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Hello! I am Letitia Betteridge, the Welfare Manager at Whitgift Summer School. I have lived, attended school, and worked in the local area near Whitgift for most of my life and my professional background has been related to improving children’s lives.

As a lifelong student of psychology, and physiology, I am extremely passionate about promoting the health and happiness of students who are in my care. I believe it is important to focus on increasing emotional intelligence, resilience, and compassion to raise self-esteem, self-efficacy, and attainment levels. This is done by providing emotional and mental wellbeing support to students which decreases anxiety and stress-related symptoms such as emotional dysregulation, negative thinking patterns, and sickness.

My role at the summer school is to bring a wealth of experience in caring for students’ wellbeing and happiness. To this, I will be leading a team of caring, nurturing, and experienced House Parents and our key priority will be to ensure students' mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do. Importantly, we will be promoting inclusivity, diversity, and equity to achieve the best possible outcomes for all our students. My favourite part of this role is seeing how students grow from being uncertain and unsure to excited, engaged, and excelling socially and academically. I also love to hear what the students’ favourite foods are back home, so I can attempt to recreate them once the summer has finished!

Students who come to Whitgift Summer School should focus on learning, having fun, meeting new friends, and fully immersing themselves in all activities! We really want the students who are staying with us to feel safe, confident, and healthy and we will do this by encouraging them to sleep well, eat well and have a good routine. We will always be available to help students with any concerns or worries they might have as well as provide motivation and encouragement.  

We have carefully planned every detail of students stay to help them settle in as quickly as possible when they arrive. However, we do understand that some students might be shy or nervous at the beginning of their stay, which is completely normal! So, here are my top three tips which will help any student who might be a bit worried when they arrive here at our English language summer school in London:

Tip 1 – Once you have checked in at reception, and completed your induction, it will be important to unpack straight away to feel comfortable in your room, with hand selected belongings visible, as this helps the room to feel more familiar.

Tip 2 – Students should get to know their roommate by practicing English straight away and ‘buddying up’ together to attend the welcome activities. Student Hosts will also be around from lunchtime for extra advice and social interaction.

Tip 3 –Homesickness is completely normal, no one is alone in feeling this way! It is all part of the journey. Remember you can be homesick AND still have a great time. Although you will have time to contact home, you will be so busy during the day with lessons, activities, and excursions that you will be distracted from any homesickness you may have. And… if you are still feeling sad, our amazing House Parents will always be there to listen and help you.

It has been two years since we were able to welcome students to our fantastic English language summer school and we can’t wait for pupils to arrive here again! I am excited about once again hearing the buzz of curiosity and excitement that is related to students having a great time as well as witnessing short and long-term bonds develop between them. My hope is that students complete their course with memories from Whitgift that last a lifetime.

I can’t wait to meet you all!