Leanne Oliver B.A. (hons) P.G.Cert

Director / lead tutor

Leanne Oliver completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Winchester in 2000, gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in English Studies. She then continued her studies into a Post Graduate Certificate at the same establishment. Upon leaving education in 2001, she set up the business A-Star English, a now ten year old agency, providing private English tuition to individuals or groups to both British and international students. She has taught English Language, Literature and Linguistics throughout this time. In 2007 Leanne created and ran the first A-Star English Revision Workshops, these have since developed into popular courses for GCSE Revision in Winchester. In 2012 Leanne developed the English Language Teaching (ELT) side of the business into a new venture Everso English, Leanne holds an ELT certificate.

Amy Boennic B.Sc .(hons) P.G.C.E.

Tutor / translator

Amy Boennic completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Exeter in 2003, gaining a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours. She then worked as a Learning Support Assistant, before gaining her Post Graduate Certificate in Education in 2007 from Southampton University. Amy has worked as a primary school teacher since then, as well as working for A-Star English providing tuition to primary aged pupils. Amy also speaks Spanish.

Joanna Longden M.A.

Tutor / Translator

Joanna Longden is currently working towards her Doctorate of Philosophy at The University of Winchester; having completed her Master’s Degree and gained a First Class Degree with Honours in English Studies. Joanna has taught both English Language and English Literature to British and international students as part of the A-Star English team and independently for many years. Joanna speaks Swedish, French and Norwegian and is able to use her own experience of living and learning abroad, in her approach to assisting her own students.

Emma Whitton BA English and Related Literature, PGDip European Business Administration.

Emma completed her undergraduate degree at the University of York in 1993, gaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree with honours, followed by her Post graduate Diploma in Business Administration in 2004. She then lived and worked abroad for many years teaching English language to both children and adults. She studied French to a high level (C1 qualification under the Common European Framework for Languages) as well as a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teaching qualification, focusing on the use of English grammar. Emma has worked both professionally and voluntarily in International schools, at primary level, in the Czech Republic and Belgium. She loves reading and writing and has completed a writing for children course with The Writers Bureau- a creative writing course specialising in writing for children. Emma is married with four children and lives in Winchester.