The Hamilton School of English Team

There are certain key people involved in making sure that all our students have a positive experience in Scotland.

Directors

David and Alison are the directors of Hamilton School of English, having recently taken over Hamilton from Julie Darling who successfully operated the summer school in Edinburgh for 21 years. They have overall responsibility for delivery of all the Hamilton programmes and, as parents of three young children themselves, they understand both the anxieties of parents and the needs of young people away from home. When they are not spending their free time transporting their children between activities such as gymnastics, dancing, swimming, rugby, tennis and golf. They enjoy tennis, golf, cycling and hill-walking.

Director of Studies

The Director of Studies has the responsibility of ensuring that each of our programmes provides the highest quality of English language tuition possible. The Director of Studies leads the teaching team and has overall responsibility for the academic programme.

Vicki Craig-Ariyo is the Director of Studies and has been involved in teaching EFL (English as a Foreign language) for over 12 years . She has  taught in Japan, Poland, Czech Republic, China as well as in the UK. Vicki has experience of teaching adults and children in a variety of settings and now has overall academic responsibility for the Hamilton School programmes. Vicki holds a Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (DipTESOL) from Trinity College London. Vicki spends most of her free time looking after her two young children and also enjoys travelling and photography.

Group Programme Co-ordinator

The group programme co-ordinator deals with booking enquiries from individuals, teachers, group leaders and agents and is responsible for recommending the most appropriate programme options to clients as well as assisting in designing suitable tailored programmes, where required. She also has a strong input into the course syllabus and works closely with the Director of Studies by continuously taking into account feedback from students, teachers, group leaders and agents particularly in relation to project themes, as well as activities and excursions.

During the delivery of the actual programmes the group programme co-ordinator plays a key role in liaising with the on site teaching staff and activity assistants as well as the group leaders, residence staff and homestay providers and has overall responsibility for excursion arrangements and airport transfers.

Christine Ptolomey is our Group Programme Co-Ordinator. She has previously ran our Young Learner Programme at Stirling and has many years experience as a teacher and activity leader, both in Scotland and overseas. Christine has a degree in Community Arts and prior to qualifying as an English teacher she was the Artistic Director for Children's Showcases and Festivals with North Ayrshire Council in Scotland. She is also a trained dancer, and for several years tutored with Scottish Ballet, travelling throughout Scotland, teaching dance to children in schools.

Teachers

All our teachers are qualified in teaching English as foreign language to young people and are only selected if they display a genuine interest in both the teaching and welfare of young students. On each of our Summer programmes an appropriately qualified “Senior Teacher” takes responsibility for all academic matters on a day to day basis.

The Senior Teacher at our York Place site is Alison Thomas. Alison has been an English Language teacher and examiner for over 20 years and has worked in a variety of schools and universities in the UK, Eastern Europe and the Far East. She has a TESOL Diploma and an M Ed in English Language Teaching.

Homestay Organiser

Our programmes in Edinburgh allow Hamilton students to experience life as part of a friendly and caring British family and our “Homestay Organiser” is responsible for recruiting and personally inspecting all host families and ensuring that all necessary safety checks are carried out.

Helen Guest is our Homestay Organiser and is also responsible for the day-to-day smooth running of our York Place premises in Edinburgh. For students attending our group programmes in Edinburgh from September to June it is Helen you will meet when you arrive to start your course. Helen is a qualified EFL teacher and has previously taught English overseas and in the UK. She has also held a number of Welfare and administration roles in the EFL industry.