Lewis School is Founded

In 1976, Dereck Lewis (centre) founded the Lewis School of English with the aim of creating a friendly, multicultural school where international students could receive high quality English language tuition at an affordable price.

British Council Accredited

We first achieved British Council accreditation in 1989.  To find out about the accreditation we currently hold, see our certification page.

Alistair Becomes Owner/Director

On Mr Lewis’s retirement, Alistair Walker became Owner/Director, a position he holds to this day. Passionate about language learning and world cultures, Alistair had previously taught English in numerous countries including Spain, Japan and Turkey, and had the vision of creating ‘a school where I myself would love to be a new teacher’. In the coming years, the school would flourish and expand.

You may be able to spot him in the photo below, along with Andrew, who is also still at Lewis!

First Junior Programmes

In 1997 our first summer junior centres were launched in Southampton and Winchester. Junior programmes would go on to become a speciality of our school. Every year we now welcome over 1,000 junior students from over 30 countries across multiple centres.

First Teachers’ Courses

Having developed an innovative approach to language teaching, we began sharing our ideas with teachers from around the world. Our first courses were offered free to Group Leaders who brought students to our Southampton summer junior centre. This special offer still remains today!

Reading Junior Centre Opens

With our Reading Junior Centre, we had the opportunity to host students at one of the UK’s top universities on a beautiful green campus. We were also able to add exciting new destinations for our trips, such as Windsor Castle (below). We’ve been in Reading every summer since 2007 and have recently added a new London-focused programme.

Fresh Approach Conferences Launched

We also fly around the world to deliver teacher training. At our Fresh Approach conferences, our trainers share fun and creative teaching ideas in dynamic and interactive training sessions. Our first event was in Tyumen, Russia, in 2008 and since then we’ve helped to inspire over 6,000 teachers with our student-centred approach to language teaching.

First Theatre Express Programme

Always a creative school, it’s perhaps not surprising that we have become a specialist in English through Theatre. We discovered on our junior programmes that theatre was a powerful way to engage students and bring language to life, so we set about establishing a team of performing arts professionals who could deliver theatre projects in schools around the world. Our first project, below, was in Sfax, Tunisia.

New Forest Junior Centre Opens

Set in a beautiful National Park, our smallest junior centre has a strong sense of community and offers students the chance to meet British children. This is because two of our programmes – Art Camp and Theatre Camp, are for both international and UK students. It’s one reason our centre remains popular to this day!

Lewis Teacher Training Centre Opens

With the school expanding to four buildings, our new building became the Lewis Teacher Training Centre. We now began offering EU-funded teacher refresher courses, as well a CertTESOL course for initial qualification.

Centre of Excellence Award

Following a fantastic result in the 2015 inspection of our summer junior centres, we were awarded the accolade of ‘Centre of Excellence’ by the EL Gazette.