Reflections from Our CEO:
A Year of Hope and Resilience
As the year comes to a close, I’ve found myself reflecting on the journey Hope English School has taken over the past twelve months. It’s been a year of profound highs and sobering challenges, underscoring just how vital our work remains in supporting asylum seekers and refugees in South Yorkshire.
Celebrating Progress
This year, more students than ever have embraced the opportunities we offer:
Learning English, opening doors to greater independence.
Building friendships, breaking the isolation of displacement.
Advancing their education and finding meaningful work.
Contributing to society, enriching their new communities with resilience and hope.
We’ve also celebrated milestones as an organisation: securing funding for critical core costs, expanding our team, and introducing new courses and services to meet the growing demand.
Facing Challenges
Yet, alongside these achievements, we’ve confronted heartbreaking realities. Students in bridging accommodation have faced vile acts of far-right extremism—some of the worst we’ve witnessed in the UK in years. These attacks have forced us to cancel classes, implement robust safeguarding measures, and respond compassionately to the very real fears our students and teachers face daily.
In Sheffield, planned riots by extremist groups were met with a powerful wave of counter-protests and a strong police presence. The overwhelming support drowned out their hateful rhetoric, proving once again that Sheffield lives up to its title as a City of Sanctuary. In these moments, I am reminded that hope always triumphs over hate, and even in the darkest of times, light finds a way to shine through.
The Spirit of the Season
At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of a child who was a brown-skinned, Middle Eastern, undocumented immigrant. For many, he symbolises the light entering a world of darkness. Regardless of our beliefs, this season brings people together:
We light candles.
Gather around fires.
Seek warmth and hold on to hope—whether for the arrival of spring or the dream of a better world.
As we navigate the “national winter” of our time, with all its uncertainties, let us continue to do the same. Let us be the light, the warmth, and the hope that others need.
On behalf of everyone at Hope English School, thank you for your unwavering support this year. Together, we’ve made a difference in the lives of so many, and together, we’ll keep striving for a brighter future.
With gratitude and hope,
Anna Bollinger
CEO, Hope English School
Over the last term we have begun a wonderful partnership with Open Kitchen Social Club in Sheffield to run an ESOL class before their lunch club. The class is well attended with a mix of levels and we all enjoy a delicious lunch afterwards!
We've also started running classes at a bridging home for women in Sheffield. This is something which we have been working towards for quite some time, so it's great to finally have the funding and opportunity to support the women living there.
One of our teachers made a Christmas tree out of her student's responses to "What we learnt in 2024" and "What we want for 2025".
Our favourite responses: "I learnt how to say Merry Christmas", "I learnt how to ask for help in a shop" and "I learnt how to write a Christmas card"
Student Forum - A Success!
We held our first student forum last week, this was an opportunity for students to share their experiences and directly shape our services. It was attended by a range of students from different classes and we enjoyed lunch together after the meeting had finished. Thanks so much to Ben at GWD for sponsoring this event and allowing us to provide food.
We aim to run the forum termly, and hope it will enable us to quickly adapt and respond to the needs of those who learn with us.
1 in 5 gifts end up in landfill, this year give a gift which makes a real difference.
Do you have someone in your life who you just don’t know what to buy for Christmas? Or are you fed up with buying Christmas presents which aren’t needed or wanted? Or perhaps you just want your money to make a real difference this year?
Refugees and those seeking asylum are some of the most marginalised and vulnerable members of our society, we believe that there is a future and a hope for the people we work with and that they can be set free from the isolation that comes from not being able to speak the language of the culture they are in.
This year, why not give someone the gift of language? The students in our classes are often isolated, scared, vulnerable and lonely because they cannot communicate with those around them. Through attending English classes they have the opportunity to build up not only their language skills, but their confidence too. We create community in our classes and the opportunity to form relationships and make friends, helping them to feel hopeful about their future here.
It’s so easy to buy your Gift of Hope - simply complete the form on our website, make your donation and we’ll do all the rest!
Join us for a night of soul, blues and rock 'n' roll with the Altonators!
Blast away the January blues (and have something in the diary to look forward to!) and come to enjoy some fantastic live music from the fun and friendly band: The Altonators. A mix of different styles (mainly covers!) to get you on your feet, The Altonators are a great, local band and every penny of the ticket price will go directly to our work! Held at the iconic venue ‘The Backroom’ at the Greystones Pub in Sheffield, this is an event not to be missed!
Thank you
THANK YOU to everyone who came along to our wreath workshop and all those who bought raffle tickets - the event raised £700 which is absolutely fantastic!
The money raised at this event will be used to help run a class for refugees and asylum seekers who suffer from hearing impairments and so can't access traditional ESOL classes. There are many added expenses to this class, such as BSL interpreters and more, so this is a great boost to our fundraising!
We all had a fabulously festive time, and I'm sure you agree came away with some absolutely stunning wreaths. Huge thanks to Violets and Daisies florists for running the event for us and to everyone who donated raffle prizes, we plan to do it all again next Christmas!
Thank you Connor!
A huge thanks and well done to our volunteer Connor who took on a mammoth 50km run in aid of our work and raised £240! Massive congratulations on your achievement Connor!
We are delighted to welcome Kim, Helen and Lorna to the Hope English School Team!
Kim has joined us to teach our online classes with Ukrainian refugees. She has taught ESOL in community settings in Sheffield since completing her CELTA in 2017 and previously she taught EAL in primary schools and ran arts education programmes for several charities, museums and art galleries. She aims to create a safe and supportive classroom where students are listened to and can learn the English that is useful in their everyday lives.
Helen has joined the team as a classroom volunteer. She has a background in translation and has taught translation skills part-time at the University of Sheffield since 2016. Her interest in ESOL began in 2012, when she completed a CELTA taster session at the University of Sheffield. She completed her CELTA qualification last summer and is looking to gain more direct classroom experience.
Lorna recently completed her undergraduate degree in History at the University of York and is using her new found free time to help us in any way she can. She is passionate about the importance of language in forging interpersonal relationships and building self-confidence and is a firm believer that everyone should be treated equally.
We are absolutely delighted to see how our small team of dedicated teachers and volunteers is growing and are very thankful for each one of them.