With an aim to boost skills in French and Spanish languages that he says are ‘lacking in some Jersey secondary schools’, Andrew Picot founded Complete Languages Tuition & Services.
Andrew’s fascination with languages stems from an early age and it is a passion which he says has grown, taking the former St Martin’s and De La Salle College pupil to Granada, Costa Rica and China, as well as to France.
Gaining teaching qualifications and honing his own language skills through a mix of travel and study since 2006, Andrew returned to the Island in 2015 and founded his own language school in 2018. Currently, French and Spanish lessons are offered to nearly all ages.
Having worked in the mainstream education sector, primarily six years teaching French and Spanish at Victoria College and briefly at Les Quennevais, Andrew explained: “I could see there was a niche for a private enterprise, encouraging as many Islanders as possible to learn a language either face-to-face or online at a time and pace that suits them.
“Sadly, the delivery of languages in schools is not at the level it could or should be. While some schools offer three or four languages at GCSE, others offer two and, elsewhere, there is normally no compulsion to study a language at all; this doesn’t help pupils to develop the skills needed to become a well-rounded adult.”
