Woodwork award for joiner Ben
A Rugby College joinery apprentice chipped his way to success after being named the British Woodworking Federation’s Apprentice of the Year.
Ben James, aged 20, joined the college four years ago before starting as a work experience student at local firm Tompkins Joinery and then advancing on as an apprentice.
Combining his work with his studies, he has progressed from a level two to three apprenticeship.
He currently studies one day a-week at Rugby College, with the rest of his time spent working for his employer and has already completed a few high profile projects of his own, including the joinery for Dallas Burston Polo Club.
Ben said: “When I heard my name read out it was a shock, but I was really happy. It was great to be nominated by my employers as it shows they have faith in your ability.”
Main pic: Ben James being presented with his British Woodworking Federation’s Apprentice of the Year award by Paul Gaze, federation support manager, Construction Industry Training Board
College girls on the ball to help Wolves team to national glory
Oaklands College’s Wolves women’s basketball team are celebrating after shooting their way to victory at a national final.
The Wolves were crowned champions of the Basketball England women’s national final after outscoring Oxford City Hoops of 73-54.
Held at Leeds Beckett University, the Wolves had Kyla Nelson to thank for her outstanding performance after scoring 19 points and nine rebounds resulting in the 17-year-old being named Most Value Player (MVP).
Kyla, who is doing A-levels at the college, said: “It was a fantastic performance by all the team and I was thrilled to be named MVP.
“We stayed together as a team and kept playing our style. We need to keep up our level for the remaining league games so that we move into the playoffs on a positive.”
Main pic: Oaklands College Wolves women’s basketball team celebrate their victory over Oxford City Hoops. Inset: MVP Kyla Nelson, aged 17, left and captain Beth Sarson, 18, who studies a level three diploma in sport development, coaching and fitness
Album designer definitely maybe delivers ‘fantastic’ talk
Wigan & Leigh College’s budding graphic designers definitely maybe got an industry treat with a visit from Oasis and Verve album designer Brian Cannon.
Mr Cannon shared his career
experiences with students including how chance meetings with musicians Noel Gallagher and Richard Ashcroft led him
to design fame.
He also spoke about how his first album sleeve for the The Verve was produced in Mesnes Park, only a stone’s throw away from the college’s Parson’s Walk Centre.
David Beattie, foundation degree lecturer for graphic design, said: “It was fantastic for students to meet the man behind some of music’s most iconic album designs of all time.
“It encourages students not to forget about the traditional ways of working, rather than simply relying on modern day technology.”
Main pic: Oasis and Verve album designer Brian Cannon (centre) with staff and students at Wigan and Leigh College
Edition 129: Dr Lynne Sedgmore, Monica Box & Lynn Thackway
Dr Lynne Sedgmore’s seven-year stint as executive director of the 157 Group is to come to an end later this year with her retirement.
It will bring an end to a 35-year FE sector career that includes the chief executive role at the Centre for Excellence in Leadership for four years from 2004.
Previous roles include principal of Guildford College, vice principal of Croydon College and head of Croydon Business School.
“I have loved my 35 years in the sector and have never wanted to be anywhere else,” she said.
“The work that FE colleges do for a huge cross spectrum of students is totally amazing, we truly transform lives for the better. I will miss colleagues and professional friends but in my 60th year, it feels time for a new and different life. I have plenty of things I want to do, places to go and adventures still to be had.”
Dr Sedgmore is expected to step down with the appointment of her replacement.
Sarah Robinson, 157 Group chair and chief executive of Stoke on Trent College, said: “Lynne has been instrumental in helping to raise the profile of FE, highlighting the social and economic mission of FE colleges and the important role they play in collaborating with employers and others to develop local economies.
“She has stimulated debate, supported research and facilitated the sharing of effective practice across the sector, especially in teaching and learning.”
Meanwhile, bosses at City College Brighton and Hove — visited by FE Commissioner Dr David Collins at the start of February over financial concerns — have appointed Monica Box interim principal while they look for a full-time replacement for Lynn Thackway.
Ms Box’s first principalship came in 2001 at Calderdale College, in West Yorkshire. More recently, she has worked as an interim principal at times of change to a number of colleges, including City College Manchester, South Kent College, Kensington & Chelsea College and most recently she was interim chief executive at the Barnfield Federation.
“When I visited Brighton college I was very impressed with the passion and pride of governors and staff for both the college and the communities served by the college,” she said.
“This kind of commitment is half the battle in any organisational success and I very much look forward to assisting in the creation of a bright future for City College Brighton and Hove.”
Julie Nerney, chair of the grade two-rated City College’s board of governors, said: “Monica brings a wealth of experience, coupled with a strong people focus and the board is confident she will bring clarity, focus and an open leadership style to the college over the coming months.
“This appointment will create the time and space for the recruitment process of our new permanent post holder, which will start in early March. We will also be looking to make permanent appointments to this post and the two other vacancies in our executive team.”
Ms Thackway left her role at the start of the month citing family reasons. She became principal in August 2012 having left her deputy principal’s post at the Barnfield Federation.
She said: “It is with great regret that I have made the difficult decision to step down from my role as principal of City College which has a very special place in my heart. At this moment, I need to put my family first but when my family situation has improved I will return to the sector I am so passionate about.”
A college spokesperson said: “The board of governors is grateful for Lynn’s hard work for the college during a very challenging time for the FE sector nationally, would like to thank her for her contribution and wish her every success for the future.”
Kevin McLoughlin and Jean Duprez, K&M McLoughlin Decorating
For any organisation to have a member of staff awarded an MBE among the New Year Honours is fortunate — but to have two looks like real commitment to a cause.
And in the case of Kevin McLoughlin and Jean Duprez that cause is skills training.
The duo were recognised last year and this year, respectively, for their roles at London-based K&M McLoughlin Decorating, where he is founder and managing director while she is manager.
“We haven’t even sat down to realise the implications of two people in the same company being awarded something from the Queen — it’s just so surreal,” says mum-of-two Duprez, aged 45.
“But it’s great, because everything that we do here, we’re just really proud of it.”
The firm, set up in 1988, employs 160 staff in total, including six tutors who help deliver Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) apprenticeships in painting and decorating and a five-week City & Guilds pre-employment programme for 18 to 24-year-olds.
It started delivering intermediate apprenticeships in 2009 for its own staff and other painting and decorating firms. Meanwhile, 269 people have emerged with new or improved job skills from its three-year-old pre-employment programme.
Prime contractors City and Islington College and the CITB both use the firm, which has 10 apprentices at the moment, with current academic year contracts of £61k and £40k, respectively.
And even Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is an admirer, having name-dropped the firm at Lib Dem conference two years ago.
“I started taking on apprentices in the mid-90s because the age gap in the workforce was getting too much — so I thought I need to train people. It’s just natural,” says 57-year-old McLoughlin, who has five children.
Here, the company began experience complaints familiar to many employers — learners’ training not meeting industry standard or learners having issues with time keeping, attitudes and work ethic.
“We are a painting and decorating contractor and a small to medium-sized enterprise simple as that, but had to — for our own industry and to survive — go down this training route,” says Duprez, who started working for K&M McLoughlin Decorating in 2002.
“We had apprentices, but we realised they were going to all these different colleges all over London and our learners weren’t coming out as fit for purpose.
“So we decided to do some extra training with them, at internal cost, like putting them on a development programme that we could run ourselves.”
It’s a potted history offered up to me at the firm’s Islington training centre, which opened in 2012.
But as the duo, united in their royal honours, lay their company history before me amid a rabbit warren setting of interconnected rainbow-coloured rooms in which trainees practice, the first thing that strikes me is the difference between them.
She is effusive as we talk about training and her pauses in which to slip a question in are few and far between, while his words are similarly sparse, but uttered with quiet force.
Despite these marked differences, or perhaps because of them, Duprez says the chalk-and-cheese duo work well together.
“We make a great team,” she says.
“As a boss, Kevin’s great. He knows what my passions are, and where I am, and he doesn’t try to close your voice down or make you tow the company line. So you can imagine how freeing that is when I’m meeting with people.”
There’s too much training going on, certificates being given, and no job at the end of it
Meanwhile McLoughlin describes Duprez as his “main man”.
“She understands everything,” he says.
“She knows what we started, what I wanted to do, and she supports it. But if she doesn’t like something, or she doesn’t agree, she will say it.
“And we work well together — as long as we stay out of the pub.”
And the issue of work draws this duo together, albeit in criticism of the FE and skills record on job preparation.
“There’s too much training going on, certificates being given, and no job at the end of it,” says Duprez.
“The government has got to stop putting money into training where there is no job opportunity — work experience is not what this is about.
“You’ve got to have that company ready to say, ‘If that young person gets to this route, I’m going to give them a chance’.”
McLoughlin takes up the case, saying: “There should be a line. As I see it, simplicity.
“You’re born, you go to school, afterwards college or university, or you get a job, whatever happens you get a job — so therefore the whole teaching thing should be about getting people ready for work to lead a decent life.
“I see too many cases here continuously where the education system has failed our learners, and then they go to the FE colleges, which again will hold them for their funding, and then they release them onto the market and they have got no chance of getting a job.
“If FE and schools were aligned to business, there should be a conveyor belt into work.”
These are words based on McLoughlin’s own experience.
School didn’t appeal to him and he struggled with what he has only recently realised was undiagnosed dyslexia.
“I absolutely hated it,” he says, and despite being in the top set he left at 15.
With the family needing money, McLoughlin embarked on the first of only two jobs he’d ever had in his life.
“I left school on a Friday, started work on a Monday as a messenger boy in a Fleet Street printing press,” he says.
“It was great, I worked on the Daily Mail and the Evening News [now the Evening Standard], and it was just a hive of activity.”
However, after three months, he realised that with the strong printing unions, which notoriously made it difficult for anyone without family in the trade to get in, he was unlikely to progress.
So he left and went to work as a painting apprentice for Islington Council, through Hackney College.
“I didn’t particularly like that because it was back into school again, but it was one day a week, and I stuck with it — and I’m glad I did,” he says.
Meanwhile, Duprez grew up on the nearby Lisson Green estate which she describes as a “concrete jungle”,
Despite this, she looks back with fond memories.
“It was great growing up there. I went camping every other weekend and when we weren’t camping, over the winter months, I would go to the dogs at Walthamstow with my granddad,” she says.
“I wasn’t trying to get away from anything, and I wasn’t trying to say ‘I’ve got to do something better’ — I had a great childhood.”
Despite this, she says “where you’re from shouldn’t pigeonhole you”.
“I think I and my brother, who runs his own company, are testament that you can be whatever you want to be,” she says.
“But sometimes you just need to meet the right teacher to unlock it, somebody who sees that little bit of potential.”
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It’s a personal thing
What is your favourite book, and why?
JD: This sounds very crazy, but I read the London Encyclopaedia a lot. I first picked one up when I was about 25 at a car boot sale and it was really musty, but it literally has anything you need to know. I love London, so it’s a great book. Other than that I’m a speed reader so I just eat them very quickly
KM: I don’t read a lot, but I do read about psychology, even though it takes me ages, and anthropology, and I really like Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono — just about different ways of thinking
What do you do to switch off from work?
JD: I chat a lot in the day, so I stop chatting — I go home and I like peace. I love music, I love champagne, and I like a party and a dinner. Also I love to travel
KM: I do yoga. I drink. I like football — I’m born locally so I support Arsenal
What’s your pet hate?
JD: I can’t stand the telly being on in the background when there’s nothing that anybody wants to watch. Or when you flick and flick until you find something half way through a programme that you might want to watch. I know exactly when I want to put the telly on, and it’s very rare
KM: Bigots. I’ve met loads in my life, in this industry. When I first started work in the 1970s, I always worked with a lot of West Indians. And that was when racism was rife and that kind of sat with me
If you could invite anyone to a dinner party, living or dead, who would it be?
JD: I wanted to be clever, but as soon as I saw the question I thought of my dad. He died when I was 18 years old and I’d love to tell him what I’ve done with my life. And he was in the construction industry too, so I’d like to ask him a few questions about how it has changed
KM: Winston Churchill. Other than that I meet a lot of famous people doing what I do now, I suppose — parliamentarians and secretaries of state or whatever, and to be honest none of them phase me. I don’t think I’d prefer to go out with any of them over my friends
What did you want to be when you grew up?
JD: An air hostess
KM: I wanted to be a practising atheist because I hated being sent to church on a Sunday morning. I am a total non-believer, but I can see the powerful good that religion does to people
Mark and Sam develop time-saving doctors’ app
Two Barking and Dagenham College students used their IT skills learned in the classroom to help design an app aimed to save time for mental health doctors.
Working with North East London NHS Foundation Trust’s (NELFT) medical education department, Mark Bewes and Sam Bowen, both aged 26 and on an access to IT courses, were commissioned to provide the technical platform to bring the new Doctors On Call Support (Docs) app to life.
The app can be accessed from any smart phone or tablet and replaces hundreds of pages of online guidance documents, including policies and procedures which are stored on the NELFT intranet and internet.
Mark said: “It has been a rewarding project because the NELFT Docs app has a valuable purpose. Giving students exposure to real client briefs is what makes the Barking and Dagenham College experience so different.”
Main pic: Barking & Dagenham College students Mark Bewes, left, and Sam Bowen with mentor and manager of 2Fix Solutions (an IT business and shop at the college) Ellen Kerr
Church makeover gives ‘shy learners’ new confidence
A team of once shy and unqualified students from St Helens College are conquering their self-esteem issues with a challenging community renovation project as part of their 12-week Prince’s Trust programme, writes Billy Camden.
Thirteen learners who turned to St Helens College to overcome confidence issues have given a local parish church and hall a much-needed facelift.
Part of the college’s Prince’s Trust Team 70, the students picked up their paint pots and carried out extensive DIY work to freshen St Helens Parish Church and Hall.
The project, which was selected by the students, is part of the 12-week Prince’s Trust self-development course and aims to build students’ confidence, motivation and life skills.
Ellis Mooney, aged 20 and from Team 70, said: “The course has been a great opportunity for me to build up my self-esteem and develop new skills.
“Since leaving school I’ve studied on several courses but due to a busy home life I’ve not been able to commit myself to a course or career.
“After hearing about The Prince’s Trust Team programme, I thought it would bring some discipline and direction into my life and it has done just that.”
The programme also provides students aged 16 to 25 with the opportunity to gain recognised qualifications and to progress onto courses at the college.
Raluca Elena Huibah, 17, said: “I came to England in November after moving from my home country of Romania.
“I discovered the course while at the college’s open evening and thought it would be a great way for me to meet new people, make friends and develop my English.
“I hoped the course would provide me with the opportunity to help the local community too and I’m hoping to start my A-level studies in September.”
Paula Rowlett, team leader of The Prince’s Trust Team 70, said: “The project was a complete success. The church committee now say the rooms are more usable and are now looking into the possibilities of how the hall could be hired out for more events.”
The college programme started January 6 and is due to be finished on March 27, and Ms Rowlett says she has already seen a big change in the learners.
“The students have grown immensely since the beginning of the programme,” she said.
“From the shy learners that came into their first interview, worried about how the programme will go and if they would really enhance their confidence, to them showing guests and the Mayor around the community project so confidently and professionally.
“Three students even gave a speech in front of the guests. I’m really proud of their progression.”
She added: “They have realised that everyone has confidence issues in some way, also that you shouldn’t judge a person on how they look and should get to know them first.”
The team are now planning their final challenges including a sponsored walk.
Their achievements will be marked with a presentation evening held at the college March 25.
Main pic: St Helens College Prince’s Trust Team 70 handover the renovated church
Under the skin of the apprenticeships ‘hot potato’
The publication of the delayed Skills Funding Agency Grant Letter loomed over National Apprenticeships Week (which starts on March 9) a bit like … well, anything else that looms.
Whether it was a further cut of 25 per cent to the non-apprenticeship Adult Skills Budget, the 25 per cent increase in the budget for 24+ loans while learner numbers plummet or the £33m cut in learner support funding, it might be a little more difficult for some to get too excited about apprenticeships.
One group of people who have been particularly excited about apprenticeships over the last couple of weeks has been Labour and Conservative politicians, with leaders of both parties giving key education policy speeches recently.
An extra 3m funded apprenticeships were promised by Prime Minister David Cameron at a Conservative Party policy speech at the end of January, with funding coming from removing housing benefit for 18 to 21-year-olds on Jobseekers’ Allowance and reducing the benefit cap from £26,000 to £23,000 per household.
Labour sparked controversy in the sector in February over their plans to only fund apprenticeships at and above level three, leaving us to speculate as to what would happen to the half a million apprentices currently studying at level two.
We should also keep an eye on what’s going on in Northern Ireland and Wales whose devolved governments are already set to implement this policy.
Alongside this, Labour leader Ed Miliband alluded to a minimum academic standard young people would need to achieve to gain access to an apprenticeship, causing some to worry about that the door to apprenticeships would be slammed shut in the faces of young people without a good set of A-levels. Oh, and of course pledging an extra 80,000 apprenticeships a-year for the numbers race.
The Liberal Democrats have put themselves in a fascinating position on apprentice pay.
In October, Business Secretary Vince Cable wrote to the Low Pay Commission (LPC) suggesting that the apprentice rate of the National Minimum Wage should be abolished, and apprentices should instead be entitled to the regular ‘age appropriate’ minimum wage.
Unfortunately though, the LPC rejected Dr Cable’s recommendation, instead offering an extra 8p to the apprentice minimum wage, bringing it up to £2.80 from October. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is expected to respond formally to the LPC recommendations later this month and all eyes will be on the Secretary of State to see if he’ll abolish the apprentice rate as he wanted to, or bow to the LPC’s recommendation.
I hadn’t realised that apprentices who are paid below £111 a-week were not entitled to statutory sick pay
Call me naive, but if I was him, with two months left in office, I’d go for the former.
We don’t talk about the welfare of apprentices enough. I was struck by the story of an apprentice I met at the Association of Colleges’ conference in November who works weekends as well as his full time apprenticeship to make ends meet.
Thanks to the National Union of Students (NUS) Forget Me Not report [see page 5] we’ve now got something to work with, but it’s hard to find any response from the sector on this.
One of the many great advantages of being an apprentice should be having access to the benefits of being a student, and an employee. I hadn’t realised that apprentices who are paid below £111 a-week were not entitled to statutory sick pay, so the NUS suggestion that statutory sick pay regulations are amended so eligibility is based on hours worked rather than earnings sounds sensible to me.
My message for National Apprenticeship Week 2015 is this; let’s celebrate apprentices, their tutors and their employers.
But let’s stop making out that the ‘quality’ of an apprenticeship stops at how shiny their ‘gold standard’ qualification is, but actually start to look at the quality of learning and working experience.
Oh, and if anyone’s got any polling on how impressive the electorate find wrangling over apprenticeship numbers, do let me know.