BIG grant for language school

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Language Tree, a language school based in Truro, has received accreditation from the British Council, thanks to a grant from BIG Productivity.

The accreditation means that Language Tree can now welcome students from all over the world to learn English in the heart of Truro. The accreditation also opens up new doors for the school – it can now attend the annual StudyWorld Fair, which aims to connect education institutions with contacts from across the world.

Joel Ashton, director of Language Tree, is delighted with the accreditation. “This is a great accolade which means we can welcome students from across the globe,” he said.

“Obviously this can’t happen at the moment, but once it is safe to do so, we are in a great position to safely welcome international visitors to Cornwall. It’s a real mark of quality. It will not only help us grow our team here at Language Tree, but will open up new markets to us.”

Language Tree began operating in August 2017. It currently has four core staff and an additional six sessional and part-time employees. Now he has the accreditation in place, Ashton is keen to grow his team of permanent staff.

He added: “BIG Productivity has been very supportive and it has been a useful process to be part of. By putting together forecasting and market research, we were able have a clear plan of what we wanted to do, and where we wanted to be, over the next three to five years. We were also well placed when it came to applying for the British Council accreditation, as we had all the information ready.”

BIG Productivity is a £3.1 million fund that offers grants from £2.5k up to £150k to qualifying small and medium-sized businesses in Cornwall to boost their productivity. It is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Growth Programme, and is delivered by Cornwall Development Company. It aims to help 175 local businesses become more productive and create 175 new jobs in the Cornish economy.