The Beginning...
It all began in 1977 with David Williams, a businessman, who felt that God was calling him to do something new. David gave up his business and waited for God to show him what to do next. Then one day, a conversation with a former colleague put the idea of starting a language school into his head. The idea stuck and so the Christian English Language Centre [CELC] was born.
David had no students, no teachers, no host families, no books and no building. Nor did he have any knowledge or experience of running a language school BUT he was absolutely convinced that this was what God wanted him to do.
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| The news that a Christian language school had started in Bournemouth spread. One person told another person who told another until people as far away as Germany, Switzerland and Japan had heard about CELC. And then suddenly people just started applying to come. A few months after founding the school, the first students arrived: 3 women and 1 man from a German mission organisation.
The first classroom was the lounge of David's home and David himself, who had been a primary school teacher, quickly learnt how to teach English as a foreign language! |
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Growing!
More students came and 2 classrooms were needed which meant the Williams family ‘lost’ their dining room as well as their lounge. CELC continued to grow until there were too many students to fit into the house, so the school moved into a local church. For a while the school kept on moving from place to place until it came to St Andrew's Church Hall in Charminster where it found a home for 14 years.
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New Direction
In 1996, David Williams decided to retire so Derek and Jackie White took on CELC and after a lot of praying and searching, moved the school to Exchange Buildings in Bournemouth town centre. Having our own home has been a wonderful blessing. It has meant that we can have a fuller afternoon programme, a lounge for students to relax in, one whole room for a library – instead of a cupboard! – and now, even a computer room for students to use, complete with internet access.
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British Council Accreditation
In 2000 the school realised its aim of gaining accreditation by the British Council.
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| This organisation inspects schools to ensure that they meet the best possible standards, which is what we would expect from a quality school. Since 2000 we have had two further inspections; CELC's next inspection is in 2007. |
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Christchurch
In January 2006, after our lease on Exchange Buildings expired, CELC moved once more. This time, a few miles along the coast to the beautiful historic town of Christchurch. |
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Càro Verbum factum est
(John 1:14) |
