The winners of the British Council’s Exams Loyalty Schemes 2018 were announced at the annual award ceremony held at the British High Commissioner’s Residence on December 4, 2018. Near East Primary School has been awarded with the gold member prize.

According to the press release issued by the Directorate of Press and Public Relations Office of Near East University, the ceremony was attended by Stephen Lillie, British High Commissioner and James Martin, Director Cyprus British Council and teachers from winner schools and institutions. It was stated that Stephen Lillie, the British High Commissioner, presented the 'Gold Member' award to Deniz Özkan, vice chair of English Language Department of Near East Primary School.

Highlighting that British Council awarded the schools and institutions with four membership levels consisting Addvantage Member, Addvantage Bronze, Addvantage Silver and Addvantage Gold depending on the total number of Cambridge English and IELTS candidate registrations made with British Council in the previous calendar, Deniz Özkan stated that language education was a team work. "Our devoted team colleagues at the English Department and our determined little students made this significant award possible" said she.

Stating that Near East Primary School had also provided the Preschool students with English language education, Deniz Özkan underlined that they were committed to continuing to exert effort to pave the way for their students towards being an individual having global perspective that equipped with English Language skills. "In this regard, we attach a distinguished importance on teaching each skill of English Language starting from two years of age" noted she.

“Since all four skills consisting of listening, reading, writing and speaking are of importance in learning English effectively, we attach great importance on equipping our students with all skills. Our School attaches great importance on international recognition and validity of competency in English since the day the Cambridge English Young Learners (YLE) exams were promoted on the island. To this end, we have prepared our students and encouraged them to have their English competency registered with Cambridge exams which have international validity. The Cambridge Young Learners (YLS) exams are designed to assess the English Language skills of children in primary or lower secondary schools. In this context YLS exams test students’ competency in Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking” said she.

Many schools and language centers from Northern and Southern Cyprus attended this year's award ceremony. British Council awarded the winners and provided them with a package of benefits and enhanced services as well as information regarding the latest developments and advantages of Cambridge English exams.