THREE language lecturers from Kirklees College have bounced back from redundancy to set up their own business.

Lynne Hill, Vicky Addy and Dominique Rebout found themselves out of work after Kirklees College cut back on adult education provision.

Now they have formed a partnership, The Modern Language School to support their current adult learners in Huddersfield, Holmfirth and Batley – and provide language training for businesses, young children, individuals and students needing coaching for GCSE or A-level exams.

The trio are staging an open day between 11am and 2pm on Saturday, August 6, at the Storthes Hall campus, Kirkburton.

Dominique said: “When the college closed down our section, the three of us decided we wanted to continue and not leave our learners in the lurch. “We had exchanged resources and ideas when we were working for the college.

“Vicky lives in Holmfirth and Lynne lives in Shepley. We are using my address in Brighouse as a postal address, but most of the classes will be at Storthes Hall. We will also have classes at Huddersfield New College and in Batley.”

She said: “We have been working on this since we got our redundancy notices and we have signed a partnership agreement. We launched the business on July 4 – Independent Day, which was rather appropriate!”

Dominique said the partners also had business experience to draw on. “I came into teaching about nine years ago,” she said. “Before that, I worked for 25 years at a workers’ co-operative and learned quite a lot about various facets of running a business, such as marketing and finance.

“Vicky has also worked as a manager.”

Dominique said teaching modern languages was vital for the UK economy – not just for people holidaying or working abroad.

“If we give up completely on foreign languages, how are we and our children going to get jobs on the British, European and global markets? Employers will seek people who speak English, but also their native language such as French, Spanish or Italian.

FGo to www.modernlanguage school.co.uk