Thames Valley Summer Schools

Thames Valley Summer Schools is one of the top two residential multi-centre summer schools in the UK (based on British Council rankings published by the EL Gazette in February 2018). We’ve been running summer courses for over 45 years and are based at beautiful, prestigious UK boarding schools in the South East.

We are at Spainwise Job Fair looking for Residential EFL Teachers to join our team for Summer 2019.

We offer a friendly, professional environment and have positions available from the beginning of July.

What Our Staff Say

“Thoroughly enjoyable three weeks! Excellent facilities, excellent staff and excellent kids! Would certainly love to be a part of another TVSS course in the future!”

“It’s been a very good year, once again! I always enjoy the experience, because of the great people I get to work with, the well-run course and the excellent location and facilities.”

“Excellent support from management and staff. Students seemed to have a really positive experience and it was really great fun and rewarding to teach them.”

“TVSS gives you a chance to progress, experience responsibility and work to your strengths. I have really enjoyed seeing the students’ progress and I love the way that TVSS looks for new opportunities and encourages returning staff to get involved in those opportunities. I would not work for any other summer school.”

Job Information

All our students take the Trinity GESE at the end of their course. There is a pre-planned syllabus and materials, along with strong academic support, to help our teachers deliver fun, effective lessons aimed at improving their confidence, accuracy and fluency in spoken English.

  • Teachers work 11 sessions per week (a session is a morning, an afternoon or an evening)
  • 5 of those sessions per week are teaching sessions
  • 6 of those sessions per week are on recreation, excursion or transfer duties (in some weeks there may be a sixth teaching sessions instead of a sixth recreation session)
  • The maximum class size is 15 (at Rugby the maximum class size is 10)

Teacher support

  • a comprehensive, pre-course paid induction
  • an experienced Senior Staff team (mostly from mainstream state or independent schools)
  • a non-teaching Director of Studies and a Senior Teacher
  • pre-planned syllabus and materials
  • extensive EFL resources
  • structured observations with oral and written feedback

Benefits

  • Basic weekly salary from £400 – £420 (depending on your experience/qualifications and type of course)
  • 12.12% statutory holiday pay (in addition to basic salary)
  • Paid preparation days
  • Free full-board accommodation
  • Minimum 3-week contracts
  • Free internet access
  • Access to high quality facilities at the centres

It is very important that our students are happy and well-looked after in all areas of the programme and that’s why we are looking for EFL teachers who not only have a passion for teaching but who will fulfil their supervision, airport, recreation, excursion and welfare duties as enthusiastically and professionally as they do their academic ones

Requirements

Essential qualifications: 

  • British Council recognised EFL teaching qualification, e.g. Cambridge CELTA or Trinity CertTESOL or equivalent (weekend TEFL courses and online courses do not meet British Council standards)
  • a university degree (Level 6 qualification)
  • a native-speaker level of English

We welcome applicants with a PBEd/PGCE (Primary Education, English or MFL) with TESOL subsidiary

Desirable qualifications: 

  • applicants with specialist Young Learner qualifications
  • previous residential experience, especially with children

We have an average of over 60% staff returning each summer. Although experience is preferred, we also welcome applications from newly-qualified teachers.

Personal qualities

In addition to the essential/desirable qualifications and experience detailed above, you will have:

  • a willingness to throw yourself into the role
  • the desire to help create a great experience for our students
  • a genuine interest in the safety, welfare and happiness of our students
  • the ability to motivate and stimulate the students both inside and out of the classroom
  • enthusiasm and a sense of humour
  • flexibility and commitment to the team

Thames Valley Summer Schools is committed to safeguarding and protecting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff to share this commitment.

Vacancies & How to Apply

We have approximately 20 Residential EFL Teacher Summer School vacancies starting at the beginning of July.

We will be at Spainwise on 18th May to give you more information, answer any questions and conduct interviews.

Come and see us at Stand 4.

There are two ways to apply before Spainwise:

There is a limited number of pre-booked interview slots available before lunch time. Priority for these will go to teachers who have already submitted an application form. Successful applicants will be offered one of these slots if still available.

Further slots will be available from 14.00 onwards on a first come first served basis on the day.

Please note you must be eligible to work in the UK as we do not sponsor work permit visa applications. Thank you for your understanding.

Key Information

Web Page: www.thamesvalleysummer.co.uk

Email: recruit@thamesvalleysummer.co.uk

Phone +44 (0)1753 852001

Class size: 10-15

No. of teachers: 20 (various locations)

About: St Georges School, Ascot (Berkshire), Epsom College (Surrey), St. John’s School, Leatherhead (Surrey), Rugby School (Warwickshire)