About us

Carole Denny: School Improvement and Accreditation Advisor

Carole Denny describes herself as an ‘internationalized Brit’. Her overseas experience began in 1990 and she has more than twenty years of school leadership and management experience in a range of accredited international schools in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the USA. Carole has worked with different systems and a range of curricula, in IB, British style and independent international schools. She has experience introducing and developing bilingual immersion and dual language programmes in Europe and the USA and much of her leadership work has been in ‘internationalizing’ curricula and in the areas of language, culture and global citizenship.

Particular areas of interest and expertise include HR, admissions, student support and EAL; Carole has worked in a consultancy capacity for admissions and EAL. She is very knowledgeable about governance and leadership models. Strategic visioning and planning are strengths. Carole has provided direction and leadership on how best to monitor and improve learning, introducing programmes focused on teacher professional reflection and growth in a number of K-12 contexts.

With specific expertise in school improvement and accreditation, she has led and supported schools through membership, accreditation and reaccreditation processes in single, joint and multiple-organization synchronized visits in Europe, Asia and North America. Her most recent professional work experience with one of the leading international accreditation agencies affords her a global breadth of knowledge and understanding that allows her to offer effective, in-depth guidance and support to a broad range of schools and individuals.

What school leaders and education professionals are saying about Carole

Carole was meticulous in her role as evaluator of our school, helping us to identify the key domains in which we needed to improve to achieve international school accreditation, but also highlighting the strengths of our programs and policies and celebrating the areas in which we were exceeding expectations. Throughout the process she was helpful, perceptive, and communicative – providing great support for the school overall. In retrospect, we feel absolutely grateful and appreciative to have collaborated with Carole as she was so thoughtful and thorough, and gave us clear goals to work on.

Tommy House and Justin Bethune, Principals at KAIS International School, Japan.

We have really enjoyed working with you these last couple of years and feel we have benefited greatly from your wise counsel. You were such a great person with whom to work and we so much enjoyed the accreditation journey we embarked upon together. Your upbeat and supportive nature is such a breath of fresh air.

Stephen Augeri (Head of JVLR campus) and Barry Phipps, Deputy Head, Oberoi International School, India

Thank you for all you have done for YCIS SH – you are so insightful and your suggestions for school improvement have always been very helpful and well received. I have found you to always be so positive and encouraging and have enjoyed your sense of humour.

Damien Hehir, Co-Principal, Yew Chung International School Shanghai, China

Carole, thank you SO much for all your guidance, your support, your positivity and warmth – as noted by all members of our community when you “visited”. Our school has already grown as a result of your work with us.

Vanessa Grimward, Headteacher, Spain

Our whole school community enjoyed working with Carole during her on-site health, safety and safeguarding visit. Our student focus group found her immediately relatable and talked at length about their emotional safety. It wasn’t on Carole’s agenda per se, but she took the ball and ran with it and our school gained valuable insight into how we are meeting our students’ needs via social emotional learning. Parents joked afterwards that Carole asked very difficult and probing questions, yet always accompanied them with a smile, which went a long way to making them feel assured and safe. Our teachers related to her as another teacher, which being her background felt safe for them, too.

It was with a high degree of professionalism and Carole’s pre-planning for her visit, that she brought great insight, knowledge and understanding of our school that was laid out in a comprehensive report broken down into 12 main areas that related to health, safety and safeguarding at our school. At the end of each section, action points were suggested and given a level of priority. We were instantly in a position to create a very solid action plan for all our ongoing steps towards a safer and healthier school for our students!

Paula Baxter, Principal, International Primary School (IPS) Hilversum, The Netherlands

Over the course of 35 years in education, I have been fortunate to work with a few high quality educators who have both inspired and supported my own work. Carole Denny sits comfortably in this category. As Director of the Council of International Schools International Accreditation Services, Carole was one of my first appointments because I recognized in her an outstanding ability to combine a deep understanding of what constitutes best practice in education today, alongside the capacity to effectively support and guide schools on their own self-improvement journey. Carole is an expert in quality assurance and has the communication skills and intercultural competency to be an asset to any school looking to enhance the quality of its programmes.

Stuart McLay, Director of Education, Vinschool Education System, Vietnam.
Former Director of CIS International Accreditation Services.

Working on teams with Carole, while I was Head of UWCSEA East in Singapore and subsequently, has been an extremely positive experience. Having been her co-pilot on several CIS visits, my experience has always been that she is dynamic, assiduous and highly professional as she goes about her work. She is extremely knowledgeable, with great instincts for the nuances of leadership and governance in schools. She is positive, solution-focused and works always with the best interests of learners as her goal. For herself and for her teams, she sets high standards and leads by example.

Graham Silverthorne, Managing Partner, Takumi X
M: +65 97280038 | Skype: gsilverthorne | https://www.takumix.org

Lin Turley: Social Emotional Counsellor / Therapist

Lin is a deeply committed career educator who has effectively supported student learning and well-being in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, UAE, Belgium, USA, South Korea, The Netherlands and Indonesia. His areas of specialism include learning support, special educational needs and English language support as well as social emotional counselling. Lin has conducted audits in the area of student support services, including counselling, for different schools and has a deep understanding of how such service provision can be maximized in different school contexts. He has led teams of specialists in a variety of schools. Lin has worked with all age groups from a range of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds including refugees in Australia. He is well versed in all facets of transitional education for students and adults.

Lin has worked as a social emotional counsellor in a variety of schools, including a boarding school setting. He has adapted quickly to working online due to the pandemic and continues to offer his services online and face to face as conditions and circumstances allow.

Philosophy

Lin believes that life is about engagement. One word, yet it has a significant impact on many areas of our day-to-day life including motivation, achievement, job satisfaction, behaviour, happiness, attendance, well-being, the way we fill our space and much more. Getting the engagement right allows for so much more to follow.

Counseling Philosophy

Lin enjoys talking with his clients and listening to what can sit behind their words. He believes he connects with them easily even in this on-line age to establish a working relationship that is built on openness, trust and honesty.

He uses a variety of counselling and therapy techniques to enable clients to think about, accept, talk and work through their concerns and the situations they find themselves in.

Lin offers a wide range of social emotional counselling/ therapy services for adults as well as young people.

What school leaders, education professionals, counsellors and students are saying about Lin

Lin, your wise counsel has reached so many. Young and old, troubled and confused, sad and lonely or joyous and excited, you have been there to listen and offer words of comfort, support and wisdom. I have not only become a better person for knowing you, but I have experienced feeling “the most important person in the room”, because that is how your kind, compassionate, knowing presence makes me and so many others feel.

Jennifer Curry, Counselor, Green School, Bali, Indonesia (former counselling colleague and team leader)

Lin has the unique ability to connect with students, empowering them to take responsibility for their actions and further develop their positive decision making abilities.

Pete Kennedy, Secondary Principal (former), United Nations International School of Hanoi, Vietnam

I don’t think I would have made it to the end of the year without Lin’s grace, sharp wit and kindness. Amidst all the frustrations and trials, he was always there to lend an ear, put things in perspective, and provide tools and insights to carry on. And I know I am far from alone in my appreciation when I see how the students respond to him – how their faces light up then they pass him in the hallways, how he makes them laugh, how he wins their trust and makes them feel seen and heard.

Anna Karina Neeteson, Counsellor and teacher, South of France

“Since I’ve started trying to reach out for more help, you’ve been a source of comfort and calm. This is not only the case during our actual sessions but when I have randomly seen you in the hallways. When I’ve spoken to other students about you, most responses are that you are one of the only people who actually cares about the students, and that is valued by us all.”

Minnie H (senior secondary student) Amsterdam

“Lin makes school a better place for students because he values and nurtures their well being and happiness. Getting teenagers to smile brightly at 8:00 am is not an easy task, but Lin makes it happen. Students speak very highly of Lin and value the relationships that he has forged with each of them”

Scott Schaffner, Head of Upper Secondary School, ISA Amsterdam

Lin Turley worked as a remote School Counsellor for Surabaya European School from November 2020 – May 2021. Lin’s open and caring nature quickly endeared him to the students and parents in our school, as well as with his teaching colleagues. Using his philosophy of children being the most important asset in a school, Lin established honest and purposeful relationships with our Secondary students in Years 7 – 12 to give academic guidance, provide social and emotional planning as well as providing group and individual counselling for students. Additionally, Lin served as a valuable team member helping to guide students and parents into our newly established Cambridge A level programme at SES. He also provided social and emotional support and guidance to teaching staff, both here in Indonesia and abroad, who were navigating the challenges of teaching and learning online.

I would highly recommend Lin’s services in your school as he will provide your students with the skills and strategies to be able to do the best that they can do, as well as allowing them to be the best version of themselves, just as he did for the Secondary students at Surabaya European School.

Paul Moffett, School Principal, SURABAYA EUROPEAN SCHOOL