Fulneck School does not need to close, it can thrive diversifying into English as a foreign language courses - Yorkshire Post Letters

I was sorry to read in the news recently that Fulneck School is to close. I am writing in the hope that, even at this late stage, it could be saved through partly diversifying into English as a foreign language courses.

In the past I taught mainly German but also French, English and music at Fulneck Girls’ School. In my final year I took part in a teacher exchange scheme. I taught English at a school in Nuremberg and my exchange partner taught German at Fulneck. My suggestions for diversification came from my past experiences at Fulneck and Nuremberg.

Hopefully Fulneck could continue as a private, part-boarding school if they partly diversify into teaching English as a foreign language to pupils/students from overseas.

When I worked at Fulneck, the school closed for a month at Christmas, a month at Easter and at least six weeks during the summer. From a business point of view this represents a waste of valuable assets and lost opportunities during the holiday periods.

Fulneck could start by running residential EFL courses during these holiday periods, maybe beginning by teaching pupils/students from European countries.

I know from my experience of teaching English in Nuremberg that English is one of the six core subjects that pupils have to pass each year in order to move on to the next school year. If they fail in the core subjects any year they have to repeat that year, so English is an important subject.

I think German parents generally would be keen for their children to have the opportunity of extra English tuition in an English holiday context. Perhaps some EFL courses could also be offered overlapping with term time.

This could be a good opportunity for English pupils learning European languages to socialise with European and overseas pupils. In Germany the dates of the holiday periods vary slightly from county to county.

I believe Fulneck should be able to get help with this strategy for diversification from the British Council - the organisation which arranged my teacher exchange.

Also Fulneck could work together with local universities, diversification with EFL, courses for overseas students during vacations could also help universities which are currently struggling financially.

Whereas for many English tourists abroad the sun is the magnet that draws them overseas, for a lot of Europeans who are studying English, in England the language is often the magnet.

I believe Fulneck does not need to close - the opportunities are there but they need to act quickly.