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Background in Russian Philology (Tartu University of Estonia), Education and Applied Linguistics MA (Birkbeck, London). From 2000, founder of AZBUKA, London\u2019s first Ofsted registered Russian Nursery, Saturday School and\u00a0 Cultural Centre for children. After a 2-year debate with Department for Education (DfES) AZBUKA Nursery became the first \u201clanguage immersion\u201d pre-schools to be working within the English legislation for pre-school education. Founder and head teacher of the UK\u2019s leading independent primary school running a Russian-English bilingual curriculum (2015). Founding member of BEA – Bilingual Education Alliance. Parent of 2 bilingually educated children. Enthusiast and supporter of bilingual education for all children. Firm believer in the not-for-profit philosophy in education and arts.\u00a0Founding member and chairman of AZBUKA Foundation (UK registered charity).<\/p>\n
Background: principle dancer of the famous Moiseev Dance Company and Riverdance. Dancer and choreographer for various UK based productions and theatre companies. Since 2002 teacher and then Deputy Head at AZBUKA Russian School in London, working on school development and writing and directing nine AZBUKA school theatre productions. Svetlana supports the ethos behind bilingual education and is a firm believer in promoting Russian culture and heritage. She lives in London and is a parent of two bilingually raised children.<\/p>\n
Dr Charmian Kenner is Reader in Educational Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research focuses on children\u2019s bilingual development in home and community contexts, and how bilingual learning can be encouraged in schools. She has directed research projects on early biliteracy, intergenerational learning between young children and grandparents, and bilingual learning through partnerships between primary teachers and community language teachers. Her books include Home Pages: Literacy Links for Bilingual Children (Trentham, 2000), Becoming Biliterate: Young Children Learning Different Writing Systems (Trentham, 2004) and others. Parent of a bilingual and biliterate son. Great supporter of bilingualism in mainstream schools.<\/p>\n
Andrew Jack is a journalist and Global Education Editor with the Financial Times, and was based in Moscow in 1998-2004. He is co-chairman of Pushkin House (www.pushkinhouse.org), a London based cultural charity (Russian Cultural Centre), and has previously served as a trustee of two other charities: one promoting philanthropy in emerging markets, and the other providing social services to low income families in London. He is the parent of trilingually educated child and a loyal parent of AZBUKA School. Trustee of the AZBUKA Foundation.<\/p>\n
Dr Vally\u00a0Lytra is Reader in Languages in Education at the Department of Educational Studies, at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her\u00a0research, practice and\u00a0community engagement bring together socio-cultural approaches to multilingualism, inclusive language pedagogies and family language policy. She has a long-standing interest in community languages and bilingual education. She co-founded and is president of the managing committee of a school for children and adult learners of Greek in Lausanne (https:\/\/www.grecpourtous.ch\/<\/a>) is a Russo-British\u00a0historian\u00a0and author who writes under the name\u00a0Nikolai Tolstoy. Like thousands of Russians in the present century, I was born and brought up in another country and was only able to enter the land of my ancestors as a visitor in later years. It was nevertheless a very Russian upbringing, one which impressed on me the unusual nature of my inheritance. I was baptised in the\u00a0Russian Orthodox Church and I worshipped in it. I prayed at night the familiar words Oche Nash, attended parties where little Russian boys and girls spoke a mixture of languages, and felt myself by manner and temperament to be different than my English friends. I think I was the most affected by those melancholy and evocative Russian homes where my elders, for the most part people of great charm and eccentricity, lived surrounded by the relics \u2013 ikons, Easter eggs, portraits of Tsar and Tsaritsa, family photographs, and \u00e9migr\u00e9 newspapers \u2013 of that mysterious, far-off land of wolves,\u00a0boyars, and snow-forests of\u00a0Ivan Bilibin’s famous illustrations to Russian fairy-tales. Somewhere there was a real Russian land to which we all belonged, but it was shut away over distant seas and space of years.[1<\/a>][2<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Tolstoy holds dual British and Russian citizenship. He was educated at\u00a0Wellington College,\u00a0Sandhurst, and\u00a0Trinity College Dublin.Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\nBorn in England in 1935, Tolstoy is of part Russian descent and\u00a0 a member of the noble Tolstoy family. On his upbringing he has written:<\/p>\n
\nPatron and friend of the AZBUKA Foundation<\/p>\nGreg Hands MP (Chelsea and Fulham)<\/strong><\/h5>\n