A message from David Pauley (from STA Travel) for Centres offering ISIC.

The International Student Identity Card (ISIC) starts afresh on Sept 1st
-          Valid from Sept 1st to Dec 31st 2008
-          There is a new mail-order application form
-          Costs £9 (previously £7).
-          Includes new benefits (with value beyond the regular student price) from Fitness First, City Sightseeing bus tours, Vue cinemas, music downloads and several others.

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As a result of the floods, The Tourism Industry Emergency Response (TIER) Group recently conducted a meeting regarding aid for rural tourism recovery; please see below for more information.

At a recent TIER Group meeting, the Secretary of State, James Purnell, informed members that VisitBritain has been granted an additional £1m to aid rural tourism recovery in the wake of this year’s floods and FMD outbreak. VisitBritain will be using half this additional funding immediately to boost existing marketing campaigns including “Rural Escapes”, “Family Fun” and “Britain’s Favourite View”. The marketing will include £250k spent on TV and print advertising, £150k on online promotions and the development of syndicated radio interviews.

The other half of the funding will be used to leverage funding from partners such as the RDAs, National Trust and Hoseasons to develop campaigns for the Autumn period. (If members centres would like to be involved, please contact the EnjoyEngland team at Visit Britain).
 

The new HMO licence came into force on 6 April 2006. Under the new rules, a house is considered as being an HMO, therefore requiring a licence, when amongst other criteria the landlord is not resident and/ or the house has been converted and let out to 3 or more tenants who form 2 or more households.

From the above definition, homestay families should automatically be exempt, however in some cases, local councils have classed homestays as HMOs.

To counter this decision, it is important for homestays to demonstrate that they are not renting the rooms to students, and that the students form part of the family’s household. Homestays can also show that the money being paid to them by centres is not a market rent, and in effect only covers the provision of agreed services to the students.

Prospero House, London. Saturday, 17th November 2007

English UK is now taking bookings for this year’s national Teachers’ Conference. Following on from last year’s success the conference will again be held in the state-of-the-art conference facility near London Bridge in London. This year’s conference offers superb value and you’ll be spoilt for choice with an increase in the number of elective sessions from 10 to 18. Sessions will be practical, relevant and will appeal to teachers who are employed both in the state sector and with private language schools. Confirmed speakers include: Paul Seligson, Sheila Thorn, and Dr. Anne O’Keefe. There will also be a new interactive format for the closing plenary as a panel of experts will discuss the changing emphasis of pronunciation teaching in the EFL/ESOL classroom.

For a copy of the programme and a booking form please email Naadiya at: training@englishuk.com.

We are now taking bookings for the popular English UK Welfare Officers’ Course (WOCC) which runs from November to April. The WOCC is a must for all experienced and inexperienced Welfare Officers and is the only qualification of its kind designed specifically to serve the needs of welfare officers practicing in the ELT sector.

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