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ESB is excited to deliver confidence-building and oracy workshops to a number of underrepresented young people at National Social Justice Charity, Villiers Park Educational Trust, this week.

Designed to develop Year 10 learners’ key speaking and listening skills, the 5-day workshops, funded through ESB’s Christabel Burniston Fund, are being held at a school in Swindon – with learners completing their accredited ESB Speech qualification on their last day.

Trainer from ESB, Julia Ward, says “I am looking forward to working with the Villiers Park Educational Trust and students who are taking part in a week that will culminate in them taking their ESB Level 2 Certificate in Speech (Grade 4) Speech for Employability assessments. The very fact that these students are prepared to forego their half term to improve their skills of research, speaking and interview techniques, demonstrates a commitment and willingness to do well that will stand them in very good stead in the future. I can’t wait to meet them all.”

As well as learners benefitting from the workshops, a member of staff at Villiers Park also has the opportunity to attend the workshops, to upskill themselves so that, going forward, they can prepare young people for ESB qualifications. 

Gaby Sumner, Interim Chief Executive of Villiers Park says, “Villiers Park is thrilled to be partnering with ESB. Through our flagship Future Leaders Programme, more young people will be able to develop key oracy and English language skills. As a small but ambitious charity with a national reach, its partnerships like ESB which enable us to make a real difference to lives of underrepresented young people”.

Says ESB’s Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw: “We are thrilled to be working in collaboration with Villiers Park. At ESB, we want every individual, whatever their background, to possess the oracy and English language skills they need to achieve their aspirations and enable them to look to the future with confidence.”

Research reveals that more people than ever need help with speech and language challenges.

– Research from Sutton Trust in February 2019, for the APPG for Social Mobility, found that from the age of five, the UK’s most disadvantaged children can be 19 months behind their more affluent peers in vocabulary development, and this deficit can have life-long consequences.

– Young people with SEN often have fewer opportunities in later life: by age 27 they are less likely than their peers to be in sustained employment” (DfE, 2018).

– According to the 2021 schools census there are 1.6 million pupils (19%) who are provided with ‘English as an Additional Language’ support, indicating that a growing proportion of the younger population have significant ESOL needs. A 2019 study by Carlos Vargas-Silva and colleagues concluded that asylum migrants – defined as those asylum seekers who have been granted citizenship in the UK – had an employment rate of 51% compared to 73% for the UK-born and earned on average 55% less per week and 37% less per hour.

Tina adds: “ESB qualifications encourage social mobility and promote learners’ confidence – preparing them for aspirational opportunities in study and work. Learners have the opportunity to complete a qualification specific to their life goals and competencies.

“I so look forward to having the opportunity to equip more underrepresented groups with essential oracy and English language skills through our partnership with Villiers Park.”

“As we celebrate ESB’s 70th Anniversary throughout 2023, we are hoping to reach more organisations where individuals face disadvantage and support them financially to access our wide range of speech and language assessments as part our 70/70 Campaign. 2023 is such an exciting year for us and we would love to share the magic of ESB with you.”

Who is eligible for support through the Christabel Burniston Fund?

If you are an organisation, similar to Villiers Park – sharing the common belief that communication lies at the heart of social mobility – and you believe that your community members could benefit from our qualifications but you are concerned about fees, please do get in touch. We would love to hear from you.

We use two main sets of indicators for state schools
– The percentage of pupils receiving Pupil Premium.
– The Government’s Indices of Deprivation for the area that your school serves.

For third sector organisations we will look at your current income and external funding and the Government’s Indices of Deprivation for the community your organisation supports.

If you would like further information about the financial support that ESB could offer your organisation, please click here or email business@esbuk.org.

We would like to inform you that the offices of English Speaking Board (International) will be closed from Friday 23^rd December 2022 – Monday 2nd January 2023 inclusive, for the festive period. We will reopen on Tuesday 3rd January, 2023.

ESB celebrates its 70th Anniversary in 2023 and we can’t wait to continue to support your learners to possess the oracy and English language skills they need to achieve their aspirations.

We wish you all a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year from the ESB Team.

A new report by the Lifelong Education Commission says that enhancing English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in the UK could be key to tackling national skills gaps and shortages.

ESB fully supports the report’s recommendations to ensure English language provision is accessible to all and endorses its call for an ‘ESOL Strategy for England’.

With the report’s findings also being welcomed by one of ESB’s loyal and trusted centres, London’s New City College, the report states that many migrants and asylum seekers are held back by their lack of English Language proficiency, especially in speaking and writing abilities that are essential for high-skilled jobs. 

Passionate about closing the disadvantage gap, the key points of this new report mirrors ESB’s own findings through its commitment to empowering all learners to thrive in education, training and employment, whatever their background.

Says ESB’s Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw, “We welcome this report and are excited about what this could hold for our ESOL learners. ESB promotes and assesses English language within a wide range of educational centres. Last year alone, ESB assessed over 17,000 ESOL learners, demonstrating the sheer scale of those seeking English language skills for life in the UK.”

For nearly 70 years, ESB has been empowering learners to succeed – especially those who face disadvantage – through its accessible portfolio of speech and language qualifications.

ESB’s Chief Assessor, Ben Jackson, adds: “One of the benefits of preparing learners for ESB’s qualifications, and then having them assessed by rigorously trained and standardised external assessors, is that teachers and tutors are able to focus on developing their learners’ English language skills against a set of clear criteria, whilst raising the value and understanding of these skills in the classroom and beyond. Our ESOL assessments support the development of vital English language skills, helping to boost engagement in daily life, leading to further learning and education, and gaining meaningful and sustainable employment. They offer a clear path to English language success.”

The video below demonstrates the immense impact that ESB’s ESOL assessments have on ESOL learners at another of our valued centres – Stanmore College. A number of their ESOL Learners consequently took the next step in their English language journey and completed ESB’s Ofqual Regulated ESOL International assessments.

You can also read about what some of ESB’s ESOL tutors say about our ESOL Skills for Life assessments:

“ESB Speaking and Listening assessments give a good balance between things that students can prepare and work towards, and the unknown. It really is a complete test of their whole range of language. Every assessment that I have seen is spot on for the right level – and therefore, is right for our students.”
Kirsty Barlow, the Essential Skills Curriculum Manager at Blackfriars Settlement

“I love ESB! The communication is always there and the process is easy. Everything is done externally so the pressure is off teachers and we can just prepare learners for their assessments, so it is great. We have been with ESB for about 7 years now and it has always been consistent and of high quality!”
ESB Organiser and Tutor at Stanmore College, Mafa Ardestani

ESB provides ESOL Skills for Life qualifications from Entry 1 to Level 2 and ESB ESOL International qualifications from B1 to C2 – enabling every individual to realise their potential, whatever their circumstances. Learners can also receive up to 36 UCAS points at Level 3 (C2), a great steppingstone into further learning or employment.

Please contact a member of ESB’s Business Development Team at business@esbuk.org if you wish to enrol your students to complete our ESOL assessments. You can also find out whether your organisation is eligible for financial support through ESB’s Christabel Burniston Fund.

You can read the full report here.