FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Fraudster cash goes toward apprenticeships return

A council in Bedfordshire will use the ill-gotten gains of a junk mail fraudster to bring back its apprenticeship programme. Bedford Borough Council has announced it will partner with Bedford College to use £450,000 of the money confiscated from Hendrick Meniru (pictured) to employ 15 apprentices. The 49-year-old was found guilty by Luton Crown Court […]

Minister to rule on Barnfield split after public say

Skills Minister Nick Boles will rule on plans for Barnfield College to leave the Barnfield Federation once a public consultation on the proposed split finishes next month, FE Week can reveal. The Bedfordshire-based federation announced in July its plans for the college to leave the group and its associated schools in a move that would […]

BREAKING: AoC goes ahead with pay deal despite UCU opposition

The Association of Colleges (AoC) is to proceed with its pay deal despite plans by the University and College Union (UCU) to strike over the offer. According to the AoC, the other five of the six unions involved in the national joint forum (NJF) on colleges’ pay – AMiE, the ATL, GMB, UNISON and Unite the […]

Grandfather’s tributes to fallen friends inspire war poetry course

A lecturer who still has a copy of hand-written verses his grandfather dedicated to friends who died in battle is launching a part-time course on war poetry. Simon Fletcher, who is a poet himself, will launch the eight-week course at Walford and North Shropshire College on reading war poetry next month. It will cover works […]

Pensioner recognised for 25 years of constant study at college

Bosses at Bracknell and Wokingham College have waived a £129 course fee for grandmother-of-four Gen van den Heuvel as she marks 25 years of study, writes Paul Offord. Gen van den Heuvel felt she might reconnect with the country of her birth when signed up for a French literature course at Bracknell and Wokingham College […]

Spurs stars pass on football advice

Tottenham Hotspur players took part in a question-and-answer session with football hopefuls from Barnet and Southgate College. Youth team defensive midfielder Anton Walkes and first team central defender Eric Dier met students on level two and three BTec and NVQ courses run through the education and football development programme that the college runs with the […]

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Skills Minister sings praises of apprenticeships

Skills Minister Nick Boles spoke to staff, students and employers at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College about the importance of promoting apprenticeships to their local communities. Mr Boles was full of praise for vocational training during a visit to the college with Ealing and Acton MP Conservative Angie Bray. And he said it was […]

Paralympic hopes for golden boy Reece

A sprinter with special educational needs from New College Durham hopes he will qualify for the 2016 Rio Paralympics after winning nine gold medals at high level events this summer. Reece Palmer, aged 19, who competes in the under-23 T20/ F20 intellectual disabilities class, began his winning streak in June at Mencap’s Open National Athletics Championships, […]