Nick Linford | FE Week

Guidance on restructuring facilities published by BIS

The government will be providing cash to help colleges to implement area review recommendations – but has made it clear that no more money will be made available once these are completed. Information about the restructuring facility – exclusively revealed by FE Week two weeks ago – was included in updated guidance on area reviews, […]

Nichola Hay, board director, AELP

Doctors told county-level hockey fanatic Nichola Hay’s parents that she would probably never play sport again after removing a tumour from her knee — but she refused to accept this and was running around again after a year. She credits the steely determination instilled into her by this frightening experience — along with nurturing skills […]

Gamers are a force for good

Videogame fans from Canterbury College used their hand–eye coordination skills to raise more than £3,000 for a local children’s hospice. The games development learners put on a four-day celebration of games and gamers in the last week of February for Demelza Children’s Hospice. It was the seventh year the tournament has been run by the […]

Winning female engineer

A student from Newcastle Sixth Form College has been crowned the winner of a national female engineering competition. Jennifer Olsen won the Talent 2030 National Engineering Competition for Girls for her project, where she sought to develop cost effective ways of producing 3D printed prosthetic limbs. Competing against students across the country, Jennifer, who studies […]

Hard-hitting champ

A hard-hitting East Durham College student fought her way to the title of female youth champion at the Amateur Boxing Association of England National Championships. Shauna-Leigh Taylor, aged 16, travelled to Rotherham to compete in the championships, defeating her opponent Michelle Lynch in the under 51kg final. The level two diploma in sport learner trains […]

Featured: Bridging the social care skills gap

Redcar & Cleveland College is helping to tackle a local health and social care skills shortage by almost doubling the number of apprentices it is placing at a North Yorkshire care village for people with learning disabilities, writes Billy Camden. Abbey Care Village struggled in vain to find enough skilled care staff to look after […]

Struggling London college in talks with Newcastle group

A troubled London college has been in talks with a view to “closer working” with a college group based almost 300 miles away. Lewisham Southwark College (LSC), which was recently found to have been making reasonable improvement following two consecutive inadequate Ofsted ratings, approached Newcastle College Group (NCG) last autumn, according to representatives from the […]

More than 500 qualifications face full funding axe

> Up to 20 per cent full level 2 and 3 to lose entitlement status > SFA initially deny knowledge of awarding body concerns The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has been criticised over a consultation on the future of hundreds of qualifications, after five of the 14 working days it was open fell over half-term. […]

Movers and Shakers: Edition 166

Steve Warburton has been appointed as principal of the Greater Peterborough University Technical College (GPUTC), which is due to open in September 2016. Mr Warburton, who has been involved in the GPUTC project for the last year and was already interim principal, brings more than 30 years of senior leadership and teaching experience. He was […]