Karel Schwarzenberg
Patron
The ECP was delighted that Karel Schwarzenberg agreed to become our new Czech Patron following the death of President Václav Havel. He joined HRH The Prince of Wales as Joint Patron.
Author: Alex Mackenzie
Fred Byrne
Year 5 student, Student Council President
In an era of fake news and anti-intellectualism, the English College righteously values critical thinking over rote learning. Its reputation of professionalism and quality academics is well-earned.
Emma Horáková
Year 3 Student
What I appreciate about The English College the most is it’s ability to achieve an equilibrium in matters that other schools might find hard to balance. The coursework is just challenging enough to force me to push my limits, but it still allows me to have time to pursue my passions outside of school. Likewise, while the teachers and students maintain a professional and respectful relationship, the pupils always feel like they can talk to the teachers about anything and that their voices are heard.
Adéla Hniličková
Year 3 Student
It might seem like any other school, but it’s exceptionality lies within the close relationships between us and the teachers. They are always there to help and support us.
Terri Collier
Head of Humanities, Head of Psychology, Head of TOK
Terri Collier has been teaching full time since 2002. In this time she has taught a range of social science subjects at sixth form level including Psychology, Politics, Philosophy and Sociology. She read Interdisciplinary Human Studies at the University of Bradford, UK for her undergraduate degree, specialising in Psychology and Philosophy. Having gained a first class honours degree, she was granted a teaching scholarship at the University of York for her Master’s Degree in Political Philosophy (the idea of toleration). This led on to additional teaching positions in the universities of Newcastle (Politics) and Northumbria (Sociology).
Her love of teaching led her to Durham University where she gained her PGCSE. In her second year of teaching, at Oakbank School in Keighley West Yorkshire, she was asked to take over the teaching of Psychology A level. This quickly led to her appointment as a Head of Department in Social Sciences in 2005. She has been a middle leader in schools for the rest of her career. Before joining ECP in 2015, she spent two years in Haileybury School in Alamty, Kazakhstan where she was appointed to set up a social science faculty for the new sixth form there. Since joining the ECP as Head of Department for Psychology, she has become the Faculty Leader for Humanities. She also leads the TED-ed and TEDx youth ECA, which has run two successful events in its first 18 months.
Jean Kerr
Biology; Science
Jean has had a passion for scientific enquiry from a very young age. After graduating from the University of Sheffield in 1998 with a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology, Jean decided to share this enthusiasm and sense of wonder and completed a PGCE in Secondary Science. She worked in schools and further education colleges, mainly in the south east of England before “taking the plunge” and moving to Prague in 2003. She has enjoyed many happy years teaching Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Systems and Societies at the English College and looks forward to many more.
Gareth Pugh
Head of German
After achieving a degree in German and a PGCE at his hometown university of Cardiff in Wales, Gareth began teaching in Bedfordshire in 1984, but after two years he decided that the grass was greener in the commercial world and took a job selling business stationery. Six years later recession hit, sales dwindled and the green sward of the teaching profession called him back. Then he met his future wife and, together with their two daughters, they began their international careers in 1996, firstly in Malawi, then Tanzania, where he climbed Kilimanjaro, followed by Bratislava and now the ECP.
Throughout his many varied roles in these schools, Gareth has always tried to pass on his love of foreign languages to his students. He is currently relishing the challenge of gaining some kind of mastery of the Czech language, where his progress is described as ‘pomalý’. In his spare time Gareth also enjoys cooking, gardening and reading.
Dr. Josef Švéda
Head of Czech Faculty
Josef Švéda graduated from Masaryk University in Brno in 2007. He studied Czech Language and Literature, General Linguistics and Aesthetics. He then studied for his PhD at Charles University in Prague. His dissertation was about the Czech Communist and post-Communist mythology. It was published as a book called The Mašín Myth. Ideologies in Czech Literature and Culture (Mašínovský mýtus. Ideologie v české literatuře a kultuře, 2012).
His last monograph deals with representations of America in 19th and 20th century Czech literature. It is called Promised Land (Země zlořečená, země zaslíbená. Obrazy Ameriky v české literatuře a kultuře, 2016). He started teaching at the English College in 2011, becoming Head of Czech in 2016. He is a keen cyclist and mountaineer.
Stephen Elder
Head of English Faculty
Stephen is originally from Scotland. He graduated in 1992 from Aberdeen University with a degree in English Literature. He then trained as an ESL teacher and moved to the Czech Republic in 1993. He had planned to travel the world learning languages and teaching but his travels only took him from Středočeský kraj to Prague, where he worked for the British Council as an English language teacher and British Studies lecturer.
Stephen completed his PGCE at the University of Buckingham and started work at the English College in September 2002. He enjoys the normal range of hobbies and pastimes from reading and music to sports and spending time with his family.
Helen Sartain
Senior Tutor - Terra, Head of PSME, Teacher of Mathematics
Having graduated from Loughborough University in 2003 with a BEng in Automotive Engineering and with a background of working with children both in the UK and abroad, Helen decided to investigate career opportunities that combined these two talents. She became a Teaching Assistant at a local secondary school and immediately realised that teaching was her true calling. Helen went on to complete her PGCE in Secondary Education (Mathematics) at Edge Hill University and spent two years teaching in Liverpool before moving to the ECP in 2008.
Since then, Helen has completed her MA Education (Mathematics) and has become an examiner for the IB at Mathematics SL. With the arrival of her two young daughters, Helen’s passions for 80s rock music, reading and travelling have taken her down unfamiliar paths and she is looking forward to seeing what these new adventures bring.