As we say goodbye to the 23/24 academic year we want to thank you so much for your continued support! We couldn't do what we do without people like you. It's because of your support that we are able to continue to offer high quality English classes to those who really need them. Opening doors, providing opportunities, community and a hopeful future for the people we work with.
THANK YOU!
We're hugely thankful to have worked with over 200 students this year through a combination of community ESOL classes, 1-2-1 classes and Digital Skills classes. We couldn't have achieved this without the support of people like you who give generously, attend events and tell others about us...
Huge thanks also to our wonderful team of teachers, staff, volunteers and trustees who work so hard to ensure that every student feels valued and supported.
THANK YOU 💛
ESOL with employability
Some reflections on our newest course...
This course was run in partnership with Common Ground Community Centre and was a six week course attended by 9 students in total (7 women and 2 men).
During the course, students were able to plan CVs, complete role plays of interviews and learn job related vocabulary, including understanding job adverts and contracts. We focused on entry level jobs including catering and working with children. During the last session, we were delighted to welcome one of the team from Reed Employment, who came in to talk about an employment programme and answered the students' questions.
We're hoping to run this course again, but make it a longer course, so we can go into greater depth on the topics covered. We would also like to include a digital element so learners could complete their CV and look at current job adverts online.
Did you know...
Over the past year, we have taught several students on a 1-2-1 basis - both in person and online. These students have been unable to access our community classes due to access needs such as disability or complex childcare situations. We believe that it should be possible for everyone to access the learning they need, regardless of their circumstances in life. A key benefit to 1-2-1 tuition is the flexibility it offers for somebody with challenging and changing circumstances.
It costs as much to deliver 1-2-1 tuition as it does to for us to teach a class of 12. It may not make financial sense for us to offer 1-2-1 classes, but we do, because we believe that there is value in every individual we come into contact with.
It's not about numbers in a classroom, it's about the impact learning English makes to the individual student.
If you believe, like we do, that everyone deserves the chance to learn English - whatever their circumstances - why not sign up to sponsor one of our students so we can offer 1-2-1 teaching to those who need it the most.
Do you like working with children? Could you help us start our own childcare provision?
We are currently in the process of developing our own childcare provision to run alongside our classes. Childcare is one of the biggest barriers our students face, and having children in our classes can be distracting, so being able to provide a creche service is something which we are really excited about! To make this dream into a reality, we need to recruit a Volunteer Childcare Co-ordinator as well as a team of creche volunteers.
If you think you could help with this, or know someone else who would be interested please get in touch!
We are delighted to welcome Caroline to the Hope English School teaching team!
Caroline taught German language and literature at the University of Sheffield for many years before starting to volunteer at our community ESOL classes. She has met many wonderful people in the English and Digital Skills classes and was inspired to complete the CELTA qualification. She shares Hope’s belief that education opens doors, provides opportunity and builds community. Welcome Caroline - we're delighted to have you as part of the team.
Welcome new volunteers - Michael, Sophie and Aisha!
We are also delighted to welcome classroom volunteer Michael, who has swapped eye surgery for the classroom, and is a wonderful addition to our team of volunteers!
Sophie has joined us as our fundraising volunteer and was key in helping to make the recent Fun Day a success.
Aisha is joining us through the Sheffield University 100 hours internship scheme and will be using her hours with us to conduct research and help to shape our services going forward.
We hope you had fun at our 'Fun Day!'
Thank you to everyone who came along to our first Family Fun Day, and to everyone who helped on the day, donated toys, books and raffle prizes! We had a super time and enjoyed welcoming lots of people (young and not quite so young!) to our morning of food, games and fun to celebrate Refugee Week. We also raised £380 at this event - helping us to continue our Open ESOL over the summer!
Imagine if you were only able to travel to places within walking distance. Would that limit what you could do with your life?
This is the reality for many of our students - they don't have access to any form of transport for one reason - cost.
The high price of bus travel means that many potential students just don’t have the means to get to us, even if they really want to learn English! Over the last few months we have received various grants which have allowed us to reimburse those attending for their travel costs. This has had a profound impact, not just on the number able to attend, but on the regularity of them being able to come. The more often a student is able to attend our classes (with some also opting to attend multiple classes) the quicker progress they make in their language learning, not to mention the huge benefits to their emotional and social health.
The sad news is that the money set aside for student travel has almost all gone and we are at a point where we soon wont be able to offer to cover student travel expenses.
How you can help…
Donate the cost of a bus fare to us - just £5.60 will pay for a student to have their travel costs paid.
Sign the petition campaigning for free bus travel for all those seeking asylum in Sheffield.
Give up wheels for a whole week and donate what you save by not using your car or taking the bus. (If you are planning on taking on this challenge please let us know so we can cheer you on!)
Dig Deep for Connor and Hope English School!
After being involved in a horrific accident, which required him to have his ankle completely rebuilt, Hope English School volunteer Connor is completing an incredible 50km run to celebrate his recovery and mark the two years since his accident. We are delighted that Connor is using this personal challenge to help raise funds for our work - thank you so much Connor!
You can read more about his recovery and his upcoming challenge by visiting our blog and if you would like to sponsor Connor, you can do so by visiting his Just Giving page on the link below.
Join TEAM HOPE!!
Feeling inspired by Connor and wanting to take on your own challenge? Why not join our team taking part in the Sheffield 10k? Booking is now open and we're inviting you to be part of Team HOPE and take part in this iconic Sheffield event. Let us know you are planning to run for us and we'll provide you with a FREE T-shirt to run in as well as regular support while you train.
Thank you Sheffield 1000!
We were delighted to be awarded £1000 from the Sheffield 1000, to go towards our Open ESOL classes! The Sheffield 1000 are a charity which asks 1000 people to donate £1 each week, to support local Sheffield based charities, good causes and organisations, or individuals that need help. Each week a charity will be picked to receive £1000, and those who donate get to nominate which charity receives it!
Thank you so much to our supporters who have nominated us! We were over the moon to receive this money - it came as a complete and most welcome surprise!
We are now registered with easyfundraising, which means you can help us for FREE. Over 7,000 brands can donate to us when you use easyfundraising to shop with them – at no extra cost to yourself!
All you need to do is sign up and remember to use easyfundraising whenever you shop online. It’s easy and completely FREE!
To sign up and/or register us as your cause visit https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/.../hope-english-school/
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Thank you