The beginnings
Shane Lipscombe is the Founder and CEO of The Saxoncourt Group, an umbrella organisation comprising specialised English education services companies that span the globe.
Shane spent his childhood in Kent, England before moving to New Zealand with his family at the age of 15. Upon graduating from Auckland University with a degree in Accounting, Economics, and Company Law, Shane moved back to London to work as an Economic Forecaster.
At age 22, after moving to Japan, he started teaching English classes from his tiny Tokyo flat. It wasn’t long before the public took notice of the quality of his lessons, and Shane was able to establish his first English school in Ebisu, Japan. From this single location, Shane English Schools grew to over 200 locations in Japan. There are now several hundred more schools worldwide, and growing!
Shane enjoys music and loves traveling to rarely visited locations such as Papua New Guinea and Mongolia. Over the last few years, he has patiently and dotingly restored Nanteos, a Gregorian mansion in Aberystwyth, Wales, into a five star hotel. He sees this as his responsibility to do what he can in protecting British heritage for the next generation. Shane currently resides in Taipei, Taiwan with his wife, son, and daughter.
Shane History
1977
- Opened 1st English school in Tokyo, Japan.
1990
- Saxoncourt Teacher Recruitment in London places teachers worldwide.
- Japan opens its 50th English school.
1992
- Shane Global Language Centres opens near Oxford Street, London.
1993
- Saxoncourt Teacher Training, London begins teaching the CELTA, validated by the University of Cambridge.
- Shane English School Japan opens its 100th English school and joins the Japan Association for the Promotion of Foreign Language Education (JAPFLE).
1994
- 1st English school opens in Taipei, Taiwan.
1997
- 1st kindergarten English school opens in Taipei.
- Target & Shane Language Training Poland opens.
1998
- Shane English School becomes both the largest British English school and the largest foreign-owned language school in Japan, with 129 English schools.
- Shane Lipscombe receives the Shane English School Coat of Arms at the Globe Theatre, London. It was awarded by the 'Heraldic Household of the Queen' for recognition of services to English teaching. This was the first time that an English school has been awarded a Coat of Arms.
1999
- Saxoncourt Teacher Recruitment purchases English Worldwide.
- Saxoncourt Teacher Recruitment expands to Italy.
2000
- 1st English school opens in Shanghai, China.
2001
- Saxoncourt Publishing established.
2002
- Shane English School takes over International English College Vietnam creating Shane English Centre Vietnam.
- 1st Shane English School in Beijing, China opens.
- Shane Global Language Centres opens in the seaside town of Hastings, UK.
2006
- Top of Oricon nationwide survey of English school chains in Japan.
- Established Trinity Cert TESOL training course in Japan.
2009
- Shane Japan listed on TOPIX with a total of 204 English schools.
2013
- English schools open in Guangzhou, South China.
- 1st English school opens in Algiers, Algeria.
2014
- Shane Global Language Centres, Hastings opens brand new premises.
- 70th English school opens in Taiwan.
- 5th English school opens in Beijing.
- 4th English school opens in Guangzhou.
- Shane English School Thailand opens with 2 schools.
2015
- 1st English school opens in Indonesia.
- Shane English School Thailand opens its 5th English school.