Coronavirus: Eastbourne language schools hit by pandemic

Students from Europe and further afield have had to return home during the pandemic, leaving the schools with no one to teach.

Didac School in Trinity Trees is closed and it is understood its students, all from Switzerland, returned home on Tuesday (March 17).

However, lessons for these students will continue remotely online.

A spokesperson told the Herald, “It’s and incredibly sad situation. We’ll find another way of teaching.

“We will be working on getting them back, but that will be a head office decision.”

Twin English Centre in Compton Park is closing on Monday (March 23) for at least eight weeks.

Its students, from Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Spain, are being taught online.

Principal Tracey Cooke said, “We are desperately sad about it, they have come a long way to study with us.

“It’s for eight weeks but we really don’t know, it could be longer. It’s a great shame this has happened.”

Jurgen Matthes, one of the largest language schools in Eastbourne, sent out a letter to host families and teachers this week saying all school trips and long stays have been cancelled for the next few weeks.

The letter, seen by this newspaper, says, “Due to this ongoing spreading of COVID-19, closed borders in Germany and a constantly changing of the situation every day, all groups got cancelled for the next couple of weeks. This is concerning school trips and long stays.”

The next planned arrival is April 20.

The Jurgen Matthes (JM) office in 25 Hyde Gardens is closed until further notice to ‘protect the health and wellbeing’ of staff and guests. All staff are working from home, JM said.

The letter says, “We hope you and your family stay safe and we keep our fingers crossed, that we can go back to normal as soon as possible!”