Four teachers, two markets, and one thing we will not say

Half of who comes here is leaving the country to study and has a test to sit first. The other half works in hospitality and needs the English or the Russian of their own job, on days that move every week. They want completely different courses and they are held to the same rule, which is that nobody here promises an outcome somebody else controls.

For the student going abroad that means no score and no band, ever, and a judgement in week seven that comes out of their marked folder rather than out of what they have paid. The comfortable thing to say is always yes, sit the test, you will be fine. A student who sits too early pays twice and loses six weeks.

For the staff member it means we do not claim a course will get anybody promoted, and it means the property paying the fee sees hours attended and nothing else. Every staff member hears that at enrolment with their manager in the room, on purpose.

And for both it means no commission from any agent, college or university anywhere. We will read somebody's paperwork with them for nothing before they sign it, and the only reason that is worth having is that we have no stake in what they decide.