Staff Profiles
Specialist Staff
At St Christopher’s, our dedicated and well-qualified team of staff put your children at the heart of everything we do.
Specialist Staff
Nurul Amira
Bahasa
Amira was born and raised in Penang, Malaysia. She graduated as a teacher from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman with a Bachelor’s Degree in English Education (HONS). While completing her studies, Amira also taught in one of the secondary schools in Perak for a while. Later, as she completed her bachelor’s degree journey, she worked as a teacher in one of the well-known preschools in Penang. To further broaden her teaching experience, she decided to join SCIPS as a teaching assistant. She loves interacting with children as she believes that every child should have something meaningful to remember from their childhood as they grow up. A year later, Amira is now a Bahasa teacher in SCIPS!
Nur Syazwany
Bahasa
Nur Syazwany graduated as a teacher in 2012 from Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNIRAZAK) with a Bachelor Degree in Education (Hons). She has been teaching for more than 6 years in the government and private school, as well as lecturing in one of the well-known colleges in Penang. Currently she teaches Bahasa from Year 1 to year 6 and supports Math for Year 3. During her spare time, she enjoys walking while listening to the music, spending time with her family and relaxing with a good book. She strongly believes that good bonding between a teacher and students are important to create a comfortable classroom environment and also education is the key to success.
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Janet Ng
Mandarin
Janet is from Malaysia and holds a Master degree in Music Pedagogy and Performance. She first completed a Bachelor degree in Music Education from University Sains Malaysia (USM) in 2009. Upon completion of her studies, she taught Music and Mandarin in Penang. She has been teaching in the local school as well as tutoring for Mandarin in Penang. Janet has taught Mandarin classes at different levels prior to joining the SCIPS family. Janet started teaching at St. Christopher’s in September 2015 as a Mandarin teacher. Currently, she teaches Mandarin from Reception to Year 6 and supports Maths for different year groups. Janet enjoys playing the piano, swimming and baking.
Hu Yang
Mandarin
Ms. Hu Yang has been teaching Chinese at international schools in Asia for over 13 years. She grew up in China where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chinese Literature. She has qualified teacher status and also has qualifications from leading international education organizations including: IB PYP and Cambridge IGCSE Chinese teacher training.
Ms. Hu Yang believes in student-centered teaching and that students learn best when lessons are engaging and enjoyable. By supporting students to learn in this manner, she believes each individual can reach their full potential.
In her freetime, Ms. Hu Yang enjoys traveling, exercising. She is lookig forward to working as a Chinese teacher at SCIPS.
Catherine Lee
Juniors ESL
Catherine is Malaysian and always knew she wanted to have a career in teaching. Her interest in teaching has enabled her to work with a wide range of age groups. Obtaining a diploma in TESOL from the London Teacher Training College meant that she was able to work more closely with non-English speakers in teaching them English as an additional language. It is this aspect that she now enjoys. Catherine has been teaching for twenty-two years and is also a classically-trained pianist. She is still actively involved in making music, whether with friends or other professional musicians. She is a holder of the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music, London and a Fellow of the Trinity College of Music, London.
Catherine has been an EAL teacher in St. Christopher’s since 2008.
Sittra Letchumanan
Infants ESL
Sittra was born, raised and educated in Penang. She has been teaching English, Maths and Malay Language to children ages 6 to 9 years old in private schools for the past 20 years. In her early years she took a two year course to get her teaching certificate and later received her Primary Combination teaching diploma from London Montessori. She has also completed her TESOL to enhance her skills as she loves educating and nurturing young talents. She has attended many workshops on education to further improve her teaching skills.
Sittra was appointed as EAL teacher for KS1 and has served for 5 years in St. Christopher’s International Primary School, Penang.
Jonathan Abel
Head of PE
Jonathan is from the United Kingdom and has a Bachelors degree in English Literature/Language and Theology from The University of Birmingham. After a year spent travelling in Canada, America and Mexico, Jonathan started working in a special needs secondary school as a teaching assistant. 2 years later, Jonathan completed his Post Graduate Certificate in Education specialising in Literacy. Following that, Jonathan worked in Surrey as a teacher of a Year 5/6 mixed class for 2 years, where he was also the school sports coordinator. After 2 years working as a Year 6 teacher in Dubai, where he met the future Mrs Abel, Jonathan settled in Penang.
Jonathan is married to Kirsty, who is a former teacher at SCIPS, and they have three daughters, named Tamara, Kerenza and Morwenna.
Robert Slowther
PE Teacher
Rob is from a small town called Guisborough in the North East of England. He studied at Northumbria University and graduated in 2013. After graduating from University, he spent a couple of summers coaching ‘soccer’ in the United States of America, whilst also teaching in a local College. Rob spent 2 years teaching as a Special Needs Primary School Teacher in the UK before embarking on his first venture as an international teacher in the beautiful country of Myanmar. When he isn’t teaching, Rob spends his free time out exploring nature, playing sports, keeping fit in the gym, and (when he’s feeling like having a ‘lazy day’) he spends time reading books, eating lots of food, and playing on his XBOX. He is really looking forward to experiencing life in Penang and working at such a great school.
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Daniel Guerrard
Juniors Music
Dan is from the United Kingdom and has a Masters degree in Psychology of Music in Education from Sheffield University. He worked for Staffordshire Performing Arts in the United Kingdom as a peripatetic curriculum Music teacher before making the move overseas and has worked in Bermuda, Kuwait, China and Thailand before moving this year to Malaysia. He is especially interested in Musical Theatre, composition and loves playing the piano, the ukulele and the bass guitar.
Dan is married to Lori who is a swimming teacher and has two young children, Miranda aged 5 and Freddie who is nearly 2.
Soong Yi Yiing
Infants Music
Yi Yiing is from Penang, Malaysia. She graduated from University Putra Malaysia with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance. Later, she completed a Master’s in Early Childhood Education and graduated with honours from University Science Malaysia. Her main instrument is the piano and cello is her secondary. Yi Yiing has worked at SCIPS since 2008 and she loves interacting with young children and has a passion for teaching them. She has contributed in many different ways to school life in and outside of the music classroom with particularly noteworthy contributions in leading the school music productions and music clubs, developing children’s musical abilities and confidence in performances. Outside of school, she enjoys spending time with her husband Phang Seng and children, Chloe, Joie and Kenzie.
Tunde Baranyi
German Language
Tunde is originally from Hungary, but the love of languages and learning has taken her to other countries from a young age. After finishing university with a BA and Master’s degree in languages and a teaching qualification, she wanted to pursue this path further by sharing her passion with young learners around the world. She has worked in schools in the UK, Spain, Switzerland, China and Hungary. Many destinations make for many learning opportunities and she now speaks five languages. As a lifelong learner herself, she is able to apply her personal learning experiences when connecting with children from diverse cultural backgrounds and differing educational levels. She aims to create a safe environment which nurtures multicultural awareness, authentic communication and well-being. She is also a qualified yoga teacher and often uses elements of mindfulness with her students in the lessons. She is excited to take on this wonderful new opportunity at SCIPS as a German Teacher and is looking forward to sharing her skills and enthusiasm for learning with the SCIPS community.
Astya S E Rajah
Learning Support Teacher
Astya has been committed to her passion for teaching children for over ten years. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education and has worked across EYFS, KS1 and KS2, in International British Schools in Penang and Johor Bharu. In 2016, Astya had the privilege of gaining her first experience teaching internationally when she relocated to Laos with her family. She believes that all of these diverse experiences have been immensely enriching and rewarding, both personally and professionally. Astya joined SCIPS as a Learning Support teacher in 2019 with a focus on supporting and nurturing students with additional needs in an inclusive classroom.
Her passion outside of teaching include art, as well as movies, nature walks, travelling and spending time with friends and family. Astya is married to Kumar and together they have a son, Rishaant. Astya looks forward to another exciting year and being part of the SCIPS family.