Our Trustees

Joe Hayward

Chair


Joe was educated at Birmingham university. He became Mayor of Barnsley in 2005/6 and has been a councillor for Cudworth for over 20 years. Councillor Hayward has served on the Council since May 1999. Joe is the Armed Forces Champion for Barnsley. He sits on multiple different boards as a trustee. Joe is also the Chairman for the Northeast Area Council Barnsley. In his free time, Joe enjoys litter picking and gardening, to keep Barnsley clean and colourful.


Sue Shaw

Trustee/ Treasurer


Sue is the office manager for BCB Trading Ltd (Barnsley), and has been in that role for over 12 years. BCB is a charity and a social enterprise that has two areas of involvement, Training and Commercial that are very closely interlinked. At present she is supporting ELSH with the training and safeguarding for the volunteers, as well as managing the accounts of ELSH. Sue likes to Spend time with her family and enjoys the company of her grandchildren.  

Alan Curtis 

Trustee/ Teaching Help


Alan was flattered to be asked to become a trustee of ELSH, but he been liaising & working with Florentine for a couple of years, now. He is currently secretary of the Amnesty International group in Barnsley & of Barnsley Borough City of Sanctuary: He is also, temporarily, secretary of 'Destination Barnsley' until the festival in July. Alan is a delegate to the TUC Retired Members Forum, via my union [UCU] where, until recently, Alan was sec. of the Yorks & Humber retired members' branch; He is also a member of the National Pensioners' Convention, via Barnsley Retirees' Action Group [BRAG] who started the 'Freedom Riders' travel campaign while he was the then chairman. Formerly he taught French & Music in Barnsley & for the last eighteen years he taught Music in Barnsley College. 

On Monday evenings, Alan is learning German to keep his brain active…

Kathryn Wild

Trustee


Kathryn has been involved in the Voluntary Sector since returning ‘home’ to South Yorkshire in 2011, specialising in volunteer management, small group support, community development and online social movements. Previous to this, Kathryn was a history teacher, working in the English, Thai, Spanish and Swiss education systems. Outside of the day job, as well as her role with ELSH, Kathryn is part of the management committees of Sheffield Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Group and Escafeld Events. Kathryn is also a published author.

Bob Britton

Trustee


R.K (Bob) Britton has lived in Barnsley for over 40 years, and he is a former teacher, university and college administrator, who also writes and now produces scripts and researches programmes. His main interests are illustration, gardening and writing books. He has also been a part-time tutor in adult education with Sheffield University since 1993. He works for Barnsley Local Television, one of our partners, as a company secretary.

Ian Guest

Trustee


Ian has lived in Barnsley all his life, but has worked across Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster. Ian feels that he has contact with many people who use the health and social care services in Barnsley and who need to be represented. Ian is also a member of the LGBT forum and therefore has regular contact with the LGBT community, and also Ian volunteers for the British Red Cross and Refugee Council which brings him into contact with asylum seekers and refugees. Ian is an active member of the community.


Becoming Part of a Driven and Successful Charity Hub.


If you feel you can spare a couple hours a day or more with the skills, experience you have, we need to hear from you to join our trustees’, volunteer team to shape our new learning environment.

All our trustees and volunteers are central to the success of this Hub. We want our young people to return to education to learn the value, their self-esteem and self-confidence in learning and experience a new start. With a  determination in reaching goals, we support the asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and their families to develop a love of learning development and value how to learn to grow effectively and develop a desire to continually learn and to become successful throughout their lives.


Since our opening, our Hub is going from strength to strength. We have no doubt that with the continued hard work put in from both trustees and volunteers the Hub will reach outstanding status for its financial goal.


ELSH Objectives and Goals

  • To promote community awareness and respond to the needs of the young people through ongoing projects,
  • To recruit new volunteers to support the vulnerable young people, asylum seekers, refugees and migrants,
  • To provide training that supports volunteer programs,
  • To provide a safe and enjoyable learning environment,
  • To deliver the required resources that boost knowledge and confidence,
  • To get our volunteers at ELSH to encourage students to use multiple resources, (e.g., the use of our internet, visit to the local supermarket and the local library for more resources) to improve their understanding.
  • ELSH works with other Network partners.
  • We listen to our students and try to understand their learning culture which helps our teacher volunteers develop improved learning outcomes.
  • We support their education to learn English and Functional Skills.
  • We help students develop independent learning by researching and collaborating as a group. This has been an effective strategy for their learning.
  • Some students have prior professional qualifications that can be used to help them incorporate new knowledge.
  • We promote their welfare and well-being.
  • We help them integrate into the community by making small changes that result in big differences in their lives.

An ELSH goal is to provide a friendly and welcoming environment and one that every student will feel that they have an opportunity to develop further learning skills. The basic role of an ELSH volunteer teacher is to provide effective instruction for students to learn and be able to demonstrate their learning. We treat all questions, views and concerns seriously and with respect. We have experience and records that our student growth and deeper learning outcomes are developed by continual teacher interaction and assessment.

Our curriculum of introduction to basic English and Functional Skills courses has been helping students develop skills that encourage more effective learning in the future. Students who are motivated and interested in learning are usually more successful. ELSH volunteers are working to help increase student motivation and engagement in learning and development.

ELSH has establish strong links with professional agencies, organisations, institutions and other volunteer groups that work locally with refugees, asylum seekers and NEETs, for referral and continuity of educational learning skills.