediate/Late Intermediate/B1/HSOE Level B1 is as follows:

 Has basic competence in spoken English in familiar situations and role sets.
 Is able to negotiate transactions needed for daily life and to function adequately in
basic social situations.
 May have frequent break downs in communications but has some strategies for
requesting clarification.
 Cannot understand complex language.
 May be able to contribute to conversation with short statements of opinion.
 Participates more actively in conversation and has the ability to sustain monologues
more easily.
 Has a general knowledge of basic structures and can use these appropriately in most
everyday situations.
 Has acquired some of the language appropriate to personal and/or professional
interest.
 Can keep up with most conversation although may pause for grammatical and lexical
repair. Is able to describe plans, hopes, and ambitions and give opinions.

The definition of Upper Intermediate/B2/ HSOE Level B2 is as follows:

 Can operate effectively in spoken language.
 Has comprehensive knowledge of basic structures of the language and can use them
appropriately.
 Can understand the gist of spoken language in general fields and in fields of personal
and/or professional interest.
 Can offer opinions and suggestions promptly and appropriately.

Version 1.0 26
  Has some inaccuracies but can often correct them and does not normally make
mistakes which hinder communication.
 Has a good knowledge of the basic structures of the language and can use them
appropriately.
 Can respond appropriately to longer or more complex utterances and can expand
conversation without hesitation.
 Can give clear, detailed descriptions related to his/her field of interest.
 Does not make errors which hinder understanding and communication.
 Can understand some idiomatic language in familiar situations.

The definition of Advanced 1/C1/ HSOE Level C1 is as follows:

 Has sufficient command of spoken language to be effective in appropriate,
occupational environment as well as daily life.
 Can express him or herself fluently without too many pauses.
 Can understand complex structures which they may also be able to produce.
 Occasional errors and misunderstandings may occur but has strategies for repair and
for handling any difficult situations that hinge on linguistic problems.
 Can maintain conversation easily and can self correct.
 Can understand and produce some idiomatic language.

The definition of Proficiency/C2 / HSOE Level C2 is as follows:

 Can understand everything heard. C
 an express him/herself spontaneously and very fluently differentiating finer shades of
meaning in more complex situations.
 Can produce clear smoothly flowing and well structured descriptions.
 Has full command of the language in all its forms.
 Can understand structures and strategies for keeping up-to-date with linguistic
change. Is aware of variations of English used and is unlikely to be involved in
misunderstandings arising from such variations.

Version 1.0 27
Class Planning

Version 1.0 28
Future Course Reservations
You will need to check the course reservations on a regular basis in order to plan for future
classes. You need to check the student numbers for each course in order to ensure there are
sufficient rooms, teaching staff and resources for courses in the future. This information is
vital as at times you may need to inform teachers that work will be ending at quieter times of
the year and they will need to be informed well in advance. Conversely, there will be times
when you will need to recruit a higher number of teachers and the futures document allows
you to plan any necessary recruitment.

In order to plan the next few months we take generic figures from the school Class database
from two main reports. To see the number of students studying in the morning course on a
particular date: Go to Reporting/Reporting Module/Coursing Statistics and generate the
report called ‘Course Bookings JB”. Set the date range for a three month period. The
computer will then display the number of students studying in the school for the following
week and the consecutive weeks. There are also quick reports called ‘HSE – Prem, Priv,
Prof’ and ‘Students on Holiday’ which can give you further information.

The information from the Class database will need to be transferred to the Future Staffing
Excel document. This document also records teacher availability and holidays. This document
has inbuilt formulae which calculate the ratio of the classes and the total number of teachers
required at any given point in the year. These can be based on real or predicted numbers
according to need. It is your responsibility to improve this document and make amendments
in order to ensure it provides you with the most accurate statistics available. From time to time
the Head of School or Managing Director will also need reports on past ratios and predicted
numbers and this document should help you produce these.

You will find this document under ACADEMIC MANAGER/Staffing/STAFFING EXCEL. An

example can be found in Appendix II.I.

Future Staffing should also be used to predict whether or not the current school capacity is
sufficient for the student bookings coming in. Particularly during the summer months, the
number of classrooms required will need to be monitored very carefully as it takes time to
organise new premises should these be required. A document indicating the capacity of the
classrooms currently available can be found in Appendix [Link]. Should bookings approach the
capacity limit, you will need to consult the Operations Manager and Head of School in order to
organise additional classrooms at other premises.

Version 1.0 29
Weekly Staffing
Overview

On Monday afternoon and Tuesday you should check the precise figures for the following
week. Although you will already have a rough idea of how many teachers you need from your
future course planning, the more detailed analysis will inform you of exactly how many and
which classes you need for the following week. Also, there are many last minute bookings
and cancellations which can dramatically change the number of classes and sometimes the
number of teachers required. In fact, it is good practice to check the staffing throughout the
week as major changes can occur between the original planning on Monday or Tuesday and
the end of the week. For example, you may find that the number of reservations for the
Intensive Morning course rapidly increases by 20 bookings which could be due to a group
being booked. Such a rise in numbers will require at least one extra teacher so you will need
as much notice of this as possible, particularly if this means recruiting new staff.
Unfortunately, many agents are unable to give more than one week’s notice and therefore
constant vigilance is required. For last-minute bookings that have serious staffing implications
such as private and professional courses, it is useful to ask reservations staff to email you
directly when possible.

Excel Staffing Spreadsheet

Once the number and level of classes has been determined, the weekly staffing Excel
spreadsheet must be completed in order to determine who will be teaching which class. To do
this you will need to consult the future staffing document and the Outlook Academic Calendar
to establish which teachers are on holiday or are returning from a break. On the Academic
Calendar, an entry on the Tuesday of each week called Staffing Notes will reveal any private
classes or special groups that are not on the system that need to be staffed in a particular
way as well as any other cover that may be required. The spreadsheet provides extensive
information about the classes and teachers’ hours and uses a number of visual devices to do
this. These documents are to be kept rigorously up-to-date as they are an important record of
staffing (along with Advanced Timetabling on the Class database) and are used to check
teachers’ hours at the end of the month. They are also the only record of cover work and
need to be referred to constantly throughout the week. These are kept under the folder
ACADEMIC MANAGER/Staffing/Staffing Excel. An example can be found in Appendix [Link].

It is essential that any changes during the week in question are also changed on the Excel
staffing spreadsheet. These weekly staffing documents can be used retrospectively to
analyse classroom usage, premium/standard class numbers, teacher sick days and other
academic information.

Matching Teachers to Courses

The ideal situation in terms of staff profile is clearly one in which all teachers are able to teach
all levels and all courses offered at the school. This should be a high consideration during
recruitment and you should look for this wide range of level experience as well as
competence in exam courses such as TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS or the Cambridge Upper
Main Suite. Experience in specific fields such as business or law is also desirable as from
time to time students require English for specific purposes.

Teachers who are placed on either teacher refresher courses, where teacher training is
involved, or English for Academic Purposes, should have a Diploma in ELT/TESOL as a
minimum qualification. For English for specific purposes, teachers will have either relevant
past experience in the field, or training to enable them to deliver such courses. Experienced
teachers without previous knowledge of this specific area of English could also be considered,
as the key competence required is the ability to work collaboratively with the student, using
his or her existing knowledge of the field and providing the language input and skills practice
necessary to achieve the student’s goals.

Version 1.0 30
As a first approach to teacher selection, you should allocate the best available teacher with
the most relevant experience and qualifications. Some courses such as University
Preparation, for example, will require a teacher with a strong academic background for the
private tuition component. The school is, of course, committed to its staff development and
strongly believes in creating an eclectic staff profile consisting of both TEFLI and TEFLQ
teachers in order to create a stimulating professional environment. Support and development
are therefore of the essence, and teachers approaching a new level or course will be provided
with thorough inductions and, where necessary, relevant observations will take place to
ensure competence in the field.

Teacher motivation is another crucial factor to be considered when planning the classes. A
balance must be struck between allocating the best available teacher to a course and
ensuring teachers are sufficiently challenged in their careers. It is important that all teachers
are given the opportunity to explore areas of their teaching which have not been developed in
full.

Finally, and possibly most importantly, you must consider student satisfaction. Continuity is
often an issue and as far as continuous enrolment, the natural opening and closing of
classes, and teacher holidays will allow, you must strive to avoid any unnecessary changes
which may cause disruption. Students who book private tuition may also request specific
criteria to be met such as gender or age, and these should be dealt with sensitively. To
summarise, here is a list of factors to be considered:

Teaching Experience and Qualifications

Student Satisfaction
Continuity and disruption to Classes
Teacher Motivation
Life Experience
Personal skills

Class ratio reporting

On a weekly basis, reports need to be compiled to show the ratio of students in each class
and to give you the opportunity to justify your choices in terms of opening and closing classes
(e.g. lower ratios in the morning because you needed to open an A1 or C2 class, special
student/agent needs/requests etc.)

You can find the Ratios reports in X:\Academic Managers\Experience English Group\KPIs.
Each week is dated, so complete the relevant section. You may wish to copy the comments
from previous entries as many comments will be relevant for several weeks at a time and this
will save you re-typing the same information.

To find the figures you need, go to Class and the Reporting tab, Quick Reports. Sort by name
and generate the one called ‘Z Students Present by Class’. All you need to enter here are the
dates of the week you want to check then click Search & Excel. The report will come up as
an Excel document at the bottom of the screen.

Sort the school names column A-Z then delete all the other schools leaving you with
Hampstead.

Morning numbers:

1. Draw your cursor down from the first name in the A1 class (if you have one) to the last
name in the C1 or C2 class – if you don’t let go of the mouse the number of items you’ve
selected will appear in the far left column - then make a note on rough paper of this number.
2. Now take away any non-standard GE classes from this number that appeared in the
selection you highlighted with the mouse. The number you’re left with is your standard GE S1
students.

Version 1.0 31
3. Next, open up the weekly staffing document from that week and check how many standard
classes you had that week and enter those numbers on the report as well.
4. The spreadsheet will calculate the ratios for you in the peach coloured cells– both the
actual situation (columns N and O) and what the ratios would be if there were no standard
students in the premium classes (columns P and Q)
5. Comments column: This is your chance to explain if the ratios are lower than you’d like
(small A1/C2 for example) and say what the ratio would be without these small classes. (To
calculate this see below)

Working out the ratios manually:

- number of students divided by number of classes
If you want to know what the ratios would be without certain small classes:
- number of students minus the numbers in the small class(es) divided by number of classes
without these two small classes
e.g. 150 – 6 (C2) – 3 (A1) = 141. You had 13 classes altogether, but you need to disregard
the small classes, so divide 141 by 11. This gives you your ratio without the two small
classes.

Complete the rest of the report in the same way.

Important: check that the numbers on the Future Staffing document reflect the numbers on
your report. So, your total number of standard students should be the same on both
documents (give or take one or two). The total number of classes you had should also be
adjusted to reflect reality. Sometimes if you decide to open a class later in the week this
won’t be reflected on Future Staffing, so this is a good opportunity to make sure that
document is up-to-date.

You will need these numbers to bring to the School Management meetings so you can keep
the Senior Manager updated about class bookings, and whether there are any areas of
concern with certain types of courses.

Version 1.0 32
 Other
Administrative
Procedures

Version 1.0 33
Class Changes

Aim:
To make smooth and efficient change of the student’s class in order to meet their needs more
accurately, with minimum disruption to students, teachers or administrative staff.

Class changes are generated by either the teacher or the student. If the teacher considers
the student to be in the wrong level, either immediately after placement or because the
student’s progress is faster/slower than usual, the teacher will first speak to the student to
obtain his/her opinion. The teacher will then, if necessary, enter the student’s name in the
Level Change file (see Appendix III.I) and they should indicate with the selected date whether
this is a change for the current or following week. The student may also speak directly to you.
If this is the case you should then speak to the teacher to gain his/her opinion with regard to
whether the student should change level.

The vast majority of class changes are requested due to level, although other factors may be
involved such as not getting on with other members of the class, or even not getting on with
the teacher. Changes due to level are straightforward, but changes requested for any other
reason will most certainly deem further investigation by you and any other action as
necessary.

To change a student’s class, Go to Classing. Select the current date and several tabs will
be displayed. Click on the Move Student tab. A list of classes and students in that
class will appear. Right click on the student and drag them into the new class.

In general, all class changes should occur for the Monday of the following week in order to
conform to syllabus weeks but, where it is deemed necessary, they can be made midweek.

Class changes need to be kept to a minimum in order to encourage stability and harmony in
the classes, although individual student needs are always paramount and therefore attention
must be paid to class change requests. Often, the student needs to be spoken to, to be
reassured about the level they are in. For example, many students believe that the level is
too high for them because they cannot speak, whereas in fact they are in the correct level and
simply need extra speaking practice to bring their oral skills up to the level of their grammar.

You should use your judgement at all times when class changes are requested either by the
student or the teacher, and be wary of students moving just to be with their friends (ask
yourself whether this is a valid reason as sometimes it is).

To a certain extent, any request by a student to change class represents a “failure” in the
system of placing (see placing students in class) and, if you find you are changing more that
1% or 2% of students per week, then you should revise and perhaps make alterations to the
placing systems and criteria.

Version 1.0 34
Teacher Absence

Aim:
To ensure the continuity of teaching, and student satisfaction in the case of teacher absence.

The sick leave record of the school is excellent and teachers, in general, tend to “struggle in”
unless they are very ill. The teachers will have your mobile number and they must call you
before 07.30 in the morning if they are sick. The teacher can text or leave a voicemail, but
they must receive acknowledgement or they must continue to try to make contact. You will
then, where possible, arrange for a supply teacher to come in to teach the lesson or the
Assistant Academic Manager will be able to cover the lesson. Teachers are expected to have
their lessons fully planned, including any photocopies made, so that the Assistant Academic
Manager can locate the materials and pass them on to the cover teacher. Neither the
Assistant Academic Manager nor the Academic Manager should be planning lessons from
scratch and if this is the case, the teacher who called in sick must be spoken to upon their
return to ensure they know the correct procedure.

We have a ‘bank’ of approximately 5 or 6 supply teachers who are able to come in at short
notice. They are usually people who know the school and have taught here before, but are
working on a temporary basis and have irregular availability. It is not a good idea to take on
an inexperienced teacher who does not know the school as a supply teacher. It is better to
have the Assistant Academic Manager cover the lesson.

If a teacher knows that they are going to be absent because of sickness, you must make a
note of it in the Academic calendar on Microsoft Outlook. Ask the teacher to put in writing the
date and lesson(s) which needs to be covered. Keep this in a separate file as proof that this
time off has been requested. Make sure that you arrange the cover and remind the teacher of
the class to leave a cover lesson with the necessary photocopies on their desk.

Ensure the cover teacher leaves a full work record with any necessary details regarding the
class before they leave in order for the original teacher to pick up smoothly where they left off.
They need to have a clear idea of their daily responsibilities. This can be found in the
teacher’s manual. There is also a folder on the Teachers drive for Visiting Teachers.

You also need to make sure that the cover teacher has a password for Class Registers, and
that you have allocated them to that class on Advanced Timetabling, so they can mark the
register for that day.

If a teacher is absent for more than one day, it is advisable to keep the same cover teacher
on the class to avoid as much disruption to the students as possible. Where possible, it is
useful to predict the length of teacher absence and allocate a cover teacher who has the
relevant availability.

It is imperative that you keep records of sickness in order to be in a position to inform

Directors and comply with the relevant sick pay system in force. Update the payroll document
W:\DoS\STAFFING EXCEL\Payroll for the month you are in (See Appendix II.V). Similarly it
is important to update the current week’s staffing document found under DoS/STAFFING
EXCEL.

All teachers should log their sickness on the BreatheHR platform.

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Student Absence

Aim:
For the students to resume classes as soon as possible.

The Hampstead School of English Attendance policy which is outlined in our Terms and
Conditions online highlight our expectation that all students should attend at least 90% of their
course of study. Please refer to the Office Manual for full details of absentee monitoring,
recording and reporting, and the summary information below.

We understand that some absence is almost inevitable and encourage students to inform us
in advance, whenever possible, if they are going to be absent. The policy also details how we
police unexplained absence.

All teachers are responsible for taking a manual register of each lesson as well as inputting
attendance electronically on to Class registers. These attendance records can be easily
accessed and highlighted for appropriate action if needed.

A member of office staff then e-mails the absent students. If they are unable to contact the
student they may try to contact the agent. A record of absentees, correspondence sent and
received and action taken is stored automatically:

If a response to the first attempt at contact is not received within a week and the student has
not returned to class, an administrative member of staff will inform the Academic Manager.
The number of consecutive days a student can be in a genuine class while being absent
without explanation is five. The student will then be sent another letter/email. Any
correspondence to or from the student is recorded and electronically filed.

The member of office staff responsible continues to try to contact the student (as they may
have taken an unplanned holiday) and then sends a summary by email to the School
Manager who will take the matter further if necessary.

Every effort is made to contact the student by telephone and letter to find out what the
problem is. It is never acceptable for a student to absent themselves without informing the
school when they have registered and paid for their course. Our aim is always to ensure that
our students want to come to school and would miss their classes only in very exceptional
circumstances.

It is vital, therefore, that absences are investigated as thoroughly as possible and students
given any assistance that they may require.

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Students Leaving

Aim:
On the last day of a student’s course, we should always ensure that students are given
enough time and attention to provide any feedback on the courses which they feel appropriate
at that time. Students must leave the school feeling able to contact us and return at any point
in the future. Our students should ultimately associate learning English in London with
Hampstead School of English and should be so satisfied with our service that they would not
consider using another school in London.

Last week questionnaires are created for each of the students leaving. These will be given to
the Academic Administrator on Wednesday by an administrative member of staff who can
distribute these during First Week interviews on a Wednesday, to save disturbing classes
twice.

Certificates are collected by students at the Certificate Ceremony in the canteen at 11.00am
on Friday. All teachers are encouraged to attend with their classes so they can say goodbye
to the students and have photographs taken for the school’s Facebook page.

Generally, it is a good idea to make sure you are available in the office as much as possible
on a Friday. You are not generally involved in the administration of students leaving (i.e.
printing last week questionnaires, certificates etc.), but it is a very good idea to look for any
students who you would particularly want to go and say goodbye to. It is good practice to
acknowledge students whom you have had a lot of dealings with when they are leaving and
particularly to check on their satisfaction with the school. Every day a student is in the school
is important and their last day is no exception. They must be made to feel as though they are
given as smoothly run, efficient and caring an exit from the school as their entrance. Try to be
around the office/foyer area on Friday lunchtime as a lot of students will be coming up to say
goodbye and they will generally appreciate having the opportunity of doing that with you.

Administrative Records & Miscellaneous

Aim:
Procedures and systems are vital for the smooth running of the school to ensure that
individual students are receiving the service which we aim to offer. The keeping of records is
vital, both in order to view individual histories on each student and also to facilitate plans and
strategies for the future.

On a weekly basis, you should check or delegate the checking of the following:

1. Teachers’ registers, ILPs and work records

Teachers complete these on a daily basis and during the week and store them on their
workstations/in the relevant folders on the Teachers’ Drive.
At the end of the week, teachers place their registers in the drawers in the resource room.
The Compliance Officer will collect these on Mondays and check all registers are there.
When looking at the work records (T:\CLASSES), the criteria should be based on the
question, “Would I be able to do a follow-up lesson based on the information given?”
Any teachers with records that fall short of the standard need to be spoken to.
ILPs (T:\STUDENTS - Individual Learning Portfolios\2016) also need to be checked
weekly. All students should be receiving tutorials fortnightly, the records need to be
completed effectively, and there should also be samples of students’ assessed work in

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 the folders. Any incomplete folders need to be brought to the attention of the student’s
morning class teacher, who takes responsibility for these.
Electronic register inputting also needs to be checked daily (based on reports given to
you by the Compliance Officer). Any teachers who have not input their class attendance
should be reminded immediately.

2. Hours Sheets
The teachers are responsible for keeping their own hours. However you should keep a
record of their hours in case there are any discrepancies. Hours sheets are prepared by
the Head of School and are emailed to teachers each month for teachers to collect and
complete. On the publicised deadline each month, teachers should hand in their hours
sheets to the Academic office. Any new teachers should already have handed in their
New Employee documents and P45/P46 forms and these are scanned and saved in the
folder W/Employee Docs. Any cover teachers or teachers coming in for only part of the
month should hand their hours sheet in on their last day at the school, even if this is well
before the deadline.
While teachers may come to speak to you about any queries, concerns or discrepancies,
the monthly cycle of the hours sheets should not require any significant level of Academic
Manager participation. However, as the deadline approaches, the Head of School will
liaise with you to ensure all information regarding new teachers, sickness and hours
worked are correct at the time.

3. Expenses Forms
Teachers who need to claim expenses from social programme events should complete
the expenses form available on the teachers’ drive with any relevant receipts. Teachers
are expected to complete the form, attach any receipts and hand these in to the
Operations Manager.

4. Tidiness of staffroom/classrooms.
This is primarily the responsibility of the Assistant Academic Manager/teachers, but you
should also generally be aware that the staffroom needs to be kept tidy and that it is a
pleasant working environment to be in. Notices in the staffroom should be kept up to date,
neat and attractive.

You should report any issues reported by teachers regarding classrooms or classroom
equipment to the Operations Manager, who will liaise with the caretaker or cleaning team
to resolve the problem. In other cases you may need to speak to the teachers.

The Assistant Academic Manager is primarily responsible for the maintenance and
development of the Resource room. You should report any maintenance issues that you
notice directly to the Operations Manager.

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ACADEMIC MANAGER Interviews

Aim:
Personal contact between the Academic Manager and students is vital and this is established
through a system of interviews with every student during their first week.

This is one of the most important aspects of your job. They must not be neglected under any
circumstances and should always take priority on a Wednesday and a Thursday. The
Academic Administrator is responsible for preparing the First Week interview documents,
including printing the relevant registers and first week questionnaires, as well as preparing the
table in a Word document in order to complete with feedback.

The main aim of the First Week interview is to establish contact between you and the student
in order that he/she feels that you are approachable, and also to check on their satisfaction.
Always ask the following questions, and others, as you feel appropriate.

 How are you finding your class?

 Do you feel that you have been placed in the right level?
 Do you feel comfortable in your class?
 Do you feel comfortable in the school in general?
 Has everyone who works at the school treated you politely and made you feel welcome?
 Are you happy with your accommodation?
 Is there anything else you would like to speak to me about?
 Do you have any questions?

Be aware that you are dealing with people from very varied cultures and some may be more
direct and frank than others. Look out for body language and different ways of expressing the
same point. Be aware that you are dealing with some cultures where to criticise is seen as
very bad manners. A great deal will go on your intuition and you must deal with anything
negative which comes up from this interview immediately.

Once you have interviewed the students you will need to make a note of it in the weekly First
Week Interview file (filed in W/First Week Interviews Admin and sorted by date). Once you
have done this send an email to everyone in the office to inform them of the feedback
received. If there are any problems talk to the relevant member of staff first. (See Appendix
[Link] for example First Week interview report).

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Meetings

Version 1.0 40
Meeting Schedule
Aim:
Communication is essential to the smooth running of the school. The meetings should be
seen as an opportunity to communicate information, discuss problems and plan for the future.

Formal Channels of Communication.

Senior Management: School Manager,

Academic
Manager
Academic Director

& Teachers
Assistant
Academic
Manager

Administrative
Operations Manager Staff

Informal communication takes place on a frequent basis as and when necessary. It should be
noted that the Academic Manager and Assistant Academic Manager share an office with an
open-door policy so that ongoing informal communication takes place continually between the
Academic Manager and Assistant Academic Manager and between the latter and the
teachers, school administration and management staff without recourse to scheduled
meetings. Additionally the internal email system is used to keep all relevant staff members
informed of all aspects of the school’s management involving the Academic Manager.

The formal channels also exist to ensure a systematic exchange of information.

Please find below an example weekly schedule for meetings:

Monday
School Manager Meeting (staffing and ratios)
Academic Manager – Assistant Academic Manager – School Manager

Thursday
Academic Team Meeting
Academic Manager – Assistant Academic Manager

School Manager Meeting

Academic Manager – School Manager

Friday
Teachers’ Meeting
School Manager – Operations Manager – Social Programme Co-ordinator - Academic
Director - Academic Manager – Assistant Academic Manageres – Teachers

School Management Meeting

School Manager – Academic Manager – Operations Manager

Version 1.0 41
Administrative meeting
School Manager – Operations Manager - Office Staff and monthly Academic Manager and
Assistant Academic Managers

You will be responsible for chairing the Teachers’ Meeting and The Academic Team Meeting.
Minutes must be written and kept for both meetings (W:\Academic Manager\MEETINGS).
See Appendix [Link] for an example of academic meeting minutes.

Attendance at the administrative meetings is usually arranged monthly and offers an

opportunity for information/knowledge-sharing and training.

Teachers’ Meeting
The teachers’ meeting takes place every Friday between 8.45 and 9.00. It is essential that all
the teachers attend and you must keep a record of absentees and attendees in the minutes.
See Appendix IV.I for example of meeting minutes.

The minutes must be emailed to all members of management and to all teachers.

Teachers’ Meetings have two functions:

Administrative/Organisational
Any developments, changes or news with regard to the administrative or organisational
aspects of the school are to be discussed in the staff meeting. It is a school policy that as little
as possible change is made without the full consultation of all those involved. Teachers
should be notified of any major change in good time and should be given the opportunity to
discuss such matters

Development
Some time can be given during the weekly meeting to drawing teachers’ attention to any
development opportunities that may be coming up, such as external seminars and
workshops, as well as discussing the latest in-house CPD.

Academic Team Meeting

This is attended by the Academic Manager and Assistant Academic Managers. It is a key
moment in the week as all outstanding issues and new ideas and developments are
discussed here. Though it normally takes place on a Thursday, this can vary according to
schedules. It is your responsibility to organise a time and day suitable to all who need to
attend. You will also prepare the agenda which should be emailed to all prior to the meeting to
give others the chance to add or amend entries as necessary. This will form the basis of the
meeting which you will chair. You (or the Assistant Academic Manager) take the minutes and
ensure all receive a copy via email. See Appendix [Link] for an example.

Management Meeting
This is attended by the School Manager, the Operations Manager and the Academic
Manager. This is an opportunity to discuss higher level developments and strategy and more
global issues that affect the overall running of the school and which are not strictly academic.

Administrative Meeting
This usually takes place on Fridays and is chaired by the Operations Manager. It is advisable
that either the Academic Manager or Assistant Academic Managers attend monthly in order to
keep abreast of administrative matters and to provide administrative staff with the academic
support they need.

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Recruitment
&
Induction

Version 1.0 43
Recruitment

Aim:
To recruit the best available teachers in terms of qualifications, experience and attitude. To
develop a good balance of TEFLI and TEFLQ teachers with an ideal ratio of 50:50.

The school receives CVs from prospective teachers either in response to an advertisement
(see Appendix [Link] for an example) or by teachers looking for work on their own initiative. All
recruitment should be carried out in line with the school recruitment policy which can be found
in Appendix [Link].

We regularly post adverts on [Link], [Link] and [Link].

All advertisements are in line with our Policy on the protection of Young Students and as such
include the following statement:

Please note that Experience English: Hampstead School of English is committed to providing
an environment in which students and staff members can thrive and progress without fear of
bullying, misconduct or discrimination of any kind. The well-being of students and staff
members is our priority.

References will be followed up and requests will ask specifically whether there is any reason
that the applicant should not be employed in situations where they have responsibility for, or
substantial access to, persons under 18. All gaps in CVs must be explained satisfactorily and
proof of identity and qualifications will be required. Appropriate DBS checks may be required
prior to confirmation of appointment.

This is also added to all correspondence with potential candidates.

It is your responsibility to arrange for advertisements to be posted, screen CVs and schedule
interviews in liaison with the Academic Director. Interviews are conducted with 2 members of
staff, usually the Academic Manager and an Assistant Academic Manager.

The recruitment procedure is described below.

As a CV is received, check the following:

i) Appropriate level of English
ii) The age (must be over 18)
iii) University graduate
iv) EFL qualifications (RSA, Trinity, CELTA minimum)

The above are the minimum standards which a teacher normally employed by the school is
expected to meet. After these have been checked, the following should be investigated.

i) Relevant experience

A teacher who has recently completed a CELTA course and therefore has little or no relevant
experience is not necessarily automatically rejected. You should also check any relevant
work or life experience the teacher may have (for example, a teacher who has spent many
years living abroad and perhaps learning languages may be able to empathise with our
students and this would be a strong point in his/her favour).

ii) Qualifications

As indicated above, teachers should have a university degree and CELTA (or equivalent ELT
qualification) as minimum qualifications for a teaching post at the school. Where any

Version 1.0 44
exceptions have been made, a teacher will have the equivalent in terms of extensive
experience or other qualifications. Any candidates applying with degrees and a grade A or B
on the CELTA course would almost certainly be worth calling for an interview.

iii) Special interests/experience/specialist qualifications

Check if the teacher has expressed a special interest or has experience in any specific area
of teaching which may be relevant to the courses offered at the school e.g. English for
Academic Purposes, TOEFL, TOEIC, Business, Legal English, Financial English etc. This will
meet the need to match the appropriate teachers to courses we offer.

iv) Further qualifications

A teacher who has passed the CELTA and has more than 2 years’ full time teaching
experience should either already have, or expressed an interest in taking, the DELTA. We
should try to discover valid reasons for not pursuing further qualifications in the case of a
teacher who has taken the CELTA a few years ago.

v) Attitude

Does the prospective teacher seem friendly, caring and interested? Does the candidate
display evidence of a strong work ethic and a commitment to the EFL teaching profession?
Would you like to spend time with them?

vi) Language Awareness

Does the prospective teacher possess enough basic language awareness to teach at a range
of levels? You must bear in mind the length of experience the teacher has as language
awareness is often developed through experience.

After all the above points are considered, and assuming that there are vacancies at the
school, the teacher should be contacted by sending him/her a letter asking him/her to contact
the school in order to make an appointment for an interview. A CV checklist is available to
facilitate this short listing process (see Appendix V.I). This allows you to summarise on one
page each teacher’s qualifications and experience as well as keep a record of action taken to
date.

All advertisements state that only successful applicants will be contacted, so there is no need
to respond to applications that are not considered suitable.

Once the prospective teacher has contacted you to make an appointment, a confirmation
letter is sent out with a teacher job description and school brochure. See Appendix [Link] for
templates.

Interviews
On the day of the interview, ensure that there is a room available.

Everybody who comes into contact with the school should have a favourable impression and
the interviewer is in a particularly strong position to influence the candidate’s view of the
school.

Every candidate must be interviewed with courtesy and hospitality. Good timekeeping and a
neat appearance are essential.

Interviews should last about 40 minutes. If a teacher is going to carry the responsibility of
teaching our students, we need to know about him/her and they need to have the time to
absorb the “ethos” of the school.

In order to ensure that candidates possesses the required basis of language awareness they
will be asked to complete a short language awareness test (allow 30 minutes). This is done
before the interview in the library. You should tell all candidates in the pre-interview

Version 1.0 45
correspondence that they will be required to do this. (See Appendix [Link] for Language
Awareness Test).

Ensure the front desk is given a copy of the test with the teacher’s name so when the teacher
arrives they can be accompanied to the library to take the test. Each candidate should also be
given the Staff Application Form (example in Appendix [Link]) to complete which not only
allows us to standardise the presentation of candidates but also to ensure applicants are
provided with information required by law. Front desk will inform you of the candidate’s arrival
and once the 20 minutes have elapsed, you should collect the candidate from the library and
take them to the interview room.

During the interview it is useful to go through the candidate’s CV and to ask general questions
so that the candidate is relaxed and you can form a general impression. “How to teach”
questions can be useful to identify strong and weak areas of the candidate’s teaching but
questions revealing a teacher’s attitude can be equally important. There are two levels of
interview form which you may refer to for either TEFLI or TEFLQ candidates. These can be
found in Appendix V.V and [Link] respectively.

After all the questions, please spend time with the candidate explaining general school
procedures, what is important to us and how we ‘teach’.

After the interview, the candidate should be given a full tour of the school. This is usually
delegated to the Assistant Academic Manager. The candidate should then be taken to the
academic office where the Academic Manager can brief the candidate on the school salary
scale and availability of work. A copy of the salary scale is available in Appendix [Link].

Once all the candidates on the short list have been interviewed, you will need to decide to
whom you will offer the vacancy. Candidates must be considered on their merits alone and
you may not take any other factors into account. A person specification is available in
Appendix [Link] as a checklist against which the candidate can be assessed.

Once the decision has been made, you should make your employment offer in writing as soon
as possible and request the candidate either accepts or rejects the offer in writing. See
Appendix V.X for an example letter. At this stage, you will contact the teachers’ referees; at
least 2 references must be obtained for each teacher and at least one of these must be in
writing. See Appendix [Link] for a sample letter/email and the reference request forms.

Once a new teacher has been employed you must update the Teacher Overview spreadsheet
with all details of the new teacher. This multi-purpose document is used as a centralised
information point for details of all current teachers, both temporary and permanent. It
contains information about each teacher’s qualifications, employment start date, and
developmental contribution, including special responsibilities and observations. See
Appendix [Link] for a sample. (W:\Academic Manager\Teacher Development\Teacher
overview documents)

A more detailed and complete recruitment procedure is suggested in Appendix [Link].

Version 1.0 46
Teacher Induction

Aim:
Staff must know what is expected of them. Teacher induction attends to both the day-to-day
duties of teachers, as well as introducing them to the school’s ethos of care and attention for
its students and staff.

Induction and first week

A new teacher must be given a Teachers’ Manual as soon as they commence employment.
This can be emailed as a soft copy for environmental reasons. You should arrange a meeting
with the new teacher before they begin at the school, preferably the week before. The
induction will take at least one hour and is usually delegated to the Assistant Academic
Manager. During this session, you can use the academic induction form as a checklist (See
Appendix [Link]). You must also make sure you give the teacher a thorough tour and introduce
them to everyone who works at the school.

The teacher is given course books, materials, board pens etc. and as much information as
possible about the classes they will be taking. You will also need to give the teacher the
following:

 Job Description
 Contract
 Starter Form
 P46 form (if the teacher does not give you a P45)
 Children’s Act Form
 CRB/DBS information/documentation
 Academic Induction Checklist
 Holiday Form
 Teacher Manual
 Copy of ‘Meet The Team’ form to complete for the noticeboard

The teacher must then return to you, either on the same day or on the first day of
employment:
 Signed copy of contract
 Completed Starter Form
 Completed P46 form (or P45)
 Completed Children’s Act Form
 Completed CRB/DBS information plus relevant forms of ID to be sent off immediately
 You make photocopies of degree and CELTA/DELTA certificates, signed stating the
originals have been seen
 Photocopy of a form of photo ID, eg. passport for school records (see CRB form above)
 Photocopy of visa if relevant
 Completed personal description ‘Meet The Team’ form. (Appendix [Link])

A separate technology induction should also be arranged to introduce the new teacher to the
interactive projectors and IWBs.

The information given to the teacher on the first day is detailed and they may need some time
to digest it. Encourage them to read the teachers manual and to come to the Assistant
Academic Manageres or you with any questions.

More experienced teachers can also act as buddies to new teachers. As buddy, they will be
able to reinforce any areas of the induction that a teacher may not have fully absorbed, as

Version 1.0 47
well as providing support and guidance on matters both academic and administrative during
the teacher’s first weeks.

Explain to the new teacher that they must feel that they can ask any teacher or manager for
help at any time. There is a lot of information for the new teacher to take in and the induction
will provide a brief overview of the duties required.

Finally, The Academic Manager and Assistant Academic Manager should also make
themselves available to answer any questions from the new teacher. The Academic Manager
should arrange an informal meeting at the end of the teacher’s second or third week to
answer any questions and queries that the new teacher may have and to find out how the
new teacher is finding their time at the school.

Paperwork to File & Scan

In Appendix [Link] you will find a Filing Checklist. This contains a comprehensive list of
required documentation which can act a checklist. A file must be created for each teacher to
contain all their documentation and the file must be stored in the locked filing cabinet in the
Academic Manager office.

It is important that the teachers’ files are kept in good order, with the information clearly
organised and labelled. In each teacher’s file, paperwork needs to be as follows:
 One clear plastic wallet labelled ‘Contract & Employment Documents’
 One clear plastic wallet labelled ‘CV & Staff Application Form’ (also to contain
references collected)
 One clear plastic wallet labelled ‘ID & Certificates’
 One clear plastic wallet labelled ‘Correspondence’ (containing all formal offers of
work, any formal letters received from the teacher etc)

The new teacher’s completed P46 and New Employee forms need to be scanned and saved
in W:/Employment Scans folder. This should be emailed to the Operations Manager on the
date that the hours sheets are due in and a copy of the documents placed in the hours sheets
box in the Academic Manager office.

The new teacher’s signed contract and completed EE form need to be scanned and saved in
W:Academic Manager/Recruitment & Induction/Contracts.

Mini Inductions
Most teachers teach general English and Language Skills when they first arrive at the school.
The school also offers Cambridge examination courses and the following optional afternoon
courses:

 IELTS
 TOEFL
 Business
 TOEIC
 Cambridge Upper Main Suite Examinations (PET, FCE, CAE, CPE)

The students in these classes have different objectives and a different style and approach for
teaching is often required. If a teacher takes a course for the first time they will need to be
prepared as they would for their other classes. It can be daunting for a teacher when teaching
a new level or type of class and they should be prepared and know what to expect. You or the
Assistant Academic Managers must go through this information with the teacher involved.
You may also want to arrange for the teacher to observe the course which they are going to
teach and to speak to others teachers who have experience in the field.

Version 1.0 48
Teachers Leaving
For all teachers leaving the school, an interview should be arranged in which an exit
questionnaire is completed. It is very important to gain this valuable feedback from these
teachers in order to improve and develop the school.

Finally you will need to complete a Termination Form to be sent to payroll, which can be
found in W:Employee Docs.

Version 1.0 49
Teacher Training
&
Development

Version 1.0 50
Overview

Aim:
To enable our teachers to develop their full potential and gain as many qualifications as
possible. This will improve the academic profile of the school and the quality of the service we
offer as well as help teachers to progress in their careers within the school.

All teachers at Hampstead School of English are expected to have a proactive attitude
towards development. Though some aspects of development are compulsory at HSOE, the
Academic Manager must encourage teachers to pursue their professional development
beyond this to create a stimulating working environment in which learning is paramount, not
just for students but all members of staff. The Academic Director/Academic Manager must
also keep a record for each teacher, tracking the extent of their training and development
which can then be referenced during appraisals. This information is included in the Teacher
Overview spreadsheet on the Development Tracker tab and can be found in Appendix VI.I.
The active version is kept in soft copy under W:/ACADEMIC MANAGER/Teacher
development/Teacher Overview.

Through training and development we aim to:

 Maintain and improve quality of teaching

 Increase teacher motivation

 Encourage teachers to learn from each other and share knowledge

 Create a positive atmosphere

 Prevent stagnation

 Encourage teachers to remain at the school

 Keep a stable academic staff profile

Development can take a variety of forms including the following.

Version 1.0 51
External Training
Post CELTA Qualifications
The school will finance DELTA or Trinity [Link] courses however this is decided on a
case-by-case basis, and in some circumstances the M.A. in EFL and Applied Linguistics. In
order to qualify for this, the teacher must fulfil the following conditions:

 Have worked at the school for at least one year.

 Have completed the CELTA course at least two years ago and have two years’ relevant
experience.

The details of the financing arrangements can be discussed with the Head of School on a
case-by-case basis.

These courses are available at various London institutes and a current list of courses with
general information about the DELTA course is available in the Appendix [Link]. This should be
saved on the shared teachers’ drive and distributed to teachers as and when appropriate.

Seminars
There are many different seminars and conferences given on a regular basis in and around
London. You should encourage teachers as much as possible to attend these seminars.
Promote them in the staff meetings and make sure you put up fliers and posters on the notice
board in the staff room. Targeting particular teachers for seminars particularly relevant to
them is also an effective way of encouraging development. During staff appraisals, establish
targets of around three seminars per year for each teacher.

If a teacher chooses to go on a seminar try and collect all the information from them and
encourage them to give a seminar on the subject if it is interesting for all the other members
of staff. Teachers can also fill in a seminar feedback form. Encourage this as much as
possible.

Organisations which hold seminars and conferences on a regular basis include:

 English UK Inset Courses

 The Central London ELT library, St Giles College

 Oxford House Club

 St George International CPD Club

 International House Teachers’ Seminars

 English UK Teachers’ and IATEFL Conferences

 British Council Seminars

Version 1.0 52
Internal Training
All documents relating to teacher development can be found in W:\Academic
Manager\Teacher Development.

In-house Monthly Seminars

In-house training sessions for the teachers are generally run on the last Thursday of each
month, between 4.30 and 5.30pm.

These are generally run by members of the Academic team or DELTA qualified teachers, but
other teachers are also strongly encouraged to submit ideas for sessions they may like to run.
These are often run as joint sessions with two or three people leading, and should be based
on current need or requests from the teachers. These should be practical and relevant, and
enable teachers to take away lots of ideas to incorporate into their teaching.

All permanent teachers are expected to attend, and temporary teachers are always welcome.
Where practical, the sessions may be filmed so that absent teachers can access them at
another stage.

The seminar programme can be drawn up according to the following criteria:

 Teachers’ requests or areas of research

 Areas of teaching that that require attention based on student feedback, observations or
inspections.

A list of suggested seminar topics can be found in the Appendix [Link].

Teachers leading should liaise with the Academic Manager/Assistant Academic Manager to
ensure the topic is relevant and useful for other teachers. It is not necessary for a teacher to
be an expert in a given field in order to give a seminar. The teacher should consider this a
developmental opportunity to research, and experiment appropriately in class in order to be
able to share their experience with other teachers.

Observations
The rationale behind the observation programme is to assist staff development and to ensure
the quality of the teaching that is taking place in the school. The observations should be held
in as unthreatening a manner as possible and the teacher should be made to feel supported
and guided from the beginning to the end of the observation process. It is vital that feedback
is given as soon as possible after the observation and that you take as much time as the
teacher deems necessary to do this. If necessary, give hot feedback on the day – with a
written summary later.

Teachers will be observed initially in their second week at the school. They are then observed
at least twice a year during drop-in observations, once a year during Academic Manager
observations and then at least once by a peer. These observations programmes are
mandatory, though there is flexibility on the peer observation programme as to who observes
whom. When a teacher is observing a lesson, the Academic Team will cover that teacher’s
lesson and therefore the teacher is expected to leave detailed plans of the material that is
required for cover.

The Academic Manager and Assistant Academic Manager, and sometimes the Academic
Director or Senior Teacher Trainer, all observe teachers and participate in the drop-in
observations.

The rationale and criteria of each of the types of observation are as follows:

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First Observation

New teachers are observed during their first week at the school by the Academic Team, who
will then relay the results to you. The main purpose of this observation is quality control and to
see that the teacher is using the syllabus and materials correctly. It will also give you an idea
as to the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher so that in the future you will be able to give
them a course of action for development. They will then receive a full Academic Manager
observation later in the year.

The teacher must write a formal lesson plan for the three-hour morning lesson although they
will be observed for only one of these hours (T:\TEACHER DEVELOPMENT\Observation
Documents). During the observation the observer will need to complete a document which will
act as a basis for feedback (see Appendix [Link]). The school provides the teacher with all the
necessary observation documents to plan their lessons. After the observation the observer
should arrange a feedback session with the teacher as soon as possible. The feedback form
must be completed, copied and given to the teacher to sign. One copy is given to the teacher
and one copy is retained in the teacher’s personal development folder. W:\Academic
Manager\Teacher Development\First & Second Observations.

This observation should be considered as quality control and teachers must perform to the
accepted standard. Follow the CELTA assessment criteria (see Appendix [Link]). Should any
of the areas of teaching not comply with this, a further observation should be organised
following feedback to ensure that standards are met.

Annual Academic Manager Observation

These happen annually. The teacher being observed is required to give a full three hour
lesson plan, though the observation will usually last one hour and can take place at any time
during the lesson.

This observation gives the teacher the opportunity to make their own decisions about how to
use the observer and the observation. A pre-observation discussion will focus on what the
teacher wishes the observer to notice and advice may be given on this if deemed necessary.

The relevant observation forms can be found in Appendix VI.V and these should be
completed and signed by both the Academic Manager/Assistant Academic Manager and the
observed teacher. Follow the CELTA assessment criteria (see Appendix [Link]). Records are
kept in the teachers’ personal development folders in the Academic Manager office.

There are certain minimum requirements for a Academic Manager/Assistant Academic

Manager-observed lesson:

i. The lesson plan must cover the full three-hour lesson.

ii. An example/copy of all materials to be used in the lesson must be give with the
lesson plan.
iii. The lesson plan and all materials should be given to the Academic
Manager/Assistant Academic Manager the day before the observed lesson it to
take place.
iv. The lesson should not be a “one-off” and should include a syllabus fit.

Observation forms are found in T:\TEACHER DEVELOPMENT\Observation Documents.

There is no “in-house style” and any teaching method which is seen to be successful is
acceptable. In addition to the special focus agreed on the following aspects of the lesson will
be considered by the Academic Manager/Assistant Academic Manager. It might be an idea to
use a lesson plan template with a column for a running commentary so you can give the
teacher a reference for your comments, as well as specific examples of anything particularly
good or bad which you would like to highlight. It’s also a good idea to email the teacher the
previous year’s observation feedback to remind them of any action points.

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 i. The shape of the lesson and evidence of preparation. This includes “logical”
staging of the lesson, whether the lesson is clearly introduced and if the content
of the lesson is generally “well balanced”.
ii. The teacher’s ability to match the contents of the lesson to the particular class
being taught and to make the lesson as relevant as possible to the students in the
class.
iii. The teacher will be expected to show sufficient command of the teaching skills
required in the particular lesson e.g. drilling, error correction, etc.
iv. The teacher’s rapport with the class is considered very important. The school
aims to provide a friendly, supportive, informal atmosphere within the context of
hard work and academic study and rapport will be considered from this position.
Related to this is classroom management and teachers will be expected to show
that they can manage the group successfully and convey instructions quickly and
succinctly.

During the observation feedback, specific comments will be made on the following points
unless they are not applicable to the lesson observed. You can reference the assessment
criteria from the CELTA to give concrete objective feedback.

i. General class management and direction; giving instructions, indication of stages

in lesson, changes in activity pace, etc
ii. Presentation of materials
iii. Ability to control language to the level of the class, and sensitivity to
linguistic/learning difficulties.
iv. Questioning: graded, directed and appropriate
v. Controlled practice; choral and individual
vi. Awareness and correction of errors
vii. Use of aids and equipment, including whiteboards and OHPs
viii. Handling of text or dialogue
ix. Maintenance of interest
x. Involvement of and attention of individuals
xi. Monitoring the students’ understanding and progress throughout the lesson
xii. Ability to adapt and extemporise where necessary
xiii. Achievement of aims

As well as the above, general comments will be made by the observer and ideas for future
research/development will be discussed. It is also useful to look at the last observation to
assess the teacher’s development. If there were any areas which needed attention, make
sure that the teacher has addressed them in this observation.
.

20-minute Drop-In observations

In order to maintain the high standards expected from all teachers and to obtain a clear
picture of the strengths and areas to improve of the entire teaching body, it is important to
organise drop-in observations. Observers may include the Assistant Academic Manager,
Academic Manager, Academic Director or Senior Teacher Trainer.

Teachers must be told in advance that over a period of three days their class will be observed
for approx 20 minutes. This includes morning and afternoon classes. Similarly to external
inspections the teachers are not told when or who will be coming to observe their class.

Classes should be divided so that a mixture and range of teachers and levels is observed
(see Appendix [Link] for an example schedule). A specific observation form should be
completed for each lesson seen (W:\Academic Manager\Teacher Development\20 minute
drop in development observations). Often specially devised observation feedback forms are
used if there is a particular focus of the drop-in sessions (see Appendix VI.X). Once all the
observations have taken place arrange a meeting with the other observers. The aim of this is
to compare notes and prepare a report for the teachers on the strengths and weaknesses of
the teaching team. The report will be available to all of the teachers and strictly impersonal i.e.

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no names are mentioned (see Appendix [Link] for an example report). Teachers who wish to
have more personal feedback from their observer can do so. This can take the form of an
informal feedback session.

If any of the observers note examples of bad practice, this should be followed up immediately
with the relevant teacher and if necessary a more formal Academic Manager observation
should be arranged to ensure the quality of teaching is maintained.

The feedback from the report generates further teacher development and the themes for the
Friday teachers’ seminars are selected using this feedback.

Peer Observations

The objective of peer observation is to provide the teachers with the opportunity to give and
receive support and ideas for development. A Friday meeting should be allocated to discuss
peer observations and during this meeting teachers should be given the opportunity to
express their observation preferences. In contrast to Academic Manager/Assistant Academic
Manager observations, peer observations should generally take on a “bottom up” approach in
which the observer chooses to watch a type of lesson or particular teacher that he/she wishes
to learn from.

In terms of planning, the teacher being observed will not be required to submit a lesson plan
but should meet up with the observer beforehand to establish the learning objectives. The
observer is required to give written feedback to the teacher being observed within two days of
observing the lesson. They will do this by using the feedback form found in T:\TEACHER
DEVELOPMENT\Peer Observations. As well as written feedback, both teachers are
encouraged to spend time discussing the lesson observed.

The schedule is drawn up by the Academic Manager or Assistant Academic Manager who will
ensure that teachers’ preferences are taken into consideration. A record of peer observations
is kept in the teachers’ personal development files in the Academic Manager office.

In addition to the scheduled observations, additional voluntary sessions can be arranged at

teachers’ request. When a peer observation is taking place, The Academic Manager or
Assistant Academic Manager cover the observer’s lesson and therefore the observer should
leave sufficient instructions and a lesson plan.

Invisible Observations

Teachers also have the opportunity to film themselves using the school’s video camera and to
observe their own teaching, using the exercise as an opportunity for self-reflection. This can
be especially beneficial for teachers for whom the annual ACADEMIC MANAGER
observations are perceived more as a top-down, quality control exercise, and who have
perhaps stopped benefitting developmentally from these.

Teachers can take part in these at any time of the year, and are provided with a self-reflection
form which they are expected to fill out before and after watching. These can be shared with
managers and peers, or kept completely ‘invisible’ and only seen by the teacher. A by-
product of this process is also that teachers are able to submit their lessons to the school’s
film bank, to be accessed by other teachers for their own development.

Forms are available in T:\TEACHER DEVELOPMENT\Invisible Observation Documents.

Continuous Professional Development General

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In addition to all the above developmental areas, the Academic Manager should encourage
teachers to pursue their own development even further.

Teachers are expected to do the following:

 Attend every Friday meeting

 Attend every monthly in-house session
 Demonstrate that they are pursuing their own CPD through other means such as
attending external seminars, taking part in blogs, webinars, action research.

The Academic Manager is expected to liaise with all teachers regularly throughout the year to
support them with choosing appropriate areas of CPD to pursue. Teacher review meetings,
which take place monthly with the ACADEMIC MANAGER and/or ASSISTANT ACADEMIC
MANAGER, will also feed into this.

CPD activities can be wide-ranging, from attending an external conference or workshop to

conducting a filmed ‘invisible’ observation of themselves or writing a report on a new
development in ELT. Teachers should be assisted in choosing activities which best suit their
needs and which will help them to reflect on their own practice and develop as a professional.

Teacher review meetings (appraisals) are a key moment in which to assess a teacher’s ability
and identify areas of improvement which will in turn inform a teacher’s chosen CPD focus.
Suggestions for developmental areas which teachers of varying levels of experience may
choose to pursue are:

Level 1. Newly Qualified and some experience

 Using dictionaries in class

 Using the phonemic chart.
 Teaching a new level or course
 Looking at ways of using authentic materials.
 Develop knowledge of grammatical structure.
 Using video
 Using podcasts
 Using computers and apps
 E-learning/internet lessons
 Working on weak areas of your teaching. For example: giving instructions, board work,
supplementing the course book, timing and pace, concept questions.
 Lesson Planning, familiarising yourself with the terminology. This is particularly useful if
you intend to do the diploma
 Familiarise yourself on the local area. Take students on a walking tour as part of the the
morning class. Devise a worksheet. Turn it into a blog.

Level 2. Qualified teacher with 2 years experience plus

 Explore ways of teaching intonation, read articles, give a seminar and teach a lesson on it
which will be observed.
 Resources. Review a resource book, for example Writing. J. Hedge. Over six months
experiment with particular resource activities which you may not normally use. Make a file
of these resources for the Resource Room. Give a seminar on using them. Teach a
lesson to be observed.
 Using visuals. Research into different ways of using visuals in class. Present ideas on
using the pictures in class to the teachers. Teach a lesson to be observed.
 Read a methodology book and experiment with some ideas in your teaching. Give a
seminar/write a review. Teach a lesson to be observed.
 Boardwork/Projector - Investigate into new and exciting ways of using the white board.
 Group Dynamics/Cross Cultural Awareness. Investigate new ways of improving group
dynamics in the classroom. Research it experiment and give a seminar.
 Drama. As above

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 Exam Classes. Look into activities suitable for motivating students in exam classes.
Research/Experiment and teach a lesson to be observed
 IT/e-learning in the classroom.

Level 3. Diploma and MA qualified

 Experiment with a methodology or an approach that you do not normally use. For
example: TPR, Task Based Learning, NLP. Research, experiment and teach and
observed lesson.
 Become a member of an IATEFL SIG group. These focus on specific areas of English
teaching such as Pronunciation, Business English, CALL, Learner Independence and
Literature and Cultural Studies. You can join any of these and rub shoulders with the
big names of ELT!
 Testing. Ways of testing student’s progress. Research, experiment, teach a lesson,
create a folder and give a seminar.
 Get yourself known on the seminar circuit. Do the research and write a proposal for a
seminar on an area of interest to you.
 Write an article for an ELT publication
 Write a proposal for a course book or resource book.

Staff Appraisal

Aim:
To ensure that our staff are happy, fulfilled and proud of working at the school and feel that
they can influence their careers. We believe that the first stage in having happy students is to
have contented teachers who will, in turn, look after the students.

Teacher review meetings (appraisals)

Each member of staff is appraised in October, with a formal review in April and then informal
catch-up meetings on a monthly basis, to ensure they are on track to meet their objectives/to
form new ones. You can use the British Council CPD documentation to help teachers to self-
assess.

The aims of the staff appraisal are to:

 review the teachers’ performance at the school over the past year.
 help the teachers identify training and development needs
 offer the teachers advice and help on their future career in ELT
 appraise the school and the Academic Management/School Management Team
 agree future objectives with each teacher

A schedule should be drawn up to ensure all teachers have received an appointment with you
and then sent the relevant documentation. You should complete this form with regard to the
teacher at least one week before the appraisal interview. The teacher will be asked to do the
same for himself/herself and the comparison of the two versions of the form will form the
basis of the interview.

It is vital that there are no shocks during the appraisal and that, if a teacher is to receive a
negative comment, they are aware of this. In other words, it is not acceptable for teachers not
to be told of any area of their work which is not satisfactory until the appraisal interview; they
should be informed of any areas of their work which needs improvement (in a constructive
and supportive way as possible) at the time the problem occurs.

The main aim of the assessment interview is to give an opportunity to the teachers to receive
positive feedback about their work at the school and to establish a few aims for the coming

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four months. The CPD scheme should be an important part of the appraisal to review and
assess the development taking place.

Generally, the interview lasts for approximately half an hour. Ideally, the teacher should do
much more talking than you as this is time which is dedicated to their needs an opportunity for
them to express how they feel about the school and their work. Aim for a positive outcome of
the interview while at the same time not shying away from any points which do need to be
raised.

With the appraisals, we hope to have an opportunity to give individual teachers personal
feedback, discuss their achievements and their aspirations and try, as far as possible, to
further their career within the school.

Once you have had the review you should add any further comments on the relevant form for
the teacher and make sure the teacher receives a copy of this and keep a copy in their
development file.

Examples of forms, letters and schedules can be found in the appendix.

Staff Forums
An additional opportunity for teacher feedback is the Staff Forum. This takes place during the
Friday Teachers’ meetings and should be scheduled into the meeting programme. You should
aim to hold these on a regular basis. Teachers can put forward the areas they would like to
discuss anonymously before the meeting takes place and the issues raised can then be put to
all the teachers to discuss during the meeting. These forums should be followed up by an
official response to the issues by the Directors soon after the forum is held.

Appraisal of the Academic Manager

Your appraisal happens formally from the teachers during the reviews. The teachers have a
space in which they evaluate the service received from you and they also have the
opportunity to make any comments they wish. Just as with the teachers, any “shocks”
received at this interview would indicate that there is a lack of communication between
yourself and the teachers and would need immediate attention.

Generally speaking, your “appraisal” happens all day, every day, and it is one of your biggest
responsibilities to monitor communication throughout the school and ensure that everyone
feels as motivated and inspired in their work as possible.

As you have regular meetings with the School Manger and Academic Director, informal
appraisal takes place on a frequent basis. There is a formal appraisal interview with the
School Manager on a yearly basis where matters arising over the last year can be attended to
and future plans can be drawn up.

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 Student
Satisfaction
and
Quality Control

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Overview

Aim:
All of the services provided by the school are under constant assessment and adjustment.
This is in line with the school’s aim to provide the best possible service to students. Teaching
is the most important service we provide and therefore is under constant vigilance in order to
ensure that the standards are of the highest possible.

In addition to the quality of all the above you are also responsible (directly or indirectly) for
quality control in all other areas of the school, including the following:

 General appearance, particularly of the classrooms.

 Treatment of students by staff
 Treatment of all outside visitors by staff
 Promptness of response to queries and requests.

Client evaluation is monitored in the following ways:

Academic Manager interviews

See previous section of Manual. All full-time students are interviewed by someone on the
Academic Team before the end of their first week of school. Satisfaction with the following
areas is checked.

i. Level of class
ii. Standard of teaching
iii. Class atmosphere
iv. General atmosphere
v. Politeness/attentiveness of school staff
vi. Accommodation (if applicable)

Any problems are noted and dealt with immediately. A report is written and emailed to every
member of the office. Feedback is given to teachers on an informal basis (see procedures for
more details). It is particularly important to remember to give feedback not just on negative
comments but also on all the positive feedback too. Teachers respond well to this and must
be told when they are doing an excellent job. It is good practice to email such comments
directly to the teachers so their good work can acknowledged formally too.

Observations
All observations, though primarily geared towards staff development, contain an element of
quality control. It is through observation that academic management can monitor the quality of
the most fundamental service we provide. Please see section on teacher development for
further details.

Arrival and Departure Questionnaires

These are returned on the Friday of each week. They are read by the School Manager and
the Operations Manager who will notify you about any academic issues arising. If there is a
problem with a student during their first week make sure you interview them again to find out
more about the problem. They may simply be in the wrong type of class or level. Of course

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you will usually have found this out through the teacher or a First Week interview but
sometimes problems slip though the net so make sure you follow everything up. All
information from these questionnaires is collated and should be presented to teachers on
Fridays on a regular basis to provide them with an overview of general student feedback. This
is usually done by the Assistant Academic Manager whose responsibility it is to keep an up-
dated list of current teacher email addresses.

Departure questionnaires are given to the students at the end of their stay. Any negative
comments are dealt with immediately by an interview whenever possible. Talk to the School
Manager to decide on action to be taken.

Oral Feedback/ Academic Appointments

If a student has a problem with their class and feels that they cannot talk to their teacher, they
will probably come and see you or the Assistant Academic Manager. They may have a
problem with the class, other students, the teacher or style of teaching. Listen to the student
carefully before making any decisions. You may want to talk to the teacher about the problem
so they have the opportunity to address these issues. Often in such cases, the problems
arising can be easily solved by informing the relevant teacher of the student feedback and by
working closely with teachers to smooth out any creases in their teaching. If the feedback is
very negative make sure keep a note of any such problems and the action taken. If the
problem appears to be more serious, closer investigation may be required and extra
observations scheduled etc.

Tutorials/ILPs
Students should have a tutorial with their teacher every third week (starting in their first week)
and each student has an ILP (Individual Learning Portfolio) which contains records of their
tutorials, test results and written work. All teachers can access the ILPs as these are stored
electronically on the Teachers’ Drive. This ensures better continuity for students, as teachers
have an idea of a student’s class history and progress before meeting them.

See Teacher’s Manual for more information on tutorials and ILPs.

Long Term Student Programme/University

Counselling
See Academic Services manual for more information on these.

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Resources

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Overview

Aim:
To ensure that the school has a wide range of resources which meet both the needs of the
students and teachers to expose them to new areas of language learning/EFL in order to help
them develop as students and/or teachers.

The Academic Manager, in consultation with the Academic Director and School Manager, has
the ultimate responsibility of ensuring that the school’s academic resources are appropriate to
needs, up-to-date and being used to their maximum potential. However, the Assistant
Academic Manager will take on the main responsibility for teachers’ resources and for the
student self-study resources.

Curriculum and Syllabi

The curriculum is the most fundamental of academic resources as it provides all staff with a
clear idea of our overall teaching aims as a school. From time to time the curriculum
document will need to be reviewed and this will be done in conjunction with the Academic
Director and other senior managers. Similarly methodology and syllabi will be subject to
regular reviews and these should also incorporate feedback from the teaching staff. You will
also maximise the experience and knowledge of the senior teachers by delegating some
syllabus writing to the best available and appropriately qualified teachers. See Curricula and
Syllabi folder for more information.

For a comprehensive overview of these areas see the Curricula and Syllabi folder in the office
and the teachers’ Resource Room.

Maintenance of Resources
This is primarily the responsibility of the Assistant Academic Manager. They will arrange to
meet regularly with publishers, and will ensure that the trialling of any new resources happens
systematically, but they will liaise with you and expect guidance.

The areas of responsibility include the library, Teachers’ Resource Room and classroom
equipment, including laptops and video camera. All new resources are ordered from the
Operations Manager with the budget approval of the Head of School.

Renewing Teaching Resources

You should keep up-to-date with newly published books and other materials through EFL
journals and newspapers and publishers’ catalogues. Every four months you should organise
with the Assistant Academic Manager a resource review (see academic year). This should
take place during staff meetings so that the teachers can give their input.

Informing the teachers

You will be approached on a regular basis by representatives of publishers asking for a
meeting with you in order to show new publications/editions. Typically, you will organise a
meeting with the publishers for yourself or the Assistant Academic Manager and then filter
through the information during the resource reviews in the Friday meetings.

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Classroom Equipment
All classrooms have whiteboards, cork boards, and tables with stands. All classrooms in the
main 553 building have interactive projectors or an IWB. In the other school buildings, most
classrooms have TV and video/DVD/CD facilities, and there is Wi-Fi in all the buildings.

Extra CD players are available from the academic office in case of audio failure of the
projectors/DVD players, and laptops and projectors in case computers are not working (these
can also be used in the buildings without interactive whiteboards.

Board pens are kept in the Resource Room and master CDs and tapes are kept in the office.
Teachers are required to return all master copies of audio materials as soon as they have
finished with them. Sets of dictionaries can be found in the resource room.

The maintenance of all these is ultimately yours and the Assistant Academic Manager’s
responsibility. An overview of resource duties and all documents pertaining to resources can
be found in the Resources Manual.

Development of Equipment
You should aim to acquire as up-to-date equipment as possible for the school. The
equipment should be as appropriate to needs as possible and should be acquired bearing in
mind the needs of the general student body. The Operations Manager is responsible for the
procurement of all materials, resources and equipment and should be consulted on all
matters pertaining to this aspect of the school. Meetings with the Directors of Studies and
Operations Manager are held at regular intervals to ensure resources meet the students’
needs.

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Examinations

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 Overview
For an overview of all the exams offered by the school please refer to the Examinations
Manual. As Academic Manager you will need to organise courses for all these exams but in
terms of organising the exams, generally TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS and the Cambridge Lower
Main Suite (PET & KET) are held at external centres and the admin staff arrange these on an
ongoing basis.

ELC London Hampstead School of English is a centre for the Upper main Suite Cambridge
exams (FCE, CAE and CPE) which means that if candidate numbers are sufficient, the exams
will take place on school premises. We run FCE, CAE and CPE exams for the March, June
and December sessions. In August we hold an extra session for the FCE exam. Below you
can find a division of responsibilities for all organisational aspects.

Responsibilities
The Examination Officer is directly responsible for:

 all payment relating to exams including confirming with the ACADEMIC MANAGER
that all examination fees have been paid.
 overseeing all exam registrations taken by the enrolment officers.
 ensuring that all registration forms are filed in the relevant place and that the
ACADEMIC MANAGER is informed of any examination entries.
 registering student entries with examination boards.
 filing of all examination correspondence and results.
 maintaining exam notice boards in the classrooms and student area.

The ACADEMIC MANAGER is directly responsible for:

 planning and organisation of all exam courses

 training and development of teachers to ensure successful delivery of all these
courses.
 advising and informing students about exams.
 liaising with examination boards
 informing students about general exam information and administrative procedures.
 registering student entries with examination boards.
 exam supervision/organising invigilation.
 distributing results in liaison with the Examination Officer
 maintaining the Cambridge exam database.
 updating all Main-Suite Cambridge exam sessions on the Cambridge exam database.
 filing of all examination correspondence and results.
 ensuring that all relevant staff are up to date with recent examination changes.
 keeping up to date with the latest information regarding examinations.
 ensuring that all examination procedures adhere to the standards laid out by the
relevant exam body.

The Examination Officer and ACADEMIC MANAGER have ongoing meetings and
correspondence during the exam period to discuss issues relating to exams.

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Student Progress,
Assessment and
Attainment

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It is imperative that all students, whether studying at the school for one week or one year, feel
a sense of progress and that they have achieved what they set out to achieve by coming to
London to study. It is the Academic Manager’s role to oversee all the systems that have been
put in place to help students to progress, and to ensure that teachers play their essential role
in this process.

The following chart shows how students are monitored and supported to make progress in
their studies throughout their time at the school:

Stage 1 – Pre-arrival

Initial assessment and needs analysis.

Students are given a link to our online preplacement test. This comprises a language
awareness test, questions about their goals and a piece of writing.

The pre-arrival test consists of 60 questions covering a range of grammatical, lexical, and
functional language. The aim is to test students not only on traditional discrete structural and
lexical areas but also to incorporate some elements of natural English expression and
collocation. The questions are progressively more complex and there is a 30 minute time-limit
to ensure that the test is done at the student’s natural pace and ability.

Part two is a brief needs analysis and free writing which is graded based on the score they
achieve in the test.

This work is not only used to assess but is distributed to teachers via the ILPs to act as a
needs analysis for teachers to use in class.

Your role:
 Use the scores and writing to pre-place students in class
 Oversee Academic Administrator’s recording of the scores in Class, as well as
the saving of writing and needs analysis into the ILP. This will help teachers to
prepare for the student joining their class and will form the first part of the
student’s Individual Learning Portfolio (ILP).

In addition to this, we also offer a full academic and professional needs analysis via an online
form and an optional Skype interview with all students on professional or executive courses.
As these courses tend to be tailor-made to the student’s specific professional needs, a face-
to-face interview helps us gain an insight into the course content required and allows us to
staff and resource the course appropriately. An example of this might be a student booking a
Legal English course who works specifically with contract law rather than criminal law so we
can adapt the course to reflect this need and source a teacher with the relevant
specialisation. These interviews are held by the Assistant Academic Manager and it is their
job to liaise with the teacher of the course to ensure they have as much information as
possible about their prospective students. Please see Academic Services Manual for more
detail.

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Stage 2 – First day

Speaking test/first day interview

Each student is tested on their speaking and listening skills during the first day interview. The
teacher then allocates them a score. If the student has been pre-placed, the teacher will see
if the pre-allocated level seems appropriate based on the student’s speaking abilities. If the
student has not taken the online placement test, they will need to take a paper-based test
during the morning testing procedure. They can take the CBT if they prefer.

Your role:
 Place students based on their test results if they have not yet been placed.
Change pre-placement if advised to do so by teacher and you feel it is
appropriate.
 Oversee Academic Administrator’s recording of student’s speaking score in
Class.

Stage 3 – First week, Wednesday

First week interview

See previous section. This interview gives students the opportunity to voice any concerns
about the course or level they have been placed in.

Your role:
 Ensure students are happy with their classes and course. Ask student to speak
to their teacher or make an academic appointment to discuss things in more
depth.
 Follow up with teachers.

Stage 4 – first week, Friday

Friday weekly test and individual tutorials

Students complete an end of week test, based on the syllabus and course books, but which
teachers adapt to reflect the work covered during the week. While the test is being taken,
students are given individual tutorials. Teachers take this time to speak to new students
about their goals, and to existing students about their progress (tutorials should take place
every third week for existing students). This is the time for teachers to give practical
suggestions to students to help them to improve particular areas of their English, and for
students to agree to set goals.

Test results are input in the academic plan (in student folders) and the tutorial record sheet is
scanned into their folder and returned to them.

Your role:
 Check student folders to ensure they are being kept up to date according to duties as
outlined in the Teachers Manual.

Appendix [Link] – Tutorial record sheet

Stage 5 – moving up/changing course

If a student is here for long enough they should be able to move from one level to another and
feel a sense of progression. However, progress should not just be seen as moving up
through the levels – students successfully switching to exam classes, such as Cambridge or
IELTS, or starting a business course, should also feel that this constitutes making progress
with their language as they broaden their skills and understanding. Teachers should be
careful to check ILPs whenever a new student joins their class.

Your role:
 Ensure effective and meaningful guidance is given to students at academic
appointments to ensure changes to courses or classes are done for the right
reasons and at the right time for the student; make sure to discuss with all the

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 student’s teachers to get the best possible picture of the situation, and check
the ILP if necessary.
 Guide teachers where necessary on the suitability of changing students’
courses or classes

Other tools to promote progress, assessment and attainment

The Individual Learning Portfolio (ILP)

Every student should have one of these and regular monitoring of this should be provided
by the academic team to ensure effective use. The ILP is a digital file containing:
 Student’s initial needs analysis and writing
 The student’s Academic Plan (if studying for more than 3 weeks)
 Records of all tutorials and weekly test results
 Examples of student’s writing
 End of level tests and results if taken
These should be kept in the relevant ILP folder on the T Drive, but students should be given
all the paper copies in order to keep a hard copy of the ILP, to monitor their own test scores
and review their goals.

End of level tests

If a teacher feels a student is ready to move, they need to register this in the Level Change
book. Students need to be given end of level tests to see whether they are ready to move.
These have been developed to include reading, writing, and speaking skills as well as
language awareness mapped out against the CEFR. Students take the written test on
Tuesday or Thursday afternoons, and the speaking test n Thursday afternoons. A member of
the academic team marks the test and provides the student with feedback during the
speaking test.

Your role:
 Monitor usage and effectiveness through discussion with teachers and
promote so teachers continue to be aware that these are available to them.

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Academic appointments

Students can book these appointments during any lunch hour. You or the Assistant
Academic Manager will normally take these appointments, where students concerned about
any academic issues can come and get advice. These appointments and any action taken
should be recorded on the Class database in the student’s individual record (dated notes). It
is also worth emailing the student after the meeting to summarise.

It is important to ask the right questions during these appointments. If a student wants to
change classes and teachers because the class is ‘boring’ it is important to find out whether
this is to do with the level not being challenging enough, the teacher’s classroom style, or
even other classmates. Teachers should always be given the opportunity to turn the situation
around in the first instance and should be given feedback from you as soon as possible after
the appointment.

Appendix VII.V – Academic appointment notes on Class

Learner training

Teachers should actively encourage learner independence by promoting this wherever

possible, giving students the tools to continue their learning outside the classroom. This can
include exposure to mobile learning technology, dictionary skills, vocabulary recording and
learning techniques and pronunciation work using online recording technology, among many
others.

Your role:
 With the help of the Assistant Academic Manager, promote regularly through
teacher seminars and lesson observation feedback.
 Monitor work records, where learner training has a separate section – is this
being completed, and is it effective?

University counselling

The Assistant Academic Manager or Academic Manager provides university counselling

appointments. Students planning to go to university can get advice on choosing a course and
institution, completing application forms and writing personal statements. Hampstead is a
UCAS centre and works closely with siUK to help students with their online UCAS application.

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Long Term Student programme

Many students are with us for 8 weeks or longer. These students are classed as Long Term
Students (LTS) and require extra monitoring to make sure they do not ‘coast’ along and get
lost within the system. As well as all the above, the LTS are given extra support from the
teachers, who meet with them regularly throughout their course. Please see the Academic
Services Manual for more detail on the rationale and delivery of this programme.

 Appointments. LTS can make appointments with the Academic Team to discuss
any issues they may be having, who will then liaise with the student’s class teacher.
 Tutorials every third week. All students receive these.
 6 weekly LTS tutorials. The Assistant Academic Manager notifies the teachers who
is due a LTS tutorial on a weekly basis. The class teacher logs these once done.
 3 weekly email catch-up. The Assistant Academic Manager emails the LTS to
check that they are happy and invite them to come and discuss any issues.

Your role:
 Work with the Assistant Academic Manager to ensure the programme is
running well and that all LTS are being catered for as far as possible.
 The teachers will log all LTS tutorials – check these are happening and that
they are effective in monitoring and improving progress

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