EC Language School, Brighton

EC English is a large organisation with language schools around the world, including 5 in the UK, such as the EC Language School, Brighton. Gosia Stewart is Centre Director at EC Language School, Brighton and told us more about how and why they used the Brighton Gift Card.

What support does EC Language School Brighton offer its students?

“At EC Language School, Brighton, we host students all year round but June to mid September is the busiest time when we’ll host 420 students in peak weeks. Students will visit us to learn English and their accommodation is either with a host family, in a residence or self-arranged. This year, we also secured a residence for under 18s. As we’re accredited by the British Council, we must provide both accommodation and half-board for students under 18, which is two meals a day. This posed a question for us on how we could provide food for under 18s.”

Why did you choose Town & City Gift Cards?

“We looked at various options including food vouchers for specific businesses. It was important that any option we chose catered for different dietary requirements. On-site catering was another option but that was also difficult with students being on different timetables. In 2023, we’d used our local Town & CIty Gift Card, the Brighton Gift Card, for Spanish teachers we were hosting and it was really popular and easy so we decided to use the Brighton Gift Card again. The great thing about the Gift Card is the choice it offers; it can be used in supermarkets, restaurants and coffee shops. We were really keen that the Brighton Gift Card could be spent by students with hyper local businesses, and by working with Miconex, we were able to get a local sandwich shop, Frankie Vaughn’s, to sign up to accept the card. We were reassured that our students had lots of options in walking distance, including affordable places for dinner.

“As a company, CSR is very important to us which we demonstrate through support for local businesses and the community. We regularly fundraise for local charities and choose independent businesses when we can. So we loved the fact that the Brighton Gift Card includes many independent businesses that would benefit from the investment we were making. Choosing the Brighton Gift Card for our students is a really positive thing we’re doing for the community and in turn that benefits us and reflects positively on us. Anything we can do to support the community, we will try to do.”

Were there any other benefits of using the Gift Card?

“As the students were all 16-17, we decided to distribute the £100 Brighton Gift Cards weekly at a meeting, rather than handing out one Gift Card at the start of their trip. People can go online and see where the Gift Cards can be spent, but to make it really easy, we created a handbook with 3 options of places students could go and spend their Gift Card for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So, if they didn’t want to look it up online, or didn’t know how to, they had the information to hand. Those under 18 students were with us on a holiday to learn English but it’s also about the whole experience. Receiving the Gift Card also helped them to explore Brighton and try out different businesses, including independent businesses that they might not otherwise have tried. For many students, it was also a chance to learn how to budget.”

What was your experience of using Town & City Gift Cards?

“Purchasing Town & City Gift Cards couldn’t have been easier. Throughout the summer, we ordered between £18,000 of Gift Cards online through the corporate order site and received an invoice to pay. Once that was paid, the cards were posted out to us. I cannot fault the process and communications with Miconex are excellent too. If ever I email about something, I get a reply quickly. It’s super easy.”

How else have you used Town & City Gift Cards?

“One of our teachers went to Dublin to fill in at one of our schools and at the end of their trip, the Centre Director got in touch to say they wanted to give the staff member an extra thank you for going above and beyond. We were able to suggest the Brighton Gift Card because it gave the staff member the choice of how to spend it, going out for dinner, going for a massage, shopping, anything they wanted. It’s an ideal option for thanking, rewarding and incentivising staff too.”

What feedback have you received?

“It was positive! Word obviously got out that we were handing out the Brighton Gift Cards as we had queries from students staying with host families asking why they hadn’t received a card, so that’s always a good sign.