National award win for Churchstoke business Language Magnet
Language Magnet was recognised at the Birmingham-hosted Education Resources Awards 2025 on Thursday, May 15.
The business, launched by Diana Somers in January 2022, helps teachers across the UK to deliver foreign language lessons to primary school children.
Ms Somers said: "I'm delighted that Language Magnet has been awarded winner of the Classroom Teaching Aids category and received Highly Commended for the Primary ICT Resource category.
"The competition was exceptionally tough, so I'm honoured that our platform has been recognised by educational experts for its innovation and effectiveness in primary languages."
The judges said: "The subscription to Language Magnet creates opportunities for schools with limited budgets to use a fantastic resource to engage, enable, and extend learning for children, and the impact on some of the most vulnerable students is extremely pleasing to see."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Giving back: Peter Vardy's driving passion to put Scotland on the world stage
Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It's fair to say the past year has been a pretty frantic one for Peter Vardy, chief executive of the eponymous automotive business founded in Scotland almost two decades ago. A major deal signed at the tail end of 2024 saw the group sell the majority of its car showroom sites to Parks Automotive. Three dealerships, representing Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, BMW, Omoda and Jaecoo, changed hands in Motherwell, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. It followed the earlier sale of six franchises to Arnold Clark and the closure of its Carz-branded used car supermarkets in the wake of the pandemic and some well-publicised supply shortages. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The sweeping restructure of the business empire has seen Vardy retain its two state-of-the-art Porsche centres in Aberdeen and Perth, having represented the prestigious German sports car brand for the past ten years. Peter Vardy has retained its Porsche dealership centres in Perth, above, and Aberdeen. Picture: Roddy Scott Photography At the same time, the Motherwell-based group, now operating under the Peter Vardy Global umbrella, has been accelerating its other interests and scaling up ventures such as motor finance brokerage CarMoney. A recent recruitment drive saw the business create new sales advisory, finance, compliance, customer service and administrative roles as it continues to grow its presence across the UK. The group also encompasses FlexAuto, a start-up disruptor providing 'flexible vehicle mobility solutions for today's drivers', and Gen+, a leadership and meta-skills programme founded by the Peter Vardy Foundation that aims to get into every school in Scotland. Vardy, whose father Sir Peter Vardy grew Reg Vardy into one of the UK's largest car dealership groups before its sale in 2006, insists that business can be a powerful force for good. Reflecting on the 19 years or so since Peter Vardy Ltd was founded in the wake of that Reg Vardy deal, he told The Scotsman: 'We've always tried to do something that's next generation in business. Make it the best place to work and the best place to buy from and we knew you would get the right financial results if you got those two things right. But we also wanted a 'give back' culture. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We have created about £200 million of enterprise value over that time and of that we've given about £15m away. In that journey there have been some real highs and there's been some lows. Closing the car supermarkets after Covid was a very difficult thing to do. Peter Vardy oversees a number of business and charitable interests. 'The best bit has been the relationships. I was fortunate to recruit some great people and we did a whole load of training programmes that saw young people come through.' The addition of 'Global' into the new group naming seems apt. The investment arm currently has 11 holdings, with eight of those overseas. The aim with most is to take a majority stake in the business going forward. Vardy is looking to take the success the family has had in starting and scaling businesses, along with its decades of automotive know-how to nurture fresh ideas emerging in the sector. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'What we'd like to do is use some of the resources that we have built up to find successful start-up businesses in finance, mobility and automotive in general and see if we can help entrepreneurs scale up their ventures,' asserts Vardy. 'We are quite excited about that. It's a very friendly private equity angle. 'We want to remain in automotive and the areas we understand well and have had some success in. We hope to lean into more technology-focused opportunities if we are looking at future investments. CarMoney is a great technology play. We are not leaving behind what we've been doing for some time.' As the group looks to build on its ethos of giving back, Vardy is also keen to get the ball rolling on a leadership programme that extends beyond schoolkids and into the adult world. The 'values-based' initiative will have at its core a national leadership gathering, dubbed The Calling. Earmarked for November 2026, the ambitious event promises to blend keynote talks, stories from Scottish leaders, creative elements, such as music, film and interviews, and interactive workshops. It will be targeted at leaders across public life - spanning education, business, civic roles and community organisations. An audience of up to 3,000 is anticipated. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Leaders Details have yet to be fleshed out, but Vardy is keen to bring 'some of the world's best leaders' to the event, which he hopes to make an annual fixture. 'I'm in a fortunate position where the business has grown and done well,' he says. 'I'm based in Scotland and very passionate about Scotland and would like to be a small cog in a wheel of seeing Scotland do better. 'It will be a values-based leadership programme that celebrates what the country does well but also challenges people to think bigger. We are really excited about it. If we can have a small impact on a larger stage it would be a great ambition for the Foundation to have.' Vardy is equally passionate about the potential for Gen+ and the wider philanthropic aims of the group's Foundation. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I am not ignoring the business side,' he stresses. 'We have nearly 400 people employed and want to grow that side of things. I am excited about the next chapter. But, if you're asking where my heart is, then the Foundation has done more than I thought it could ever do and I think it can do a lot more.
South Wales Argus
an hour ago
- South Wales Argus
New hi-tech ticket system makes going to the races easier
Visitors to Chester Racecourse can now store their race-day tickets on their phones, just like boarding passes for airline flights, which means you just tap your phone at the gate, find the ticket in your digital wallet and you're in. This upgrade is powered by HID, a Cardiff-based company, and is based on its Event Management Platform, in combination with handheld scanners used at the gates. Gareth Simpson, head of racecourse operations at Chester Race Company, said: 'Race day starts the moment our guests arrive, so making entry simple is a top priority. "With this new system, which works on any iOS or Android devices, everything from getting your ticket to getting through the gate is faster and more convenient. We're the first major sports venue in the UK to adopt this kind of end-to-end solution provided by HID.'
South Wales Guardian
4 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Hewlett-Packard lost hundreds of millions in Autonomy acquisition, judge rules
The technology firm, now known as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE), sued the British entrepreneur for around five billion US dollars following its purchase of Cambridge-based Autonomy for 11.1 billion dollars (£8.2 billion) in 2011. The company claimed at a nine-month trial in 2019 that Mr Lynch inflated Autonomy's revenues and 'committed a deliberate fraud over a sustained period of time', which it said forced it to announce an 8.8 billion dollar (£6.5 billion) write-down of the firm's worth just over a year after the acquisition. In a ruling in 2022, Mr Justice Hildyard said the American firm had 'substantially succeeded' in their claim, but that it was likely to receive 'substantially less' than the amount it claimed in damages. He said that Autonomy had not accurately portrayed its financial position during the purchase, but even if it had, HPE would still have bought the company, but at a reduced price. A hearing was then held last year to decide the amount that Mr Lynch must pay in damages, before the businessman died aged 59 along with his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, and five others when his yacht, the Bayesian, sank off the coast of Sicily last August. On Tuesday, Mr Justice Hildyard ruled that HPE suffered losses amounting to £697,876,753 through the purchasing of Autonomy, some of which is set to be paid by Mr Lynch's estate. He also ruled that Mr Lynch's estate is liable to pay part of around 47.5 million dollars in damages, which is worth around £35 million. Some of the money is due to be paid by Sushovan Hussain, Autonomy's former chief financial officer, who was also sued by HPE. He was convicted in April 2018 in the US of wire fraud and other crimes related to Autonomy's sale, and was sentenced to five years in prison. While he has since settled HPE's claim, he could still be required to pay damages. A further hearing to deal with matters including interest, currency conversion and whether Mr Lynch's estate can appeal against the decision is set to be held in November. Handing down his ruling, Mr Justice Hildyard expressed his 'great sympathy' for Mr Lynch's family, calling his death a 'tragedy'. He said: 'It is a source of anxiety to me that I have to deliver a judgment that will inevitably cause further stress on those involved.' In the 197-page ruling, he said he considered that HPE's claim 'was always substantially exaggerated' and that the five billion dollars figure claimed 'was not based on detailed analysis'. Following the ruling in 2022, Mr Lynch, who was also the founding investor of cybersecurity giant Darktrace, was extradited to the US in May 2023 to face criminal charges after his removal was approved by the then-Home Secretary Priti Patel. He was cleared of accusations that he orchestrated a fraud and conspiracy over Autonomy's sale in the US in June 2024, and was celebrating the acquittal on his yacht at the time of his death. In a statement written before his death, issued posthumously by his representatives on Tuesday, Mr Lynch said: 'Today's High Court ruling reflects that HP's original five billion dollar damages claim was not just a wild overstatement – misleading shareholders – but it was off the mark by 80%. 'HP acquired Autonomy for 11.6 billion dollars and today's judgment is a view that Autonomy's actual value was not even 10% below the price HP paid. 'This result exposes HP's failure and makes clear that the immense damage to Autonomy was down to HP's own errors and actions. 'An appeal process will be considered later this year. 'The English civil case included hearsay evidence from the US and we were never able to question or cross-examine those witnesses. 'This is in direct contrast to the rights of defendants in the US legal system. 'When in the US criminal trial we were able to cross-examine the relevant witnesses, a very different story emerged. Why is the English legal system so trusting?' A spokesperson for HPE said: 'We are pleased that this decision brings us a step closer to the resolution of this dispute. 'We look forward to the further hearing at which the final amount of HPE's damages will be determined.' Jeremy Sandelson, who was appointed by the court as administrator of Mr Lynch's estate, said he would be 'examining the judgment carefully', including whether to appeal both the 2022 ruling and the judgment on Tuesday.
