Dudley Academies Trust
A great partnership with Sanako UK
We were first introduced to David Binns of Sanako UK through friends and MFL colleagues retweeting the amazing work he was doing raising awareness of the importance of languages to students.
We were able to approach our leadership teams across the trust and we were delighted to be able to welcome David to all our of our secondary schools in Jan/Feb 2025. What an impression he made! Learners and staff engaged together with David as he recounted stories which aligned with our learners experiences, yet echoed MFL staff messages about the importance of languages.
Hearing this from a stranger, who made them feel at ease enough to ask how much he earned, what car he drives and so on, resonated strongly. Then they asked “what language should I take?” We timed the talks around the options process and we have seen increases in option numbers in all settings at which he presented.
We were then delighted to be able to host Sanako UK on 30th June 2025 at one of the Technology in Language Teaching Days (TiLT). The event saw 26 MFL staff from 18 different schools in the area come together to look at MFL curriculum design, new GCSE preparation, best practice sharing and how AI technology can support us moving forward. All staff who attended were able to take something back with them to implement the next day and it was a fantastic opportunity to network and keep up to date with everything MFL.
Dudley Academies Trust look forward to working with you both in the future. Thank you on behalf of all of our learners and staff
Jane Bayley, Director of MFL, Dudley Academies Trust. Jane.Bayley@dudleyacademiestrust.org.uk