About us

Our differentiated approach

We believe independent schools must have differentiated marketing strategies to attract sufficient enquiries from the right profiles of children and parents. The problem is that with 2000+ independent schools, there is a lot of competition and the average parent is going to look seriously at 3 to 6 schools. Some seeking senior schools, might have considered more than 20 before they narrowed them down. Additionally, most school prospectuses, promotional material websites tend to say the same thing. So, you MUST look different. But, this does not only mean you have to stand out from the crowd, but you must also appear better than your peer group. You must communicate effectively the strengths which will exactly appeal to your potential parent. Marketing people often say that perception is reality, but superior marketing is no use unless all of your actions, philosophies and staff support the new strategy. Find out more about EA Differentiated Marketing by clicking here.

What do we do?

Education Advisers has five core activities:

• Advice to parents on choice of private school or college
• Reducing the cost of private education through the Gateway to Education Bursary Program
• Effective marketing strategies for independent schools or colleges
• Development of differentiated online marketing for schools
• A unique advice service on university choice for schools to use for their students

Who are we?

Education Advisers is run by 4 experienced Principals and aided by several associates with long and distinguished education careers plus our joint venture partners who implement our online and offline solutions.

Les Webb FCII, FinstSMM – Managing Director

Les founded the company after having spent more than 30 years in financial services including being General Manager of two very successful international reinsurance companies. He moved into education marketing by accident after doing a year long consultancy project on the financial ramifications of private education. Within a short period he concluded that the internet was going to be a key factor in parental choice and decided to write and design EA’s websites. The success of the pupil placement enquiries from the internet encouraged him to lead the company into school marketing.

Michael Fanya MA – Academic Director

Michael was a founder and for over 20 years Senior Master of Hurtwood House School, the top co-educational boarding school in the UK. He has had extensive experience in senior management roles in both the state and independent sectors. He has been a Chief Examiner with the AQA Examining Board, a member of the University of Surrey Council and has written widely on educational matters, including books on A Level choices and school organisation. He is Governor of a Surrey Prep School and has organised educational conferences and worked closely with Universities in promoting Higher Education seminars. Michael has considerable experience in the field of international education; undertaking projects with Malaysia, Mauritius, Bahrain, Germany, China and Korea. He periodically acts as Director of Admissions for Hurtwood House School, and is Academic Director of Education Advises Limited, with responsibility for school and college placement enquiries. He is also integrally involved in school and marketing projects.

Joan Coverson MA FIA – Finance Director

Joan is a qualified actuary with a long career in senior positions in financial services. She has worked for 4 of the largest global reinsurers – Gen Re, Munich Re, Swiss Re (M&G) and NRG Victory Re. I indeed she still acts as senior UK pricing actuary for one of them. She spent 2 years as a Consultant for KPMG and 4 years as a Director of New Vision, both management consultancies. Within EA she is responsible for finance but also masterminds the internal technology. She devised and programmed the unique EA software for school fees projections.

Brian Heap – Associate for University Advice

Brian is well known as the foremost authority on university advice in UK. His books on Degree Choice are to be found in almost every UK school and he is the author and compiler of the best-selling university guide, ‘Degree Course Offers’, which has been a ‘bible’ for university applicants for over 30 years. He has an unparalleled knowledge of the UK Higher Education system and is a regular radio broadcaster.

Dr John Cook BSc Hons, PhD - Associate for Independent School Advice

After graduating John lectured at the Royal Veterinary College, London and Guy’s Hospital Medical School. After appointment as Senior Science Master and Head of Physics at Haileybury School, John was Headmaster of Christ College, Brecon, and then Headmaster of Epsom College. He has also been Director of the Young People’s Inner City Project and Principal of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Foundation. John has been Chairman of the Academic Policy Committee of the Headmaster’s Conference (HMC), Chairman of the Joint Committee of HMC and IAPS and a member of the Curriculum Committee of the Schools’ Council, and of the Oxford & Cambridge Examining Board and Governor at various times of 15 schools in Surrey, Staffordshire, Hertfordshire, Worcestershire and Kent as well as being Chairman of the Governors at the Royal School. John is a Registered Inspector for schools, a distinguished science examiner and has had extensive consultancy experience in the UK, Kenya, Egypt, Malaysia, Argentine, Abu Dhabi, France and Austria.

Dr Timothy Seller BSc Hons, PhD – Associate for University Advice

Tim was for 14 years Director of the International Office at Imperial College, London. During that time he gained extensive knowledge of overseas student affairs and recruitment and travelled a great deal particularly in Europe and South East Asia. Dr Seller is the author of some 25 published papers and books on animal physiology and ecology. He initiated, organised and participated in a programme of sponsored demonstration lectures for young people. A total of 38 series of lectures were presented in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the USA. These involved over 300 lectures and teachers’ workshops and were delivered to a total of 80,000 students. In recent years Dr Seller has worked closely with the British Council on projects in India and also with the University of Reading.

Dr Gwyn Brown BSc Hons, PhD – Associate for University Advice

Gwyn has been Dean of International Students and Director of the International Office of the University of Surrey. Dr Brown has been involved with the British Council, ECS and UK Partnership. He is a founder member of the British Universities International Liaison Committee and has been a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the China Committee. Dr Brown is the author of some 30 published papers on Electronic Engineering, International Education and Educational Developments. He has visited 25 countries in connection with educational liaison work, covering lectures, contract negotiation, exhibitions and presentations and developed a vast contact list within the UK and overseas.

Phil Moss BSc Hons – Associate for Higher Education

Phil was the Student Recruitment Manager for the London School of Economics until April 2007 when he then formed Phil Moss Educational Consultancy (PMC). His company offers a wide range of services to students, schools, colleges and universities. He works extensively in Europe, especially Scandinavia, running workshops on all aspects of Higher Education. Phil has been Project Manager by the Sutton Trust for the new ‘Pathways to Law’ initiative, which is being delivered by five leading UK universities, including LSE, Manchester and Leeds.

Stephen Dennison BA Hons - Associate for Marketing Projects

After graduating from Oxford University, Stephen gained extensive experience in the fields of project management, business development and planning strategy. Stephen was appointed Development Director for Edexcel Foundation (Academic & Vocational Qualifications), and in this role led teams developing academic qualifications (GCE/GCSE), to the Middle East, India, South East Asia and China. He has worked widely in schools including providing outsourced educational services for Education Authorities, including school inspections and also pioneered in extending e-learning to rural areas. Stephen has been Senior Project Manager for the London Gifted and Talented student project, worked on all aspects of educational provision and been involved at senior management level with various major charities. Stephen has worked and travelled widely as well as living in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.

Anthony Basker – Associate for Website Advice

Anthony is Managing Director of one of our JV partners, Ignition UK , which implement many of our website projects. He was a founder of Ignition following a career which encompassed both IT and a global examinations board. Ignition is the web development side of Flipside, one of the large media relations groups in Surrey. Anthony manages a team of web developers which have designed numerous bespoke websites for independent schools and colleges. Anthony has a unique ability to translate the complexities of web technology into practical every day usage for non-technicians. He takes pride in being abreast of the latest developments such that all sites are built on “futureproof technology”