History
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History of Queen’s
Founded in 1924, Queen’s Secretarial College was established to meet the new needs of young women excited by the opportunity of a career. Originally based in London’s Queen’s Gate, the College was a success from the start - its elegant training rooms providing a fitting environment for its first smart students. Between the Wars, career opportunities for women were slowly developing and the advantage one gained by having a skill were significant. Technical skills included shorthand and touch typing, but these were mixed with the requirement for correct social skills including good manners, good presentation and decorum. Students were expected to wear white gloves for lessons and doors were locked at 9.30 am with late comers having to give half-a-crown to charity. The College moved to Queensberry Place after being bombed out, where it grew in size and stature. Students leaving were almost guaranteed a position on a relatively competitive salary. Records show that in 1963 a college leaver could earn £200 per year, and twenty years later that had reached £5,500 per annum. Two decades further on and Queen’s students were leaving to an average income of £17,000 per year. In 2007 Queen’s graduates have found positions at a diverse range of companies including Goldman Sachs, KPMG, Savills, Ernst & Young, Chris Beetles Art Gallery, AON Insurance, Clearwater Asset Management, and The Mail on Sunday, and all are enjoying competitive salaries and working life.
History of the St. James’s
St. James’s College was founded in 1912 by Monica Spencer-Munt who worked as a private secretary to Lord Churchill at St. James’s Palace in the early 1900s. She had the foresight to recognise that well educated young people needed high quality training to enable them to contribute effectively within an organisation and to pursue their careers. With a staff of just three, she pioneered a course which would become the blueprint for one of the most successful secretarial courses in the country. In the early days, there was only one course (taken over one or two years), demanding discipline, hard work and dedication. By the early 1950s the College was flourishing with young ladies seeking the excitement of a career and the distinction of a St. James’s training. The advent of computers in the late 1960s and their gradual introduction into the commercial world over the next decade, provided the trigger for the further development of the courses and traditional shorthand and typing lessons were supplemented with classes in IT, management, marketing, and good business practice. By the early 1980s the demand for shorter courses resulted in a new range of flexible IT courses where students, now male and female, could select the dates and content of their training programme. These shorter courses sat besides an expanded list of career training programmes. The theme of quality, dedication and good results has run through the ninety year history of the College, and will be continued into the future as the College proudly becomes part of Quest Business Training.
History of Lucie Clayton
Sylvia Golledge founded the Lucie Clayton Charm Academy in 1928. ‘Lucie’ was Miss Golledge’s middle name, while Clayton was her mother’s maiden name and as the Academy became more successful, Miss Golledge adopted the name for herself. Having trained as a mannequin in Paris before the War, Miss Golledge had seen how poise and elegance gifted a social advantage to young ladies. In 1930 the Academy started modelling courses and such were their success that the Lucie Clayton Modelling Agency opened in 1938. Gradually the Charm Academy became a Grooming School and during the 1960s many of the country’s debutantes and young ladies spent a term learning the various arts of flower arranging, deportment, cookery, make-up and hair care. Lucie Clayton secretarial College opened its Knightsbridge doors in 1964 with many of the ‘finishing’ subjects finding themselves on the secretarial timetable. Records from 1972 show that classes in shorthand were followed by lessons in dinner party planning and invitation etiquette! Over the last twenty years the courses have increasingly reflected the wider career options open to professionally trained young men and women with advertising, finance, marketing, human resources and office management training all making a mark on the timetable. The union of Lucie Clayton with St James’s in 2003 led to the College providing a unique blend of courses from presentation and style to shorthand and MS Office skills. Recognition from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and from the Institute of Leadership & Management in 2004 means that the College is able to offer Quest students a rich history in the field of training combined with a broad diversity of courses.
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Founded in 1924, Queen’s Secretarial College was established to meet the new needs of young women excited by the opportunity of a career. Originally based in London’s Queen’s Gate, the College was a success from the start - its elegant training rooms providing a fitting environment for its first smart students. Between the Wars, career opportunities for women were slowly developing and the advantage one gained by having a skill were significant. Technical skills included shorthand and touch typing, but these were mixed with the requirement for correct social skills including good manners, good presentation and decorum. Students were expected to wear white gloves for lessons and doors were locked at 9.30 am with late comers having to give half-a-crown to charity. The College moved to Queensberry Place after being bombed out, where it grew in size and stature. Students leaving were almost guaranteed a position on a relatively competitive salary. Records show that in 1963 a college leaver could earn £200 per year, and twenty years later that had reached £5,500 per annum. Two decades further on and Queen’s students were leaving to an average income of £17,000 per year. In 2007 Queen’s graduates have found positions at a diverse range of companies including Goldman Sachs, KPMG, Savills, Ernst & Young, Chris Beetles Art Gallery, AON Insurance, Clearwater Asset Management, and The Mail on Sunday, and all are enjoying competitive salaries and working life.
History of the St. James’s
St. James’s College was founded in 1912 by Monica Spencer-Munt who worked as a private secretary to Lord Churchill at St. James’s Palace in the early 1900s. She had the foresight to recognise that well educated young people needed high quality training to enable them to contribute effectively within an organisation and to pursue their careers. With a staff of just three, she pioneered a course which would become the blueprint for one of the most successful secretarial courses in the country. In the early days, there was only one course (taken over one or two years), demanding discipline, hard work and dedication. By the early 1950s the College was flourishing with young ladies seeking the excitement of a career and the distinction of a St. James’s training. The advent of computers in the late 1960s and their gradual introduction into the commercial world over the next decade, provided the trigger for the further development of the courses and traditional shorthand and typing lessons were supplemented with classes in IT, management, marketing, and good business practice. By the early 1980s the demand for shorter courses resulted in a new range of flexible IT courses where students, now male and female, could select the dates and content of their training programme. These shorter courses sat besides an expanded list of career training programmes. The theme of quality, dedication and good results has run through the ninety year history of the College, and will be continued into the future as the College proudly becomes part of Quest Business Training.
History of Lucie Clayton
Sylvia Golledge founded the Lucie Clayton Charm Academy in 1928. ‘Lucie’ was Miss Golledge’s middle name, while Clayton was her mother’s maiden name and as the Academy became more successful, Miss Golledge adopted the name for herself. Having trained as a mannequin in Paris before the War, Miss Golledge had seen how poise and elegance gifted a social advantage to young ladies. In 1930 the Academy started modelling courses and such were their success that the Lucie Clayton Modelling Agency opened in 1938. Gradually the Charm Academy became a Grooming School and during the 1960s many of the country’s debutantes and young ladies spent a term learning the various arts of flower arranging, deportment, cookery, make-up and hair care. Lucie Clayton secretarial College opened its Knightsbridge doors in 1964 with many of the ‘finishing’ subjects finding themselves on the secretarial timetable. Records from 1972 show that classes in shorthand were followed by lessons in dinner party planning and invitation etiquette! Over the last twenty years the courses have increasingly reflected the wider career options open to professionally trained young men and women with advertising, finance, marketing, human resources and office management training all making a mark on the timetable. The union of Lucie Clayton with St James’s in 2003 led to the College providing a unique blend of courses from presentation and style to shorthand and MS Office skills. Recognition from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and from the Institute of Leadership & Management in 2004 means that the College is able to offer Quest students a rich history in the field of training combined with a broad diversity of courses.
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