Working with Bell Young Learners

Learn more about the roles in our young learner schools, by downloading our job descriptions. 

Centre Management

• Centre Manager/Assistant Centre Manager

Student Services

• Student Services Director
• Assistant Student Services Director
• House Parent
• Course Assistant

Academic

• Director of Studies
• Assistant Director of Studies
• EFL Teacher

Activities

• Activities Director
• Activity Leader
• Assistant Activities Director

Courses

On a Bell course, students will not only improve their English, they will develop life skills such as confidence, responsibility, respect and teamwork, establishing their route to a rewarding future. Bell offers a variety of English, academic and specialist courses, in spring, summer, autumn and winter for young learners aged 7-17. All our courses have tuition, activities, trips, accommodation, food and drinks all included.

• English Explorer
• English Explorer Junior
• Winter Explorer
• Intensive Academic English
• Young Business Leaders
• Young Cambridge Scholars

Many of our courses require specialist staff skills, whilst others call for a more all-round applicant. Skills and qualifications are taken into consideration throughout the recruitment process, and we aim to place each member of staff on the course that will best suit their skills and experience.

Locations

We have four young learner schools: all traditional historic English buildings set in their own gardens and grounds in prestigious locations close to London.

• Bell St Albans (our year-round young learner school)
• The Leys School, Cambridge (summer only)
• Bloxham School, Oxfordshire (summer only)
• Wellington College, Berkshire (summer only)

Discover what it's like to work at each of our schools, by watching our video interviews with our young learner staff.

The Young Learner timetable

A number of Bell's Young Learner courses follow the same timetable with students completing 15 hours of language lessons, 9 hours of activities and 1.5 days of study tours a week. Whilst most of these components will be tied to specific roles, all staff will take a full and active part in all aspects of a course, giving everyone a chance to get involved, work together and share ideas.

Accommodation and dining

Generally, each member of the YL team will have a single bedroom with shared bathroom facilities in single gender areas. As well as a laundry, each site has a communal staff area in which to relax when off duty, with drinks facilities provided. This is a great space to get to know your colleagues or just unwind.

“The accommodation was very comfortable and well facilitated with everything I could need, including showers, a washing machine and full internet access.” 

Adam, EFL Teacher

Dining is an important part of the summer school experience, giving staff and students a chance to boost their energy levels whilst socialising with both their colleagues and the students. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided daily, and there is a choice of hot and cold food, vegetarian options, fruit and dessert. With special dietary requirements catered for, there’s something for everyone!

“The food is fantastic, the accommodation for staff is really good as well and the facilities that we have here to work with both for the teachers and for the activities team are excellent.” 

Jed, Activity Director

Study tours

With excursions scheduled every week, study tours are an essential part of every young learner course and provide the students with a great opportunity to use their newly acquired language skills and learn about British culture. Regardless of their role, all staff will be involved in accompanying and supervising students on these tours and will, therefore, have the opportunity to visit a number of different locations whilst working. Depending on the location of the site, destinations include: London, Brighton, Canterbury, Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Bath, Warwick and many more.

“Study tours were always good fun as they allowed you to interact with the students outside of the site and share in their experience of learning English.”

Johnathan, Activity Leader

At Bell we understand the importance of running our courses from locations that offer appropriate facilities and have spent time ensuring that each location has relevant teaching, sporting and creative facilities to cater for our specific courses.  The facilities at each location are not limited to student use and we encourage our Young Learner employees to take advantage of everything the grounds have to offer in their free time.

Academic resources

Each Bell Young Learner site has a resources library where our teachers will find a variety of books and audio materials along with resources related to methodology, specific skills, games and additional activities for all ages and abilities and with projectors, interactive whiteboards, laptops and much more available in the majority of classrooms, our teachers are able to make their lessons as dynamic and active as they like.

The library is the perfect place for our academic team to plan lessons and find new resources and with computers, printers and photocopiers available to all staff, sharing ideas and materials is actively encouraged.

“There was a wide range of different resources available to use in the library, this made lesson planning a lot easier” 

Adam, EFL Teacher

Activity resources

Each site also has a well-stocked Activity Department with everything that is needed to successfully run the activity programmes that are running on the specific site.

We have a dedicated logistics team who regularly visit each Young Learner site during the summer and are in contact with the Centre Managers to ensure that resources are up-to-date, relevant and replenished where possible.  If there is a particular resource that you think would be beneficial to the course you are working on, we encourage you to speak with your line manager and the logistics team will try, wherever possible to provide you with it.

“Bell had a wide range of resources on offer to allow you to deliver the sessions you wanted to. The Senior Management Team were always open to new ideas and allowed you to source the resources you needed to deliver a memorable session for the students."

Jonathan, Activity Leader

The Bell intranet

All Bell YL staff have access to the intranet, an extensive online library with resources, activities and advice for each department.

Academic

• Project ideas and sample lessons
• Literature
• Language work
• First and last lessons
• Exam preparation
• Business English resources
• Activities based on study tours (excursions)

Activities

• Afternoon activities
• Evening activities
• Announcements, signs and posters

Student Services

• Welfare topics
• Special educational needs
• Daily programmes and timetables

We are always looking to add new materials to the Bell YL intranet and the Senior Management Teams are encouraged to upload particularly successful lessons or activities to the intranet so that other sites can use and tailor them to use with their own students.

"The intranet was useful, you were able to access materials for many lessons and activities which helped with your planning and it also allowed you use and adapt previous ideas and events which have been used to great success in the past." 

Harry, Activity Leader

Bell understands that the key to happy students is a team of happy staff; consequently we take every opportunity to make sure our employees have an unforgettable experience, and the chance to further their careers.

Training 

Bell is committed to the continuous professional development of all staff both permanent and temporary and we provide child protection training to all young learner staff. At the beginning of each summer course, you will have two or three days' induction where you will have the opportunity to learn about Bell, our courses and our systems and procedures.* 

In addition to the above, Bell has various opportunities for staff to apply for training at other times of the year. This could include attendance at a conference or sponsorship for courses, e.g. First Aid, Lifeguard or CELTA. You will learn more about these opportunities whilst working with us.

“The training programme provided by Bell bring staff together, increase morale and are an efficient way of continuous development.” 

Jordan, Assistant Activity Director

 *Please be aware that attendance at induction is compulsory.

Inset sessions

Bell runs regular INSET sessions during our courses and we aim to provide staff with at least one suitable session per week. Whilst some sessions will be specifically related to a particular role, with sessions on a range of subjects including ADHD, Behaviour Management, Arts & Crafts and Warmers and Fillers, many will be relevant to all. We actively encourage staff to share their expertise so if you would like to run a new session, we recommend you to speak to your line manager who will be able to organise a session for you to run.

“The INSET sessions I attended, one on the whiteboard use and one on lexical games, were very useful. I wish I could have attended more!” 

Barbara, Business English Teacher

Promotion

As well as the summer course, Bell also runs many courses throughout the year both in the UK and abroad and we welcome summer staff to return*. We are keen to offer support and advice in order for you to achieve your potential and are always looking to promote dedicated and enthusiastic employees to senior management positions.

“There were plenty of opportunities whilst working for Bell to progress my career and my professional development. I was able to progress through the roles and take on additional responsibilities at every opportunity. This has made me far more experienced and employable.” 

Tom, Airport Coordinator

*Please be aware that previous performance and feedback from Centre Managers will be taken into consideration when assessing employees’ suitability for future employment.