The Student Voice

11th March 2014

Celtic School prides itself on it’s personal service and attention to detail. We recognise that every student comes to us with certain goals and objectives that they wish to fulfil and we are a part of the journey in helping them to realise their personal or professional dreams.

The ancient philosopher, Epictetus, once said that we have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. At the start and end of every student’s stay we collect feedback so that we can truly listen to what each student makes of their experience studying at Celtic School and living in Cardiff. We want to know how our student’s have been getting on in their residence accommodation or with their host family, what they have enjoyed from our social activities programme and how they have found the teaching and classroom experience overall. We follow up any comments brought to our attention. At Celtic School our students can rest assured that we are all ears! With a high student to staff ratio there is always a member of the team available to respond to student queries.

This couldn’t be a more important philosophy in light of Celtic School’s 10th Anniversary. This year we are undergoing many changes as an organisation. Not only will 2014 see the refurbishment of ‘Highbury House’ but we are also building on the values and reputation that Celtic School has worked so hard to develop over the past 10 years so that we can take Celtic forward in a refreshed direction for the next 10 years to come.

We are in the process of redefining our values, mission, outlook and direction for Celtic’s future. As part of our re-branding market research, we wanted to take on board the views of our students and therefore asked our current students to complete a survey. Our students are at the core of our organisation and fundamental in influencing our business model and design. That is why we always want to listen to our students’ views. In this survey students were asked questions such as;

• Why are your studying English?
• Why did you move abroad to learn English?
• How did you hear about Celtic School and why did you choose to study here?
• Do you like Cardiff?
• Do you like your classroom experience?
• How do you like to spend your time after class or at the weekend?

Through asking these questions, we have been able to listen, really listen, to our students’ perspectives. We have learnt that over half of our students want to learn English to prepare for university and a quarter to improve their career prospects. The overriding motivation for our students is to improve their overall level of English and that a majority have chosen to come to the UK to learn from native speakers, for a better quality of education and to experience British culture.

Our students have a high satisfaction rate when it comes to do they like Cardiff and do they like their classroom experience, scoring 8/10 on both. Students mainly hear about Celtic School through word of mouth, from family and friends, or from an agency. When asked what attracted them to study at Celtic School the number one response was for it’s small class sizes. Celtic has an average of 8 students per class and never exceeds the maximum of 10 per class. Through having small classes, our teachers can be more attentive to each students’ needs and progress. They can once again be all ears!

Lastly, every month we collect testimonials from our students (in their native language as well!) so that we can have a deeper insight into their views and experiences about their time studying with us and living in Cardiff. The student voice is always with us. We are always listening and acting upon the needs of our students. We especially have our students in mind with our 2014 building refurbishment and re-branding projects. Keep your eyes peeled for Celtic School’s re-development over the coming months!

I will leave you with a few testimonials from our recent students…