Complaints Procedure

• We always try our best to provide an excellent service, but if for any reason you are not satisfied, or feel you would like to complain about something, we encourage the problem to be brought to our attention as soon as possible.
• We promise we will listen to all complaints, take all complaints seriously, take fast, efficient and appropriate action to deal with any complaints, and deal with all complaints fairly taking into consideration the views of all concerned.
• In the event of an academic complaint, first discuss the issue with your class teacher. If this is not successful, speak to the Director of Studies.

Child Protection Policy and Procedures for Care of Under-18s

• We are committed to our duty to protect young people from physical, sexual and emotional harm and provide a secure environment where students feel safe and are kept safe.
• The welfare of under-18s is of paramount importance at all times. All staff must comply with our Child Protection Policy and Code of Behaviour and we are committed to ensuring that all staff have the right skills, knowledge and resources to protect young students from harm.

Health and Safety Policy Statement

• Our policy is to provide and maintain safe and healthy working conditions, equipment and systems of work for all our employees, and to provide such information, training and supervision as they need for that purpose. We also accept responsibility for the health and safety of other people who may be affected by our activities.
• The policy will be kept up to date, particularly as the organisation changes in size and nature. To ensure this, the policy and the way in which it has operated will be reviewed at least once a year.
• As part of our commitment to the safety of our staff and our students we regularly assess the risks associated with our business.

Child Protection Policy and Procedures for Care of Under-18s

• We are committed to our duty to protect young people from physical, sexual and emotional harm and provide a secure environment where students feel safe and are kept safe.
• The welfare of under-18s is of paramount importance at all times. All staff must comply with the Child Protection Policy and Code of Behaviour. If you are concerned about an under-18 student, please contact a member of the staff.
• The London College of English applies rigorous recruitment and employment practices, ensuring that DBS checks are always made at the appropriate level, and that teacher’s references are always received and checked.
• We adopt an ongoing culture of vigilance within the school to minimise the opportunities of abuse of any kind to occur.

Discipline and Behaviour Policies and Procedures

Behaviour:

• The London College of English students should always have an excellent attitude to learning, so discipline and behaviour should never be a problem.
• We expect all students to follow our Code of Conduct.
• You must treat all members of the London College of English community with respect at all times: any form of bullying, harassment or abuse will not be tolerated.

Discipline:

• Any case of unacceptable or abusive behaviour is taken very seriously and is dealt with through clear and fair disciplinary procedures.
• In most cases, disciplinary action takes the form of a verbal warning.
• In extreme cases London College of English reserves the right to exclude a student who has behaved in a completely unacceptable way. This may be as a result of, for example, physical or verbal abuse of students, teachers or staff; discrimination, such as racism, sexism or xenophobia, or; attempts to influence the religious views of other students.

 

Smoking and drinking:

Students, Teachers, All staff and Guests are not allowed to smoke and drink alcohol anywhere within the college premises.

Dress code and behaviour:  

Students, Teachers and All staff must be modestly dressed whilst attending the college and in a fit state.

Safety and security: 

In order to maintain safety and security CCTV cameras are installed within the premises and constant monitor will be maintained. The purpose of the CCTV cameras is to ensure law and order for the benefit of everyone.

Attendance, Absence and Lateness Policy

Attendance:

• All students are encouraged to attend all lessons. We expect students to attend a minimum of 80% of their course.
• We monitor attendance. If your attendance falls below 80%, we will speak to you. If your attendance does not improve, it may result in a formal warning. Students who do not attend 80% of the course will not receive an end-of-course certificate; it will be noted on any future reference, and; it could result in exclusion.

Absence:

• If you are unable to attend a class, it is important to let us know via telephone or email. Contact details are given to you on enrolment.
• There may be occasions when you can request an authorised absence, for example, illness. In these cases, you must inform the school and have the relevant documentation e.g. an appointment reservation or a doctor’s note.
• For one-to-one students, it’s particularly important you contact us if you are absent. We have a 24 hour cancellation policy – if you inform us in advance of 24 hours, we will rearrange the one-to-one lesson; if not, the lesson missed is lost and cannot be refunded or rescheduled.

Lateness

• All students are encouraged to be on time for their lessons.
• Teachers do not allow students to join the class if they arrive more than five minutes late for class unless there are exceptional circumstances.
• If a student is persistently late, the teacher will speak to the student in private to explain the disruption this causes the class. Further persistent lateness will be reported to the Director of Studies.

Inclusion and Equality Policies

• The London College of English recognises the benefit of having a diverse community, with individuals who value and respect one another , and the different contributions they make.
• We are committed to promoting tolerance, respect and understanding of “other” cultures as well as challenging inappropriate attitudes and behaviours.
• All members of the community are expected to comply with our Inclusion and Equality Policies which include policies on Equal Opportunities and Diversity, Disabilities and Special Educational Needs, and Anti-Bullying and Harassment.
• We oppose discrimination on the basis of the following characteristics: gender; marital or civil status, pregnancy or maternity, any gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief (including no religion or belief), and age.
• Students who feel they are being discriminated against, or witness discrimination, should talk to a member of staff. Alternatively, a student can follow our formal Complaints Procedure (see Complaints Policy). We treat all cases seriously and urgently. Allegations regarding discrimination will be treated in confidence and investigated in accordance with the complaints procedure.
• Disciplinary action may be taken against any member of the school community who is found to have acted in contravention of this policy.

 

Bullying, harassment and victimisation

• We are committed to creating and maintaining a safe learning environment, secure and free from bullying, harassment and victimisation.
• We encourage all students to report any discovered or suspected case. It is important to raise any concern, no matter how small or trivial it may seem.
• We are committed to supporting all students who are the victim of bullying or harassment.

 

Extremism and Radicalisation

• There is no place for extremist views of any kind at the London College of English.
• Our students see the London College of English as a safe place where they can explore controversial issues in the classroom safely and where our teachers encourage and facilitate this – we have a duty to ensure this happens.
• Extremism is defined as the following:

vocal or active opposition to fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.

Disabilities and Special Educational Needs Policy and Procedures

• We are an inclusive school which welcomes students with disabilities and special educational needs.
• We will do all that is reasonable to ensure that the school’s curriculum, ethos, culture, policies, procedures and premises are made accessible to everyone.

Adjustments and Provisions

• We will make reasonable adjustments to ensure that learners with a disability are not disadvantaged. For example, for students with a visual impairment, learning materials can be provided in large print or on coloured paper upon request. For students with a hearing impairment, it is possible to make an audio recording of your lessons with a smart phone or you can access tape recorders/dictaphones from the school.

If you are planning to sit an exam, please let us know about their specific requirements so we can liaise with examining body regarding examination adjustments.

FAQ

In the London College of English our teachers do not use or allow the students to use their own language. The technique we use is the total immersion in the language where all activity is conducted in English in a friendly and comfortable environment. Research hasshown that teachers using the target language in class get better results if students listento the teacher and each other and communicate only in English. Sometimes influences from your native language can affect the the way you understand or produce English and actually slow down the learning process. Using your native languagecan lead to students learning by translation instead of learning the real meaning and usage of the language and can lead to deep rooted errors.

Our teachers are trained to use appropriately graded English in each lesson. This means that they simplify their own language to that of a level which the students can easily understand. They use various techniques such as context, pictures, and gestures to demonstrate the target language in a way which students can easily understand and reproduce.

It is not important that a student understands every word the teachers says, only the key language for that session. What is important is that the general meaning of the speaking is understood.

Teachers are trained to work in this environment and have many means of communicating at their disposal if the teacher does not speak the language of the students. Through context, gestures, pictures and other methods, most meanings can usually be worked out clearly.

The students need to practise the language more than the teacher. The teacher will demonstrate the target language and to set up activities then steps back to allow the students to speak so they can practice their speaking skills.

To encourage fluency teachers try to allow students to speak freely and not constantly interrupt to correct mistakes as they happen. They analyse and correct mistakes as much as possible after the students have finished speaking. Some mistakes are not important slips of the tongue and may not be corrected, others might be noted for special attention in another session. In some activities, the teacher will concentrate on the target language and will not correct other mistakes.

Translation and more academic language exercises do not teach you how to use a language. They might teach you how a language is put together, but knowing that will nothelp you communicate in the language. Languages are living and should be used, we want efficient communicators, people who will be able to interact with other people in the language.

The same reason that we don't do much written work in class. Class time is for
communicating. Sitting in silence in a language class is a waste of a highly trained teacher's time, they will be concentrating on oral and language activities to boost talking.

OVERVIEW

The London College of English is committed to protecting your privacy online. We pledge to handle your data fairly and legally at all times. We also dedicated to being transparent about what data we collect about you and how we use it. Our policy explains how we will do this.

What information do we collect?

We collect email addresses.

Registration and Contact form: on some parts of the site we ask you to register, and if you do we ask for your name, email address, geographical address and other personal information.

From time to time we will ask you for further information, for example if you make a purchase or enter a competition.

We may also use cookies. For an explanation, see the section on cookies below.

 

Use of Cookies
Cookies are small files which many web sites transfer to your hard disk. They can inform the web site what pages you visit, and your preferences, which enable web sites to provide you with a more personalized service. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, or to warn you before accepting them.

We use cookies, but most parts of our site can be accessed even if your cookies are turned off. But you may find there are parts of the site which you cannot access if your cookies are turned off.

How do we use your information?
We use the information to help us understand more about how our web site is used, to improve our site, and to send you information about us and our products which we think may be of interest to you, both electronically or otherwise.

Unless you have informed us that you do not wish to receive further information about our products and those of our affiliates and partners, we and they may send you direct mail.

When do we share information?
We do not sell your personal information to others.

Some of our products are hosted by third parties but we agree with those third parties that they will keep your information secure and not use it for other purposes.

If you sign up for services that are managed or offered by other organizations, they will obtain your information.

A number of other people's web sites have links on our site. If you link to their sites, they may collect information. Such sites are not within our control and are not covered by this privacy statement.

If we believe that your use of the site is unlawful or damaging to others, we reserve the right to disclose the information we have obtained through the site about you to the extent that it is reasonably necessary in our opinion to prevent, remedy or take action in relation to such conduct.

Children
Some of our pages are for the use of children and their parents. We do not send unsolicited direct email to users who have indicated on registering of those pages that they are under 13. Children under 13 should ask a parent, guardian or teacher for permission before sending us information online.

Cookie Policy

This website may use the following cookies:

Google Analytics: The Google Analytics cookie allows us to see information on user website activity including, but not limited to page views, referral and average time spent on the website. The information is depersonalised and is displayed as numbers, meaning it will not be tracked back to individuals, which helps to protect your privacy. Using Google Analytics we can see what content is popular on our website, and strive to ensure you have the best user experience possible.

DoubleClick: We use Google Analytics re-marketing codes to log when users view specific pages or take specific actions on the website. This allows us to provide targeted advertising in the future.

Mailing Lists: As part of the registration process we collect personal information. We use that information for a couple of reasons: to tell you about things you’ve asked us to tell you about; to contact you if we need to obtain or provide additional information; to check our records are right and to check every now and then that you’re happy and satisfied. We do not rent or trade email lists with other organisations and businesses for any reason.

Legal Notice

Your use of this web site hosted by the London College of English is subject to the following terms and conditions:

Copyright and Trade Marks
All materials on this web site are the copyright of the London College of English or are reproduced with permission from other copyright owners. All rights are reserved. The materials on this web site may be retrieved and downloaded solely for personal use. No materials may otherwise be copied, modified, published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written permission of the London College of English.

Disclaimer
The London College of English makes no warranties or representations of any kind concerning the accuracy or suitability of the information contained on this web site for any purpose. All such information is provided "as is" and with specific disclaimer of any warranties of merchantability, fitness for purpose, title and/or non-infringement. The London College of English makes no warranties or representations of any kind that the services provided by this web site will be uninterrupted , error-free or that the web site or the server that hosts the web site are free from viruses or other forms of harmful computer code. In no event shall the London College of English, its employees or agents be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential damages resulting from the use of this web site. This exclusion and limitation only applies to the extent permitted by law and is without prejudice to any express provisions to the contrary in any written licence or subscription agreement from the London College of English in respect of the use of any online service provided via this web site.

Links
Links to other web sites are provided by the London College of English in good faith and for information only. The London College of English disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any web site linked to this site.

Access to your personal information

If you have any questions about how we uses your personal data that are not answered here, or if you want to exercise your rights regarding your personal data, please contact us using our Contact button found at the top of the homepage.

We will review and update this policy in the light of comments we receive so please check the latest version. Continued use of this site indicates acceptance of these terms and conditions