B.E.S.T. was founded by Lensworth Small, a West Indian Solicitor practicing in Brixton, in 1973. Lensworth realised that the West Indian Community in Brixton, South London, were suffering from the education system in the area.
He asked Ann Roberts and Sarah Hewitt - two very experienced teachers - to go to Brixton every weekend and teach the young people, using Study Technology, which is an education method developed by the Educator Mr. L. Ron Hubbard.
Mrs Roberts and Ms Hewitt held the classes at the Ferndale Center, Brixton. Ms Hewitt was also a Psychologist and therefore they were able to carry out Reading Tests to staticice the improvement in their pupils. The results were dramatic.
In 1981 Mr. Small asked Mrs Roberts to return to Brixton. She did so, with Rhoda Zeffertt. They had an office in Mr Small's practice in Railton Road and for 3 or so years ran courses for adults on Communication and Study Skills in Loughborough Park, the Church in Railton Road, the Youth Club in Railton Road, the Melting Pot in Clapham and other centres around the area. They also ran Summer Projects for Children.
B.E.S.T. became a Registered Charity in 1982. Its Primary Objective is:
"To advance the education of people and children particularly those of multi ethnic origins and those in special need through social deprivation."
Mrs Roberts and Mrs Zeffertt continued to run these courses locally and High Wycombe and also gave Study Technology Workshops around London. Mrs Dorothy Bell, and Judith Jorsling (Canning Town) who had been on the courses helped organise all the activities. The Mayor and Councillor Lloyd Leon and Mrs Betty Jacas were strong supporters of the Charity's work.
Mrs Dorothy Bell, B.E.S.T. Coordinator for Brixton, London, continued running children’s projects for after school and holiday projects.
Mrs Roberts was asked by the Zimbabwe High Commission to help with Education in Zimbabwe and she undertook this with great enthusiasm. In the middle 90’s Mrs Zeffertt joined her and they put 11 of the Education Officers in the country through the Study Technology Course.
Mrs Roberts had trained many teachers in schools in Shurugwi (one of the areas of the Country). Study Technology was being used very successfully in the schools. There are documented results for some of these schools.
Many other visits were made to Zimbabwe by Mrs Roberts and her dedicated team of helpers to train 17,000 teachers.
B.E.S.T. was also asked to train all the teachers in The Gambia and in 1990, Mrs Roberts took out teams of people from the USA and the UK to help with this project. 6,500 teachers were trained in the methods of study technology and then went back to the schools in their areas. The training was done at The Gambia College, Banjul.
UNICEF also asked for a project to be done for FAWE GAM (Forum of African Women’s Educationalists) at Sambang Upper Basic School to give extra training to make this school a Centre of Excellence. The examination marks of the pupils were taken before the teachers were trained and afterwards at the next examinations, with excellent results.
Dr Katharine Scarfe Beckett gave a talk at UNICEF, Paris, on Study Technology and its results in March 2007.
For more recent activities please go to the Results page.