Autumn-Winter ESB News

As we move into the 2018-19 academic year, I’m delighted to welcome you to this edition of ESB News. Following your well- deserved summer break, we wanted to get back in touch to tell you about our plans for the coming months. Firstly, it was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of our Honorary Treasurer, Trustee and dear friend, Richard Ellis. The contributions he brought to the organisation are countless. I feel I can speak on behalf of everyone who had the pleasure of working with Richard that his vision and kindness will never be forgotten. We were showered with thoughts and memories from our members and Trustees, which I shared with his family and friends at a memorial service in Edinburgh. We’ve been working hard over the past year to improve the way you book our assessments and to allow assessors to more easily process information. I am excited to announce that we are building a new online booking system aimed at making your life easier. Please go to p.7 to find out how we’ve listened to your suggestions to make booking with us as simple and fuss-free as possible. As we are draw nearer to our 2018 Young Speakers of the Year Showcase, we are delighted to introduce you to this year’s winners (p.11). I send out my

congratulations to the learners and their teachers for this impressive achievement, and we look forward to meeting them in November. We caught up with Jenny Roden, former Co-Chair of NATECLA, to discuss how the national organisation operates, and get the latest in the world of ESOL Skills for Life (p.11). I am proud to announce the launch of our Speech Pathways Pilot, which aims to provide you and your learners with more choice in our qualifications (p.15). One of the organisations piloting the pathways is RECLAIM, a youth leadership and social change group in Manchester which works with youngsters in the North West (p.17). Lastly, I am pleased to remind you that we have frozen our centre fees for 2018- 2019 at the same rate as last year’s. At ESB we really appreciate the loyalty of our centres, so this is our way of giving something back. We are always open to feedback, and would love to hear your opinion on what you would like to see in ESB News , so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Best wishes, Tina

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