About Us
We help schools and education content providers to develop an international engagement strategy, through running board discovery days, managing overseas projects, and advising senior teams on new opportunities - wherever in the world you may wish to deliver your unique proposition.
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We have decades of experience in school management, executive recruitment, staff training, leadership coaching, education technology and global education, while our team also benefits from significant work in both charitable and corporate sectors. So, we are well placed to perform project management and individual consultancy projects.
Puerta Inglesa is an international education consultancy providing families with advice, support and placement services for study abroad programs.
With a wealth of experience working in schools in the UK and Latin America, we help connect students with top quality education institutions.
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We are a British company who liaises with UK institutions while providing local support for students and their families throughout Latin America.
Our Services
For schools and education
service providers:
Bespoke international support
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Board facilitation days for international strategy
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Overseas travel to scope new markets and conduct research
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Executive search and recruitment for senior leadership teams
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Business planning and project management services for overseas projects
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Education expertise for buyers and sellers of schools
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Information Services: networking Events, webinars, and market insight reports
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Student recruitment fairs in Latin America
For families and students:
Bespoke concierge services for
study abroad
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"Meet the schools" information events and education webinars
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Preparation for application and interviews at top UK schools
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Support with visa application processes
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Support with guardianship services
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Liaison between school and family throughout your child's time in the UK
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Advice on university options in the UK, Europe, and USA
Experienced
Our team has decades of experience in the UK; International; and Charity sectors, as well as corporate experience in retail; consultancy; finance; and market research.
Economical
Our value proposition is to save you the expense of hiring an in-house team for what can be quite long-term projects. We check in regularly with updates, giving you more freedom when considering the resource and time spent on a project, and whether or how to continue with it.
Agile
Our team is based across the world in the UK; Latin America; Mainland Europe; South East Asia; and New Zealand. We are able to source opportunities and develop links, as well as carry out specific market research, by having on the ground expertise in target markets, and coverage across multiple time zones.
Our Team
FOUNDER
Alex McGrath
Alex founded Castlegate Education in December 2020. He worked in UK independent schools for over 20 years as Headmaster of two HMC schools; led the British Council’s commercial school development programme in China; and was then promoted to Global Director of British Council Schools.
He led overseas projects in Korea; Dubai; Mexico; China; Malaysia; Portugal; and West Africa; School Design projects in the UK, China, Malaysia and Portugal; advises on the sale of schools in the UK, USA, Latin America and Central Africa; and devised an Edtech teacher training project in Sub-Saharan Africa for the Commonwealth Education Trust, later serving as a Trustee. Alex also recruits senior leaders for schools across Latin America and China.
CORPORATE TEAM
Chris Day
Operations and Education Management
Chris is Canadian, and the former COO of Dulwich College in Shanghai and Singapore.
He is an Education entrepreneur across K-12; Nursery; and vocational learning sectors, based in Vietnam, and advises on operational matters in APAC markets.
Kristen Smith
Strategic Director
Kristen brings strong commercial experience to our team. She spent twenty years in the New York Retail sector, rising to Vice President at Macy's Merchandising Group. In this role she developed brand strategy across the organisation for new lines and products, managing a $300m budget and achieving consistent growth across her portfolio of brands.
Having pivoted in her career to Education, she is instrumental in supporting schools seeking to develop new revenue streams. Kristen spent several years traveling the world, and has experience of more than 50 countries.
Judith De Swart
Lead Advisor: International Risk Management
Judith is highly experienced in risk management and consulting with a specific focus on anti-financial crime compliance, vendor risk management, and contractual provisions. Judith was Global Head of Financial Crime Compliance Training at Citibank, New York City; and US Head of Financial Compliance Training for HSBC. Previously she has worked in Toronto, London and Amsterdam. A Dutch national, Judith now resides in Mexico City
EDUCATION TEAM
Kevin Loft
Former Executive Principal of one of the leading GEMS schools in Dubai, UAE, and board member of the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize.
Kevin has experience of school leadership in New Zealand; the Middle East and the UK. Kevin’s experience of international inspections and contextualizing curriculum to a local context is extensive.
Jonathan Carroll
An experienced former UK Headmaster with extensive senior leadership and Governor experience in a wide variety of schools. He has worked overseas and in the UK in many settings.
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Jonathan's strengths are in educational leadership and developing school improvement initiatives including change management, curriculum development, coaching and mentoring senior leaders, Inspection preparation, and evolving new teaching and learning strategies to maximise pupil outcomes
Clients & Partners
We're extremely proud of the relationships that we've established, and maintained, with our esteemed clients and partners:
Contact
Suite 6, Landmark Business Centre, Burnley, BB11 1UF, UK
Tel: +44 7707 308438