London Central Platinum Centre Update

“The times they are a-changin” wrote Bob Dylan. But not about the Platinum department at London Central which is all about seamless transition.

For those of you who didn’t know, Course Director Sarah Ford is now on maternity leave (of which more later) and has handed the reins to her trusted colleagues Ross Anderson and Rob Hicking. Sarah herself had taken over the running of the department from Barbara Williams who had overseen the development of the Platinum department for over a decade.

So congratulations to Sarah on the birth of Oliver Robert (a beautiful bouncing 8lb baby boy) and while she is enjoying life at home with her newly expanded family, Ross and Rob are continuing her hard work.

Ross is looking forward to the challenges of developing his role beyond teaching and working closely with other departments, while Rob recently enjoyed the good news of being a finalist in the recent British Council MA Dissertation award. For those interested in different learner types and how they benefit from captioned video, his work can be found on: http://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/research-publications/elt-masters-dissertations/2015-2016-winners

Ross and Robert are both hoping that now their teams (AFC Wimbledon and Charlton Athletic) are in the same league, it won’t affect their working relationship come the South London derby!

More recently the London Central Platinum Centre have had an eclectic mix of Platinum students. These have included: A trainee cordon bleu sommelier; a priest from the Congo, a French film production assistant, a Turkish journalist, a Dutch academic, lawyers from Colombia, and Latvia, a famous Italian author and regular TED presenter, a contingent of bankers from the Central Bank in Senegal, and the owner of Kyrgyzstan’s largest tour operator. Approximately 30% of Platinum students are returners and it is always good for the Platinum staff to meet such wonderful and interesting people.