Bradford College

Celebrating the Success of the Early Entry ESOL Project

Bradford College was proud to celebrate the success of the Early Entry English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Consortium Project, during a formal ceremony held at the Ramada Bankfield Hotel, Bingley. The project, which runs for two years, is funded by the Local Authority through Working Neighbourhoods Funding (WNF). This is a dedicated fund for local councils and communities to help people in the most deprived areas of England get back to work.

Over one hundred learners travelled from across the district to attend the ceremony and accept their awards.   Teachers from nine ESOL providers watched with delight as Principal, Michele Sutton, OBE awarded the certificates to the deserving students during the ceremony of achievement.

The two years project was developed in response to the huge demand and lack of sufficient funding identified for low level, first step, early-entry ESOL provision across the district.

Bradford College is a lead and accountable body of the local ESOL Consortium, which was established to deliver the WNF project. Members of the consortium in year one were: Bradford College, Craven College, Mortimer House Children’s Centre, Anissa UK, Keighley Campus Leeds City College, Minerva Centre, Karmand Community Centre, BSSN, Trescom, BEAP, Safety First Training and Community Centre and  Direct Training Ltd.

The project has successfully increased the delivery of first step ESOL and has benefited the lives of learners across the district, by improving their English and assisting them to progress onto further ESOL classes or gain access to employment. 

During the award ceremony, learners stated how much they had enjoyed their ESOL classes and how participating in the ESOL course had not only changed their own lives, but also the lives of their children.  As parents, they can now better support their children at school through their improved language skills.

Partnerships Team Co-ordinator, Julia Kendall said: “We’re delighted to be here today to celebrate the success of our learners.  The learners and their teachers have all worked very hard throughout the year to improve their language skills.”

Cynthia Richardson, Partnerships Team Manager added: “This innovative ESOL provision is now being offered in 25 community settings, making learning more accessible for learners. We hope that in the second year of the project, these ESOL courses will continue to enrich the lives of our learners and their families - and improve their employment opportunities.”