SAVTE is a Sheffield based charity that trains and supports volunteers to teach English to people in their homes and at community-based conversation clubs.

Our aim is to help reduce isolation by helping people develop their everyday language skills so that they become more confident and empowered to integrate more fully into the Sheffield community.

Our learners cannot get to English classes, because they are either carers for others or suffer from physical or mental health problems. It could be that they  are affected by experiences that they have gone through to get to this country or just that they are very under confident and need a boost to get to a class

Our volunteers are people who want to help and make a difference as well as meet other people and learn new skills. We have almost 100 volunteers from all over the city, at any one time.

Our  Partners are a wide range of organisations who come into contact with people needing support with learning English, our referral process is simple and we are able to teach learners anywhere in the city.

SAVTE is a member of the City ESOL Forum and we produce the ESOL Directory of all ESOL classes and conversation groups in the city.

Never heard of SAVTE?
Let us tell you what we have been doing!  Read more here or watch the video

Sheffield City Council – Both Adult Community Learning Department and Voluntary and Community Sector Liaison Team support SAVTE through a core funding grant and commission both one to one provision and formal classes through Learning and Skills Council Funding.

Big Lotteries – Reaching Communities Fund is providing a grant to SAVTE for five years until 2022, to enable the organisation to reorganise and modernise many of its operations, to build capacity for the organisation to provide for a greater number of learners and volunteers

EU Asylum Migration and Integration Fund, which aims to make management of migration flows more efficient across the European Union, funds SPRING (Sheffield Project for Refugee Integration and Growth) a 2 year partnership project developing the Sanctuary as a hub for refugees in the city.

Donations – We have also received numerous donations, in-kind support and small grants that enable us to enhance our provision and deliver small projects.

Thank you also to Tudor Trust, Sheffield Church Burgess Trust, Sheffield University Students Union, Sheffield Hallam University,   St Marks Church, Waitrose, Reading Friends, Sheffield Council Ward Pots, Lucy and Paul.

Patron:  The Rt Hon. the Lord Blunkett
Registered Charity No. 1081597 – Company No. 3865216