We were thrilled to take part in Southwark’s first ESOL provider and stakeholder coordination meeting last night. Huge thanks to Lynda Brown and Kate Bagnall for hosting us all at Thomas Calton Centre. Brilliant turnout from 9 different Southwark institutions including Learning Unlimited, Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers, St Mungo’s, Southwark Refugee Communities Forum and Southwark Works.
We identified some of the key challenges that we face enrolling ESOL learners onto courses: a lack of information about provision, a lack of childcare, accessibility, eligibility restrictions and limited resources and funding. We will be tackling these issues in upcoming meetings.
We also discussed how to share information about our provision more effectively and work towards an ESOL directory for Southwark council’s website.
If you are an ESOL provider or referral agency in Southwark and would like to participate in the next termly meeting and/or add details of your provision to the council’s ESOL directory, please get in touch with Lynda Brown at lynda.brown@southwark.gov.uk
