English Speaking Board (International) Ltd

Author: Liam Morton

  • Tributes to Joan Blackham

    One of English Speaking Board’s longest-standing assessors Joan Blackham has sadly passed away.

    Away from ESB, Joan was an experienced character actress working in film, television and theatre alongside household names like John Thaw, Patricia Hodge, Jemma Redgrave and Kenneth Williams. She starred in the original West End production of Calendar Girls and as Eleanor Roosevelt in the film Battle for Sevastopol. She also featured in the hit movie Bridget Jones’s Diary, as well as many, many popular TV series.

    When she wasn’t on stage or in front of the camera, Joan’s other great love was being an ESB assessor. She specialised in assessing learners with Special Educational Needs and was recognised as a true professional.

    Joan’s ESB colleague and friend Bunty Gulliford recalls:

    Joan was born in Wolverhampton in 1946, and later in life became involved with ESB as an assessor. All who worked with her knew what a very dedicated and professional assessor she was. She loved the work and didn’t want to commit herself to any other form of assessing. She was a feisty lady with a heart of gold.

    Her brilliant affinity with learners was very much in evidence just last March when she assessed at a long-standing ESB centre, Foxes Academy, in the seaside town of Minehead. Foxes is an incredibly special place which aims to equip young adults with learning difficulties to find sustainable employment and to live independently.

    Joan Is pictured with John Thaw. They starred together in Home to Roost with Joan playing John’s home help Fiona.

     

    “Joan made quite an impression”, says Bunty.

    The teachers were all delighted and commented on Joan’s dedication and genuine interest in all the learners. All of us who worked with her shall miss her and anyone who met her was a better person for having known her. R.I.P. dear Joan – thank you for your fun ‘WhatsApp’ videos during lockdown, which kept us all so amused. Thank you for your genuine interest in life, truth and humanity! You will be sorely missed.

    ESB’s Chief Executive Tina Renshaw, also fondly remembers Joan;

    I was privileged to spend time over dinner with Joan at our Annual Training weekend in 2019. I so admired her sense of self, her love of her craft of acting but also her absolute and fierce commitment to assessing those who have additional and sometimes significant learning needs.

    “When we were all in the depths of lockdown, I wrote to our assessors offering a poem by Betjeman to nourish our souls. Joan thanked me for sharing a poem new to her and for introducing her to an onomatopoeic word that she didn’t know! That for me was the Joan I admired, open and honest to things new, committed and loyal to things precious to her. Thank you, Joan, for all your work for ESB, we honour your memory and your contribution to our ESB learners and family.

  • From ClassROOM to ClassZOOM!

    Embracing the change from pre-Covid assessment to online assessment did not phase the ESB learners at Elms Studio! In fact, they positively shone in their assessments!

    Taking advantage of ESB’s Adapted Assessment, allowing learners to be assessed using online conferencing software, the learners at Elms Studio wowed their assessor and they all achieved excellent results.

    Jenaya Marie, the groups’ teacher at Elms Studio, said:

    “Thank you so much to ESB and especially Assessor Rhydian Morgan for allowing our students to have an air of normality in their lives. They were all able to take their ESB assessments that they had prepared for.
    In line with the closure of the schools, we moved to remote teaching via Zoom and continued to prepare with the hope there would be a way for the sessions to go ahead. We were thrilled to find out via a Centre Update in May that assessing a group live using video conferencing was one of the options being considered and we continued our preparation with this in mind.”

    ESB’s Senior Manager, Educational Delivery, Ben Jackson, said:

    “We have taken a proactive approach to helping our centres during the Covid 19 outbreak, with the clear focus to give as many learners as possible the opportunity to achieve the qualifications they have worked so hard for throughout the academic year.
    In addition to supporting centres with adapted assessments, meaning learners can be assessed in environments outside the classroom, we have also offered calculated results for our ESOL Skills for Life qualifications and Speech qualifications for learners with special educational needs and disabilities.”

     

    So, has the adapted assessment format been beneficial to learners?

    The learners at Elms Studio certainly think so:

    “The students thoroughly enjoyed their virtual examinations and were thrilled that they all received Distinctions along with supportive and positive comments to help them improve. We will definitely be entering our students again next year whether this be via Zoom or in a room,”

    Jenaya Marie laughed.

  • Welcoming our new centres

    Earlier in the year we welcomed two new exclusively licensed centres to our ESOL International family; Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

    Over the last few weeks, we have held webinars for over 60 teachers to introduce them to ESB International and our assessments.

    Our fabulous ESB representative internationally Fabiana Pica has led the webinars, hosted by our in-country colleagues Charlie Zdravchev in Bulgaria and Vesna Milevska in North Macedonia. Teachers have been given techniques for excellent classroom activities to enhance candidates’ speaking skills in these webinars.

     

     

     

     

    Tina Renshaw, Chief Executive, said:

    “Despite these difficult times, ESB International continues to support all our centres, as well as welcoming new international ones. Focusing on the future, we are currently piloting online ESOL international assessments.
    This work, with international e-assessment developers, will broaden the opportunities for learners accessing our assessments. Congratulations to all our colleagues leading ESB International’s implementation in Bulgaria and North Macedonia.”

  • ESB learners reaching their goals

    With Covid-19 still bringing many things to a standstill, we are excited to report that ESB International is open for business!

    Ofqual’s Extraordinary Regulatory Framework is enabling many of our centres to either see through their assessments in a new socially distancing format using technology or have their results calculated.

    Taking the Calculated Results route are many of our ESOL Skills for Life learners and our learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities taking our specifically designed qualifications. Our Speech learners have been offered the opportunity to go ahead with their assessments in an adapted format. Centres can choose to have their learners assessed by video conferencing, giving them the closest experience to their usual assessments. Alternatively, teachers can record their learners’ performances and submit the recordings to be assessed. Finally, learners can record their performances at home with their parents or guardians acting as amateur directors!

    Says ESB International’s Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw:

    I couldn’t be more pleased that these learners are still getting the opportunity to have their hard work rewarded. We have been in contact with more than 100 of our centres and their responses have been truly heart-warming. We are all finding new skills and new ways of working to make sure that our learners are not disadvantaged and that they receive the credit that they deserve.
    In preparation for our new adapted assessments, our assessors have been taking part in special training (socially distanced, of course!). We now have a team which is ready and raring to go and I am confident that the learners being assessed LIVE by video conference will enjoy the experience almost as much as when we visit them in person. Fortunately, with mobile phone and iPad cameras being so good these days, no special equipment is needed for those wishing to record themselves!
    We love getting out and about around the UK seeing our learners’ endeavour, energy and talent, but until we are able to do that again this is the next best thing and we are looking forward to making a big success of it!

    We would like to give a shout out to the following centres who will be calculating the results of their learners. They are:- Adult Learning Lewisham; Belfast Met; Bromley By Bow; Carwarden House School; City of Bristol College; College of North West London; Gateshead College; Joseph Chamberlain College; Liverpool Adult Learning Service; Sandwell College and Stanmore College.

    Our Speech centres who have elected adapted assessments include Bricklehurst Manor School; Ellowes Hall Sports College, Elms Studio; Queen’s Gate School, Weston College, Wilmslow Prep School, Maidstone Grammar for Girls, The Oratory Prep and private tutors David Purveur and Sally Arnold.

    Looking forward to a great set of results from you all!