Vikings win business language award

Widnes Vikings have won the 2009 Business Language Champions Innovation Award.

The award was presented at a ceremony at the Imagination Centre in London’s West End and was accepted by the Valhalla Foundation’s CEO Pat Cluskey accompanied by partners from Wade Deacon High School, teachers Carine Whitfield and Joanne Gaul plus pupils Kyle Johnson and Nathan Woodward.

The award is for the Club’s innovative approach to working with Wade Deacon to support language learning and comes about following the partnership forged with the school in the build up to the opening 2009 Co-operative Championship game with Toulouse in March.

Speaking after the ceremony Pat Cluskey said, “It’s amazing that an idea to enhance the game day experience for the visit of Toulouse has captured the imagination of the National Centre for Languages and to be recognised as the 2009 BLC Innovation Award Winners is a great achievement for a Co-operative Championship Club.

“However, as in all good acceptance speeches, it wasn’t just down to Widnes Vikings as the hard work of the staff and pupils at Wade Deacon was instrumental in the success of the project with teachers Carine Whitfield and Joanne Gaul to the fore.

“The willingness of Angela Powers from Sky Sports to feature the project in the build up to the televised fixture and Thierry Alibert’s presence in the classroom all contributed to the overall success of the project which was also used as a case study at an international conference in Italy.

Michelle Brassell, National Programme Director for the National Centre of Languages said, “This year’s award entries were assessed and judged by independent panels and experts and the qualities of all entries was extremely high.”

The Valhalla Foundation received a trophy and both the Foundation and Wade Deacon High School received certificates acknowledging their success which saw them beat IBM to the award.