English Speaking Board (International) Ltd

Category: Oracy

  • Attention all centres, ESB wants to hear from you!

    ESB International is always looking at ways to improve its service for its centres. The best way to do this is to find out exactly what individual centres want – deliver it where possible – and as a result build customer loyalty and high satisfaction levels. Your honest feedback enables ESB to provide an outstanding customer experience to all. 

    With that in mind, ESB is embarking on a new venture – which will make that process even simpler. You can now share real time feedback and experiences with ESB through the launch of its new Trustpilot Account!

    What you will need to do:

    1. Please follow this link to start your review (you will need to have booked an assessment with us in order to leave a review): https://uk.trustpilot.com/evaluate/esbuk.org
    • You will need to register as a Trustpilot user to leave a review. If you do not already have an account, this will be done automatically.

    ESB values transparency as one of its most defining characteristics and it hopes that this new feature will bring us closer together with our centres and deepen our working relationship. ESB hopes to see a continuation of the many, many positive views that centres already feed back to us on a regular basis and constructive feedback is always welcome. 

    Your input is invaluable to us and will be listened to. Please help to empower positive changes at ESB by leaving your feedback today. Together, we can continue to raise – and celebrate – the achievement of our learners!

    ESB thanks you for your continued and invaluable support.

  • New Academic Year Welcome!

    A Message from our Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw

    I know that this year will continue with challenges and I wanted to let you know that we are open for business, including taking new bookings and supporting you with any queries you might have. I was in direct contact with a number of you over the summer term as were many of our team. You told us you really appreciated our personal contact and our straightforward processes in difficult times.

    For those who were involved in certificating learners in the spring and summer as part of Ofqual’s Extraordinary Regulatory Framework (ERF), I am sure you will agree, it was a great success (as you can see from these learners below taking their ESB assessments during lockdown). We managed to award almost 10,000 certificates to our learners, so they have the opportunity to progress their oracy and English language skills in this new academic year.

    As you may know Ofqual are currently consulting on an Extended  Extraordinary Regulatory Framework (EERF), with the outcomes due to be published imminently. The focus of the EERF is to allow assessments to take place in circumstances where ‘normal’ assessment protocols cannot be implemented due to social distancing restrictions, for example, or if there was a local lockdown. This means that you can make assessment bookings with confidence that they will be able to take place. Some of our learners used an adaptation model for their assessments in the summer term so we are well placed and practised to manage any adaptations that we may need this academic year.

    If you would like to discuss these proposals in more detail, please contact the Product Development team at product@esbuk.org. otherwise do please book as usual and communicate with our team if your centre has any restrictions that we need to manage with you to ensure your learners have their assessment.

    Tina Renshaw
    Chief Executive
    English Speaking Board (International) Ltd.

  • 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.

  • 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!