About Us

'I have two children in Black Hen, one aged nine, one aged 7. They were both born in France, are schooled in the french system and although I speak English to them french is definitely their dominant language. My son started Black Hen in September as he wanted to do sports on a Wednesday rather than go to English class. It has been a huge success. He is not only learning English but also about English history, English classics and their authors. I’m particularly impressed with the methods: teaching him to do fact files, structure a story, group information together, follow instructions carefully. All of this in a fun way, there are never any arguments to do Black Hen. He uses his imagination to write stories, spells, recipes...something I feel is lacking in french schooling. It has been such a success that I withdrew my daughter from English school and she started this week her first unit. She loved it and I feel this really was the right choice for her. The feedback is always very positive and constructive. Suggestions for books or extra work on spelling, punctuation etc are given but always as games which just makes such a huge difference to learning. To anyone worried about time, parental input I’d say really you’re looking at maximum an hour a week. Obviously the older they are the more independent in their work they become but because it’s fun there’s none of the stress of schoolwork. I work week days but we have no problems fitting it in.'