Emma Hibbert collects the award

GRIPPLE, the Sheffield-based manufacturer of the Gripple wire joiner, has been highly commended in the Outstanding Commitment category and shortlisted in the Innovation category at the national Business Language Champions' (BLC) Awards 2009.

As a member of the BLC scheme run by the National Centre for Languages (CILT), Gripple is partnered with Sheffield's Meadowhead School and Language College to encourage its language students to appreciate the importance of foreign languages within the business sector and to their future careers.

For more than three years, the company has taken selected GSCE students on factory tours, and invited them to record staff interviews.

The students then translated them and produced an audio tape to inform French visitors about Gripple and its products.

This year, the students created information packs in French, German and Spanish for presentation to visitors, including NVQ business language students.

One of the CILT awards' judges, Ben Hackett from the Department for Children, Schools and Families' curriculum policy and languages team, said: "This SME, working in manufacturing and engineering, has shown exceptional commitment to supporting language learning in Sheffield. 

"The company appears to have a fantastic relationship with the school with which it is partnered. It is particularly important for Gripple to encourage young people to learn their languages early and become potential employees, as 80 per cent of its business is overseas."

The award was presented in London to Gripple's office sales manager, Emma Hibbert who, as a fluent French and German speaker, is the main link between the company and the school, where she works with Jo Allen, Meadowhead's language college manager.

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