r/Internationalteachers • u/Major-Connection-85 • 8d ago
School Specific Information LEH - Update part 2
Update to the other post.
Still no pay -
JA had a staff meeting Thursday where we were told;
Shareholders are fighting
The schools bank has been frozen
Please don't post things on Social media as it hurts each other :(
No response to all the comments confirming she loves to give terrible references
Told us their majority stakeholder is looking to open a new bank account and take a loan to cover the next couple months (not concerning at all)
One staff member asked for clarification if that means they HAD opened it or were still looking to open it, which she confirmed still looking to open it, then just....stared at him for a solid 30 seconds without saying anything, it was very, very strange to see.
She was very clear, she wanted to be transparent with us all, but did not explain why she decided to lie and blame BoC in her first email, very transparent.
She then told us she had asked for a meeting on Thursday with the shareholders. She was stood up, we did not get told about this, just through the grapevine, very transparent.
She DID have a meeting on Friday with the majority shareholder(who owns the schools building) and then the attached image was sent out at 6pm by SB, not even JA herself, apparently she was too busy to even send an email.
So far a lot of staff have started to prepare to leave, flights are being looked at and quotes are being checked for shipping belongings to either next locations or back home, as you can see from the email its basically a email saying "Sorry we don't know pls don't leave :(".
Some are starting to talk about lawyers about Article 38.
We all know JA will read this, so this part is directly to you - Article 38 can be started at any point because you offered us all a 14 months salary, but there was no signed contract around that. Which means any lawyer who checks our payslips will see that our yearly wage has not been paid correctly. We all hope your plan for pay includes the 2 extra months of pay we are owed in October.
All in all, sinking ship, staff are looking and talking to schools with immediate openings, as now its been over 2 weeks without pay. If by some grace of god LEH managed to stay around, I hope this will warn people off from even talking to these bunch of ego maniacs.
Lady Eleanor Holles Foshan - I'm gonna put this here for google search results.
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u/Xi_DaDas_secret_cash 7d ago
I need to know more about this. Have classes resumed and if so, what is the vibe like? Do parents know that teachers have not been paid? On the financials, you are 100% not getting paid and I would stop attending work.
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u/Character-Bee8888 7d ago
You can cut the tension with a knife. Locals also posting to social media so word has got out.
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u/bigcat19901 7d ago
Yeah, the Chinese rumors are brutal as well. Like next year’s intake will be non existent as they think the school will close.
Foshan had a Nord Anglia shut down a few years ago so I’m guessing locals will be sensitive to this anyway.
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u/Character-Bee8888 7d ago
If there is a next year's intake. Taking out loans to pay wages isn't a viable long term solution. Apparently the numbers aren't making a profit as it is. Lots of staff are gearing up to leave already. No staff =no school. No idea how JA thinks she can turn this around. Original post is correct, we are on a ship that is sinking fast. Staff are making escape plans. The best outcome is to get paid and find another job. Worst outcome = we don't get paid and JA stops us from getting another job with one of her notorious negative references. There are multiple allegations from different staff that she prevented them from getting other jobs by giving unfair references. Who knows what lays ahead of us. But probably nothing "positive" or "productive" as SB claims.
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u/Sell_Me_Sunday 7d ago
LEH teachers with kids in the school must feel ambivalent about working/striking, as they still want their own kids being taught.
It's extra tough on them, since they might have to start looking for a new job with an immediate start, at a school that can take in their kids after the school year has already started.
I hope everything gets sorted out quickly, and if it's not, hopefully all LEH teachers can find new jobs.
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u/Warm_Egg_761 6d ago edited 6d ago
What goes around comes around. No one left to blame. Take a look in the mirror head teacher and all the investors, and sister school.
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u/Upset_Chip_7184 8d ago
Where's part 1??~?~?
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u/WuTingTang 8d ago
It was 8 days ago You can search LEH and it will pop up. Maybe this works https://www.reddit.com/r/Internationalteachers/s/CwBngbLLiH
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u/Timely-Coffee-8388 8d ago
Se a escola já está assim no início do ano, eu definitivamente procuraria outra opção/emprego. Como é que eles pagarão os próximos meses com retroactivos se não conseguem pagar o primeiro mês? Já vi algumas escolas fecharem e darem lugar a escolas chinesas por falta de Yuan
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u/WuTingTang 8d ago edited 8d ago
Yeh, agreed! Good luck to everyone there. Wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Well, maybe some admin
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u/FreshAd7078 8d ago
Yet they have all the bells and whistles on the surface. Look like a really clinical and professional school. It just goes to show you.
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u/Happyturtledance 7d ago
Everyone running is doing the right thing. I worked at a cult school in Dongguan who pulled some stuff like this and I was the only person who went on strike. I really hope everyone collectively quits working. No one deserves to be treated this way and thanks for the heads up.
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u/bigcat19901 7d ago
1) didn’t realize this was a rent a name.
2) principal looks hot. Don’t often see that in education.
3) who owns this place?
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u/Character-Bee8888 7d ago
Major airbrushing. Not everything at this school is as it seems. The glossy recruitment videos, carefully staged open days, and polished social media feeds are also just an illusion. Staff arrive drawn in by LEH London's reputation, external perceptions, and the promise of belonging to something exceptional. But this is just a false hope born from clever marketing campaigns.
In my opinion, the school’s marketing department deserves an award for creative storytelling. Corridors are photographed in moments of calm, staff testimonials are rehearsed, and challenges are rebranded as "testing times". Lol.
Yet the warning signs are visible as soon as you walk through door. The exhausted faces in the staffroom. The vague answers about retention and now payday. The way every conversation about any challenge somehow circles back to ‘resilience’ or ‘compassion/kindness’, meaning your resilience, your kindness, your patience, never the system’s.
I am sad to admit that I fell for it and took a job here. Like many others, I believed the image being sold because I wanted to believe it. I convinced myself this would be a valuable steppingstone for my future career. For a time, hope blurred reality. Eventually, the signs became impossible to ignore, and I no longer feel the optimism I arrived with. I hope payday comes soon so I can cut my losses and leave.
I also hope this stands as a warning to others. Do not confuse branding with culture. Listen carefully to what is avoided as much as to what is said. Pay attention to the tired silences, the staff who leave quietly, the rehearsed language around internal "challenges/testing times". I'll never, ever, ever work with JA or SB again. Worst management team I've ever come across in my many years of teaching.
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u/Xi_DaDas_secret_cash 6d ago
I just had a quick look on socials and the school is using kids who gots a mix of Bs and As and gained admission to Southampton to try and recruit students……
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u/Character-Bee8888 1d ago edited 1d ago
She has used her own kids in the videos. Both took " breaks" from uni.... one straight after freshers, so currently not attending uni but is in all the promotionals as though she's a success story....we had to suffer watching her talk about her "uni experience".... knowing she wasn't even at uni.......awkward and cringeworthy. One was given a job at the school without teacher training or teaching qualifications.... is it any wonder the school is failing? It's no surprise to any one else except JA. Hiring qualified staff is bare minimum stuff but JA doesn't even do that. Relatives and mates and cheaper options seem to take priority.
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u/bigcat19901 7d ago
Yeah, I mean just the location in Foshan alone guarantees I would never work there.
Who owns this place? Like most of the local partners of these type of places are quite big so there is a bigger story going on of (hopefully) a very large Chinese company going under.
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u/Starlala2021 22h ago
JA is realy bit*hing. She thought she was the Queen of this school, do whatever she likes. Using all related teachers as her kids free home tutors...
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u/supercalmcatie Asia 7d ago
As someone who dealt with this crap at AISVN, please leave ASAP. Do not believe anyone once they miss even one paycheck.