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26 April 2026

TV appearance plants seed of hope for shrubs

A college lecturer has ‘shrubbed off’ the competition to land a role as one of the presenters of a television show which aims to inspire viewers to save Britain’s garden heritage. Matt James, from Cornwall’s Duchy College Rosewarne, is the shrub specialist on BBC Two show the Great British Garden Revival. The series will feature […]

Keeping the apprenticeship wage up to date in the workplace — and online

It took the National Apprenticeship Service, and the overarching Skills Funding Agency, three months to act over a 3p rise to £2.68 on the apprentice minimum wage. The rise happened in October, but it took until mid-December before the official online advertising system for apprenticeships was amended so as to only accept adverts at the […]

Ameen Hussain, manager, Greenwich Asian Resource Centre

It has been a long journey for Ameen Hussain from the Indian Pearl City of Hyderabad to collecting an MBE for services to adult education and his local community in South London. Hussain, aged 71, may have been “amazed, flabbergasted and humbled” to be recognised in the New Year honours list, but it was just […]

Rate cut impact report leads to more questions and criticism

The Department for Education would have been hoping its impact assessment of the controversial 17.5 per cent funding rate cut for full-time 18-year-olds put an end to further questioning. But, as Mick Fletcher, explains, it’s done quite the opposite. Imagine a man embarrassed about his short stature. Instead of saying he is four inches shorter […]

Questions over need for new HS2 rail college

Government plans for the first new FE college in 20 years, to train engineers for the £50bn high speed two (HS2) rail link, have come under tough scrutiny from sector leaders. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Transport (DfT) have unveiled proposals to train workers for the line that […]

On the ball thanks to rugby performance programme

Trying paid off for Richard Huish College’s rugby team after it was propelled over the line into the last 32 of the Natwest Under 18s Cup for the first time. The Somerset college’s team will now face Truro School, Cornwall, in a battle for a place in the last 16 of the competition for schools […]

Revved-up by Jaguar Land Rover visit

Motor vehicle engineering students feel driven to succeed after visiting the training academy of one of the UK’s largest car firms. Staff from the Jaguar Land Rover academy, in Warwick, Warwickshire, showed learners from City College Southampton around the site, which has 16 training rooms and a fully-equipped workshop. They also spoke to learners about […]