English Speaking Board (International) Ltd

Author: Liam Morton

  • “Character and resilience” as important as GCSEs for young people says Damian Hinds

    The Education Secretary addressed the Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership conference in London this morning to stress the importance of instilling confidence and character in every child.
    Damian Hinds, Secretary of State for Education

    Hinds declared that he wishes to “call time” on the phrase “public-school confidence”, arguing that such confidence should not be reserved for privately educated children only.

    Hinds went on to present his “five foundations to build character”: sport, creativity, performing, volunteering and membership and the world of work. He promises to increase schools’ access to these activities, ensuring that every child is given the opportunity to test themselves from a range of activities which all contribute to their overall character and resilience.

    With oracy skills playing a major role in all of Hinds’ “five foundations to build character” the initiative is warmly welcomed by English Speaking Board (International). ESB’s qualifications are specifically designed to boost pupils’ confidence through oracy.

    Says Tina Renshaw, Chief Executive,

    We strongly support the Education Secretary’s speech on “rethinking resilience” in schools. Our qualifications give young people the opportunity they need to realise their talent and self-worth, as well as giving them a structure of how to speak clearly and with confidence. We are excited to see character education spark interest in government decisions.

    Read about the projects ESB has carried out to raise achievement for learners in Stoke-on-Trent and in Plymouth and the South West.

    Find out more about Damian Hinds’ speech here https://www.tes.com/news/hinds-call-time-public-school-confidence.

    Follow our #RethinkingResilience conversation over on our Twitter page.

  • We’d love your feedback

    ESB is committed to making our new website as user friendly as possible and keeping it up-to-date with great and relevant content. The survey below is your opportunity to tell us how satisfied you are with your experience with the new site and ESB will take all responses very seriously. This survey will only take a couple of minutes but it would provide us with much needed insight into how your experience with this site has been.

    Thank you!

  • Celebrating success! 2018 Young Speakers of the Year

    English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. held its annual Young Speakers of the Year Showcase on Saturday, 17th November. Winners travelled from around the country to Liverpool to attend the celebration and receive their awards.

    Out of 14,000 learners who took ESB Speech assessments in 2017-18, twelve were selected as winners in recognition of their outstanding oracy skills.

    The 2018 Young Speakers of the Year are:
    Ethan Campbell – Elmhurst School for Boys, London
    Karris Holm – Bruton School for Girls, Bruton
    Lilian Bingham – St Bede’s & St Joseph’s Catholic College, Bradford
    Simran Sajan – Moreton Hall, Oswestry
    Sebastian Clarke – Broomfield House School, Surrey
    Charlie Cook – Hartismere School, Suffolk
    Sam Colyer – Plymouth Grove Primary School, Manchester
    Charlotte Scurr – Carleton House Prep School, Liverpool
    Rosie Spence – Bricklehurst Manor School, East Sussex
    Alice Beveridge – Westholme School, Blackburn
    Hannah McKee – Bolton School, Bolton
    Sophie Norman – Epsom College, Surrey

    The celebration featured three additional categories alongside the Young Speaker Awards. The ‘Spirit of ESB’ Awards recognise and encourage the potential of all learners, rewarding individuals who showed great promise in their assessments. The Burniston Bell Award recognises teachers who demonstrate exceptional commitment to teaching ESB in their centre. Finally, the prestigious Richard Ellis Award was introduced this year in honour of ESB’s former Trustee, Richard, to reward an individual who has shown outstanding dedication to ESB.

    The 2018 winners of the Spirit of ESB Award are:
    Charlie Campbell – Thistley Hough Academy, Stoke
    Safa Said – Sir William Burrough Primary School, London

    The 2018 winner of the Burniston Bell Award is:
    Christine Faithfull – Teacher at Abbey Gate College, Chester

    The 2018 winner of the Richard Ellis Award is:
    Merriel Halsall-Williams

    Each learner performed to an audience of family, friends and teachers, impressing everyone with their skills and abilities, and their charisma and confidence.

    In recognition of her role as a student, teacher, examiner, International Director, Trustee, and Honorary Vice-President, Merriel Halsall-Williams was presented with the Richard Ellis Award for promoting the English Speaking Board’s values.

    ESB’s Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw, says: “The standard from all candidates put forward this year was very impressive indeed. It is wonderful to reward their achievements and then share their passions at our annual Showcase.”

    Worthy winner, Karris Holm summed up the excitement of the day “I’d always been intimidated by public speaking, but this weekend has been really enjoyable – the lovely atmosphere at the event made the whole day a really positive exp­­­­erience!”­­­

  • English Speaking Board Ambassador goes live on BBC Breakfast

    English Speaking Board Ambassador goes live on BBC Breakfast

    Hrishi Venkatesh (ESB Ambassador) and Tina Renshaw (Chief Executive, CEO)

    English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. was delighted to showcase one of its Ambassadors on BBC Breakfast television this morning.

    Hrishi Vankatesh, one of ESB’s newest Ambassadors, spoke about how he has become a confident communicator through his ESB assessments. He also shared his top tips for people who are nervous of speaking in public.

    He also spoke about his personal journey being diagnosed on the Autistic Spectrum and how ESB has helped him to grow in confidence and communicate well with others.

    Please watch Hrishi speak on BBC Breakfast in the clip below.

    ESB’s Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw accompanied Hrishi to the BBC studios, and says, “We enjoyed an exciting morning taking part in a topical dialogue on the importance of oracy. Hrishi spoke eloquently to the BBC audience of over 1.5 million viewers. It was very supportive of presenter Dan Walker to take such a personal interest in the issue by tweeting to his 515,000 followers about the value of public speaking.”

    On the programme, Hrishi, said: “When I started with English Speaking Board, it really helped to boost my confidence and just made me feel like people wanted to hear what I wanted to say.”

    Tina added: “Hrishi’s performance on BBC Breakfast follows his recent appearance at the Houses of Parliament speaking on ESB’s behalf on the subject of oracy. He is also joining us at our Young Speaker of the Year event in November, as a worthy winner of our ESB Ambassador award.

    “ESB supports schools, young people’s groups, colleges and universities to build confidence in communicating, speaking and listening.  We have a fantastic track record for 65 years in giving young people a voice, oracy skills and a recognised qualification. We’d love to hear how we can support you.”

    If you would like to learn more about the range of qualifications we offer, and join the ESB conversation, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us on speech@esbuk.org.