Summer 2021 Newsletter

We have reached the end of another challenging academic year, and we want to thank you for your support throughout.

We have seen such determination and resilience from our students, and have been delighted at the progress they have made. Our teachers and volunteers have worked tirelessly to provide a high standard of learning in a difficult and ever changing environment, and we are extremely grateful for all their hard work. 

 

We hope you will enjoy reading this newsletter, and joining with us as we celebrate the success of our students. 

It's always great to receive positive feedback from our students and to hear how much they have improved over the course of their lessons. This has been particularly encouraging in a year when so much of our teaching has been online. Not all of our students were able to engage with our classes in this format, but for those who were able to attend regularly, their teacher saw an increase in their confidence as well as an improvement in their English. The students also benefitted from the social contact of these online classes.

It was wonderful to finally get back into the classroom after so long teaching online. Pictured below is one of our teachers, Lucy, with some of her students proudly displaying their certificates of achievement! A very big well done to them and all our students.

It's amazing to see that in spite of two disrupted academic years we are teaching so many more hours of classes! The more hours we are able to teach the more students we can reach. As we continue to grow we are looking for more teachers to join our team - if you think this could be you please get in touch!

After a successful pilot, we will be launching our Digital Skills classes in Rotherham, Doncaster and at the Snowdrop Project in September!

We are also in the early stages of developing a more intensive course, in partnership with the Refugee Council, tailored to meet the needs of the students. It is planned to be a more immersive, less classroom based, style of learning featuring trips and cultural experiences. 

Would you, or someone you know, be interested in becoming a volunteer language buddy, meeting with a student for an hour or two a week to support them with their language learning? Contact Anna to register your interest or to find out more!

Huge thanks to Sheffield Volunteering for donating these beautiful colouring sets to us! We were delighted to be able to use them as end of term gifts for our students.

Support us with your shopping!

Good Taste, The Sheffield Fair Trade Shop currently have us as one of their 'Shop Charities', this means that they will donate 5% of the cost of your purchases to our work every time you shop via their online shop. If you visit their shop in Broomhill, you can also support us by donating your loyalty points to us (£5 for each full loyalty card!) at no extra cost to yourself. 

Did you know that you can also support our work through your Amazon purchases, by registering Hope English School as your chosen charity on Amazon Smile. It works exactly the same way as usual but Amazon will donate a small percentage of your purchases to us. 

Are you interested in becoming a trustee?

We are looking for more volunteers to join our board of trustees, we especially welcome applications from people with lived experience of the asylum-seeking process, either through frontline work or direct personal experience. If you would like to find out more information about this please get in touch!

Meet the Team!

Georgina Horton - Fundraising Volunteer

Georgina joined our team of volunteers in 2021 and has been working hard to secure grant funding for us. As an administrative team we have been meeting virtually for a very long time now, we are looking forward to getting to know Georgina in '“real life” very soon!

How did you first get involved in HES? 

I saw a volunteer position on the University of Sheffield volunteering page – I had heard about HES before and loved the sound of it so was really excited to apply!  

What specifically does your role involve? 
I research possible funding sources and write applications for them. It’s basically raising money to fund the work we do here at HES.  

What do you like most about working for HES? 

The team at HES is made up of really lovely people, who all put in time and effort for a great cause- and I love being a part of that! I also really like that my role directly helps those in need- fundraising makes the important work of HES possible and makes a huge difference to the lives of socially isolated migrants here in Sheffield. Helping to make Sheffield an inclusive, welcoming place for refugees and asylum seekers to live is really rewarding.  

What else do you do with the rest of your week when you are not working for HES? 

 I’m currently studying for a Masters degree so I spend the majority of my time doing uni work- I have a dissertation due at the end of summer so there’s plenty to do! Apart from that, I love spending time with my family (especially looking after my 1-year-old niece), boyfriend and friends. I’m a self-professed geek and love to read for relaxation- currently reading The Testaments by Margaret Atwood which is really good. I like to go on walks and have really got into cooking since the first lockdown. I’m vegetarian and have been experimenting with vegan recipes too- although my favourite thing to do is definitely going out for food (and drinks)!  

Have you always lived in Sheffield, if not what brought you here? 

Yes! I am from Sheffield and have lived here my whole life- I stayed in Sheffield for uni, too.  

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself?  

When I was 16, I worked in a toyshop in France for a week- which was really scary and random given that I hardly knew any French. I remember walking in on my first day thinking “what am I doing here?!” but, by the end of the week, my French language skills had improved massively, and I had gained so much confidence.  

Meet The Team!

Tom Johnson - Teacher

Today on the blog is one our newest team members. Tom joined our team of teachers in the spring of 2021 and as well as teaching our regular ESOL classes, has also been involved in teaching our brand new digital skills pilot course!

How did you first get involved in Hope English School?

So last summer I worked for the University of Sheffield and that was how I (virtually as it was all online) met Luz (another teacher) who told me about Hope English School (HES). I thought it sounded like a fantastic organisation and I really wanted to get involved in something that aims to primarily help refugees and asylum seekers so I sent my CV off and afterwards the rest is history.

What specifically does your role involve?

So I have been teaching a Syrian couple online and the new digital skills class. I really think this second class has a lot of potential to help improve people's computer literacy in a time when it is becoming more and more important because of the pandemic and society in general being more dependent on technology and I hope to be around to see it grow.

What do you like most about working for HES?

The people who work for Hope are so kind and helpful that it makes working for them a dream. They are really happy to work with you and make your life easier which is great. I also love helping people and Hope gives me a platform to do so making it such a rewarding job.

What else do you do with the rest of your week when you are not working for HES?

I am a big football fan so I play once or twice a week. I like to watch it too but I am a Sheffield Wednesday fan so that hasn't been much fun recently. I love spending time with my family and girlfriend and friends either in a pub, on a walk or doing something cultural like in a museum or something. I also love vinyl and enjoy browsing in record shops and listening to records in my down time.

Have you always lived in Sheffield, if not what brought you here?

So I was born in London but moved to Sheffield when I was 18 months old and grew up in Woodseats. After that I went to university in Salford near Manchester and in 2014 moved to Barcelona where I lived for 6 wonderful years. Last September me and my girlfriend decided to move back to be closer to family and friends and are both really happy in Sheffield. We love how close to the peak district we are and all the wonderful things you can do in the city. My girlfriend is still adjusting to all the hills but she is getting there.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself?

Hmmmmm, well I used to play cricket for Sheffield Collegiate as a teenager and played with the now England captain Joe Root. In fact, my first ever wicket was bowled Johnson (me) caught Root. I also used to sometimes appear on Catalan TV talking about Spanish football which was good fun.

Spring 2021 Newsletter

Welcome to our Spring Newsletter!

We hope this finds you well, we have lots of news to share with you and things to celebrate! 

What we've been up to...

The lockdown didn't stop us from teaching - our teachers and many of our students have really got to grips with online learning now which meant we were able to continue many of our classes and start some new ones!

The new year saw an increase in demand for online classes, so we started 3 new online classes for the Refugee Council and were approached by Doncaster Council to launch new classes for 6 Syrian Families on the Resettlement Scheme.

In total, during the spring term, we have supported 37 students through online teaching and a further 12 through physical resource packs.

We have also been able to offer tailored support to a newly arrived family in need through the Refugee Council, outside of our group classes.

We're returning to the classroom!

• We are delighted to be returning to the classroom this term. Many of our students have struggled to engage online and are as keen as we are to return to 'normal' teaching.

• We are also excited to finally be launching our digital skills training course. The initial pilot course is being run in conjunction with the Refugee Council and Snowdrop project and will be kicking off next week. Read more on our website.

We are absolutely delighted to reveal that we have been awarded £8,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund! This money will fund our new, much-needed, digital skills course. A huge thanks to our fabulous fundraising team for all their hard work in applying for this, and many other grants. They make a huge difference.

Say hello to our newest team members!

We have recently welcomed two new members to the Hope English School team!

Tom joins our teaching staff and Georgina has started volunteering in our fundraising team. Welcome Tom and Georgina, it's great to have you with us!

Support us with your shopping!

Good Taste, The Sheffield Fair Trade Shop currently have us as one of their 'Shop Charities', this means that they will donate 5% of the cost of your purchases to our work every time you shop via their online shop. If you visit their shop in Broomhill, you can also support us by donating your loyalty points to us (£5 for each full loyalty card!) at no extra cost to yourself. 

Did you know that you can also support our work through your Amazon purchases, by registering Hope English School as your chosen charity on Amazon Smile. It works exactly the same way as usual but Amazon will donate a small percentage of your purchases to us. 

Are you interested in becoming a trustee?

We are looking for more volunteers to join our board of trustees, we especially welcome applications from people with lived experience of the asylum-seeking process, either through frontline work or direct personal experience. If you would like to find out more information about this please get in touch!