The name Spangles was originated from the fusion of two words: SPANish and inGLÉS which means English in Spanish. And without the accent on the “é”, the name Spangles was created.

Spangles started after I was looking for a Spanish club for my own children, I realised there were many French clubs, but no Spanish ones. As I was teaching GCSE and A level Spanish at Mid-Kent College, I decided to create Spangles, for children initially as an after school club. So, our first lesson was held on Saturday 07^th May 2005 with a few children, including mine. I developed the Spangles programmes taking into account the curriculum guidance for the foundation stage and The National Curriculum for KS1, KS2, and KS3 initially. I took into account what my own children liked; the games, activities and everything that allowed me to help them to learn without realising they were learning another language.

Nowadays, we continue listening to children and take into account the activities they prefer and, if suitable, we try to incorporate them into our programmes.   In this way, we are empowering children and young people to take an active role in shaping the activities we do with them.

As our groups of students were growing, very soon we started offering the Spanish programmes for teenagers: GCSE and A levels, and then, Spanish for adults.

With a very clear purpose in mind: teaching Spanish to everyone at a high level of excellence and professionalism. Spangles is creating opportunities in life!

Jimena Shafto

Director