More than 250 learners received certificates at the South Essex-based Central Training Group awards night.
The independent learning provider, which teaches hairdressing, graphic design and business courses, held the ceremony at the Arlington Function Suite and Ballroom, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
Certificates were handed to high achieving learners — including 95 on level two and three National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) and Vocationally Related Qualification (VRQ) courses and 169 level two and three apprentices.
Chair Martin Kolton MBE said: “We are thrilled by the success of all our students. Their achievements are the result of the hard work and commitments they have shown during their time as leaners. Their qualifications will allow them to enjoy a wealth of opportunities and go on to fulfil their aspirations.”
Picture Caption: Central Training Group learners with their certificates
Multi-million record-selling band Scouting For Girls opened South Essex College’s new £45m Thurrock campus.
The college, which already had campuses in Southend and Basildon, put on a concert on Tuesday (November 4) to celebrate the launch.
The concert also featured student bands Different People, Twenty One and Such Strange Arts.
Tickets to the free event were snapped up by students, staff and members of the local community who were also treated to a hog roast and barbecue by hospitality learners.
As well performing a gig, members of Scouting for Girls pushed a plunger to start a spectacular light show at the end of the evening.
Level three performing arts student Mica Pengelly, aged 17, said: “We’ve had a great night.
“The food was delicious and I was so excited to see Scouting for Girls perform.”
The new campus features specialist engineering and construction workshops, hair and beauty salons and classrooms for technology, media and creative arts courses. There is also a restaurant and coffee shop.
Principal Angela O’Donoghue said: “The event was a great way of getting the local community involved. The bands were fantastic and the hospitality students surpassed themselves.”
Scouting For Girls have sold more than two million records and hit number one in the UK charts in 2010 with their single This Ain’t a love Song.
Picture caption: Scouting for Girls performing at South Essex College’s new Thurrock campus
A run-down village primary school in the Peak District was redecorated by hard-working painting and decorating students from Buxton & Leek College, writes Paul Offord.
Tiny St Bartholomew’s Church of England Primary School was looking well past its best, but budgets wouldn’t stretch to hiring a professional decorator.
But its fortunes took a turn for the better following a chance conversation between Buxton & Leek College construction co-ordinator Jo McKechnie and bus driver Sam Garlick.
Mr Garlick drives college staff and learners from its Leek campus, in Staffordshire, to the Skillsbase Centre in Buxton, Derbyshire, where practical training takes place.
He told Mrs McKechnie during one of the journeys about the sorry appearance of the interior at the school in Longnor, Staffordshire, where his wife, Janet, works as receptionist.
She contacted the school, which was established in 1872 and only has nine pupils, to offer the services of level one painting and decorating students.
A team of four learners spent three days during the October half-term break painting all the school’s interior doors in St Bartholomew’s uniform burgundy colour and the walls of the corridors and head teacher Anne Collins’s office magnolia.
“They also painted skirting throughout the school and office ceiling white.
Liam Bonsall, aged 16, said: “It was all dusty and pretty scruffy looking when we started and definitely needed repainting.
“We enjoyed doing it.
“I thought the school looked really good when we finished, which made me proud.”
Destiny Tatton, 18, said: “I was a bit nervous when I first saw all the work that needed doing there.
“It was hard work and we worked 9am to 4pm every day. It was the first time I have worked full-time like that. I like decorating and find painting very relaxing.
“We had to fill the cracks in the walls in with filler and sand it down before painting over the top.
“We spoke to the school receptionist while we were working and she thanked us at the end.”
Fellow students Jonathon Clowes, 16, and Georgia Wakefield, 17, completed the team of student decorators.
Mrs McKechnie said: “We were very happy to help. This is only the second [academic] year that we have taught painting and decorating and the school was our first community project.
“These students had only been coming to college for seven weeks when they started the project and they have worked really hard and done exceptionally well.
“I also helped out along with their tutor, David Percival.
“It’s nice that it all came about from my chance conversation with our bus driver, who told us the school looked pretty shabby and needed redecorating.
“We plan to get some of our level two painting and decorating students to paint the school’s three classrooms later this year.”
The learners will round off the project before Christmas by creating a giant mural in the school’s entrance lobby, which will include a tree that St Bartholomew’s pupils will add to using their handprints to make leaves and by signing their name alongside it.
Mrs Collins said: “This was a wonderful opportunity for the college and school to work collaboratively.
“I am delighted that the children will have such a beautiful new learning environment and at the same time the college students are getting a real and valuable learning experience too.
“This collaboration enriches us all.”
Picture caption: from left: Student Johnathan Clowes, construction co-ordinator Jo McKechnie and student Destiny Tatton and Liam Bonsall
Art and design students from Lancashire-based Nelson and Colne College proved they were cut out for the fashion industry by creating stylish outfits that they modelled on the catwalk.
The group of 18 level two and three learners were photographed during the fashion show at Colne Golf Club by level three extended diploma art and design students studying photography and media as a part of their course.
Their hair and make-up was done by level two hairdressing and beauty therapy students.
Joanne Hadcroft, curriculum leader for art and design, introduced each student on to the catwalk with a short explanation of the techniques and inspiration behind each garment.
She said: “The show was flawless and the students performed admirably.
“We’re all very proud of everyone who took part.”
The event raised more than £800 for the Stand Up to Cancer charity.
Art and design student Amelia Ward, who created and modelled an outfit inspired by changing weather patterns, said: “I enjoyed taking part as I have lost a few people to cancer. I really liked showing the garments I have made to the public as they are very different to the clothes modelled by the fashion shops.”
Barking and Dagenham College students helped produce 20,000 bottles of strawberryade for charity.
A group of 10 level two hospitality learners picked more than 20 kilos of fresh strawberries from Growing Communities Starter Farm, in Dagenham, before freezing and transporting them to drinks production firm Square Root, in Hackney, to be made into strawberryade.
The drinks are now on sale at the college. They cost £1.50 each and feature pictures of students with the strawberries on the bottles. Profits from their sale will go to the Breast Cancer Campaign.
Learner Jaye Cooney, aged 18, said: “Getting to produce our own strawberryade was such a good experience. You don’t normally get the chance to do something like this. That’s why I think Barking and Dagenham College is great — you get experiences you wouldn’t find elsewhere.”
Picture Caption: Jaye Cooney with a bottle strawberryade. Inset: A number of bottles of the strawberryade on display at the college
A recent graduate from City of Bath College performed her new single on Later… with Jools Holland.
Laura Doggett, who completed a level three extended diploma in music at the college in 2012, performed her latest single, Moonshine, on Mr Holland’s famous grand piano after he described her as his “new tip for the top”.
While the pre-recorded show was being screened on Friday (November 7), Laura tweeted: “I’m watching myself on TV and I don’t know what on earth is going on. It’s sinking in how crazy it was. @BBCLater Thank you for having me x.”
Moonshine is the second single Laura has released through record label Sony.
It has received more than 100,000 plays on Soundcloud, made BBC Radio 1’s playlist and has been played by DJs Scott Mills and Ferne Cotton.
Laura recently supported Brit award-winning singer John Newman on tour and won the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition in 2011.
City of Bath College music course leader Clive Stocker said: “Laura was a really great student.
“She worked so hard in all areas of the course.
“She was always writing and performing, week in and week out, that was just the way she was, very determined.
“We’re so proud of everything she’s achieved and know that she thoroughly deserves every success. She is always friendly and has time for everyone.”
Picture caption: Laura Doggett performing on Later… with Jools Holland
Further cuts to FE would be “disastrous,” sector leaders have warned amid claims another £48bn could be slashed from government budgets.
Sector leaders have warned that FE cannot cope with another round of harsh cuts after already shouldering the burden of a 35 per cent cut in the adult skills budget and a 17.5 per cent cut to the funding rate for 18-year-olds in this Parliament.
It comes after the Financial Times warned that the cuts needed in the next Parliament would be higher than the £25bn suggested by the Prime Minister, and the Guardian predicted that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills would be affected, placing the burden directly on FE.
Stephan Jungnitz
Stephan Jungnitz, colleges expert at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Further cuts to FE funding would be disastrous. There are simply no more efficiency savings to be had. Funding cuts have already forced colleges to cut the opportunities for students, further cuts to college funding will damage the skills and training of a generation of young people.
“Only this week [November 10] the CBI highlighted to the prime minister the shortage of suitably skilled applicants. For too many vacancies, businesses have to look abroad. We urgently need to invest in our home grown pool of talent to secure our future economic well-being.
“ASCL along with other organisations has been lobbying hard for fair and sufficient post-16 funding and we will not let up in our campaign.”
Lynne Sedgmore, the executive director of the 157 Group, said: “We are always vigilant to any potential future cuts and will be working hard with ministers, officials and others in the sector to ensure that FE, which has already suffered more than its fair share of funding reduction, is not targeted again.”
Sixth Form Colleges’ Association deputy chief executive James Kewin said: “The spending review post-2015 is critical. Three funding cuts in three years have
James Kewin
already damaged sixth form colleges.
“Our funding impact survey showed that the high performance of sixth form colleges is under serious threat as a result of government cuts to the sector’s funding. 68 per cent of sixth form colleges have had to drop courses as a result of the funding cuts – a 15 percentage point increase on last year.
“Over a third of Sixth Form Colleges (38 per cent) have been forced to drop courses in modern foreign languages and more than a fifth (22 per cent) have cut STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths).
“So we desperately need additional investment, not further cuts. The government could make a start my keeping a closer eye on the amount it spends on pet projects.
“The call for more cuts is hard to square with the fact that the government has no idea how much it has cost to open the 138 new school and academy sixth forms established since 2011, the £62 million investment in nine 16 to 19 free schools between 2010 and 2013 – an average of £6,853,613 per institution – that will educate 1557 students (if they hit their recruitment targets, which looks very unlikely).”
Sally Hunt
University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt said: “The recent speculation about increasingly savage cuts to public budgets is deeply concerning. We must continue to fight proposals for cuts to public funding for post-school education which risk leaving us poorer in the long run by lowering skills levels and damaging education infrastructure.
“Investment in further and higher education benefits society, offers a great return for the taxpayer and should continue to be a major priority for government; businesses need skilled employees and education is central to maintaining our global competitiveness.”
Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal said: “Failure to ensure adequate investment in skills other than to meet short term needs will only exacerbate the skills deficit, to the advantage of our global competitors.
“The welcome cross-party consensus to significantly expand the apprenticeship programme in the next Parliament obviously has positive implications for
Stewart Segal
expenditure on the programme, but tackling youth unemployment via traineeships and supporting the long-term unemployed back into work with the help of skills training should also be priorities.
“Economic recovery will only be sustainable if we satisfy the skills and recruitment needs of employers. With ministers worried about tax revenues from corporates and individuals, the potential return on investment in skills and apprenticeships is clear as the National Audit Office has previously reported.”
The Treasury has not yet responded to a request for a comment.
See FE Week edition 118, dated Monday, November 17, for more.
The Sixth Form Colleges’ Association (SFCA) has launched its 2015 manifesto calling for a national funding formula to reflect the actual cost of provision and a competitive process for establishing new sixth form providers.
The SFCA also called for its members to join school sixth forms in being exempt from VAT, which it dubbed “a learning tax”.
The 12-page manifesto further called for the government to maintain sixth form funding at 2013/14 levels while a review of all education funding is carried out to produce “national funding formula (up to and including the age of 18) based on the actual cost of delivering the curriculum”.
Deputy chief executive of the SFCA James Kewin (pictured) said: “Our manifesto shows that sixth form colleges are the most effective and efficient providers of sixth form education in the state sector.
“However, a series of damaging policy changes introduced in recent years will see some sixth form colleges close and others forced to offer an impoverished curriculum.”
The manifesto said the three biggest threats facing sixth form colleges were VAT, which costs sixth form college budgets £335,000 a-year, unfair competition posed by free schools, and the government decision to decouple As-levels from A-levels, which it says would increase the risk of students dropping out.
Currently, only a school, academy or free school sixth form can be created to meet demand for new sixth form provision.
“There should be a competitive process for establishing new 16 to 18 provision that is open to all types of sixth form provider and follows an impartial assessment of demand conducted at a local level,” according to the SFCA manifesto.
It also recommended study programmes be funded at a full time rate, for responsibility for funding high-needs students to be returned to the Education Funding Agency and for the government to provide enough funding for sixth forms to be able to work collaboratively.
Mr Kewin said: “To ensure that sixth form colleges can continue to transform the life chances of young people, we are calling on all political parties to put students first by dropping the learning tax and adopting the recommendations in this manifesto.”
The manifesto is due to be formally launched on Monday (November 17) at the SFCA Autumn Conference, in Birmingham, where Skills Minister Nick Boles and Shadow Schools Minister Kevin Brennan are expected to address sixth form college leaders.
Prime Minister David Cameron renewed his commitment to lifelong learning in England in a speech to business leaders.
Mr Cameron, pictured above, spoke about the importance of continuing education when he spoke at the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) yesterday.
“The idea that you go to school, go to college, get a degree and stop learning and start working, that is old think[ing]. From now on, everyone is going to be thinking of how to continuously increase your skills through your life,” he said.
“That is why I think some of these apprenticeship programmes are so exciting and I think where we need schools and some teachers to change their opinions about them, because a lot of apprenticeship programmes now are about earning and learning, including all the way up to and beyond degree level.
“I think encouraging that through our workforce is going to be absolutely vital.”
His comments have been welcomed by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace), whose chief executive, David Hughes, said: “It is encouraging to hear the Prime Minister speak in such glowing terms about the importance of lifelong learning. I liked his emphasis that
David Hughes
the old way of thinking – that you stop learning once you’ve started work is now gone.
“Today ‘everyone needs to develop and improve their skills throughout their lives’ is how everyone should be thinking to ensure they have the knowledge and skills for a long and fulfilling career and for life.
“Employers have a huge role to play here. Where businesses invest in training for their staff, they not only get to fill skills gaps and skills shortages, but they also improve productivity, lower turnover of staff and increase morale.
“However, far too many businesses do not make that investment in training, which has serious consequences for sustainable economic growth, especially with 13.5m vacancies expected over the next 10 years, but only 7m new labour market entrants to fill those roles.”
Labour leader Ed Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also spoke at the conference.
Ed Miliband
While Mr Miliband said that a “revolution” was needed in vocational education to deal with a “discontent” among the British public, Mr Clegg spoke about the need for good careers advice and guidance, and hinted there had been arguments in government about the future after Connexions closed.
Mr Miliband said: “If we win the election, our focus will be on a revolution in vocational education and apprenticeships. Again this is an agenda where we have learned so much from you, as I say, from the CBI. It’s about new gold-standard technical qualifications in schools, so 14-year-olds know what they’re aiming at.
“It’s about proper work experience and careers advice for all our young people. It’s about university expansion through technical degrees designed by businesses like yours and it’s also about giving you for the first time a real opportunity to decide how the public money for training is spent. Creating jobs, giving hope to our young people, will, I believe, help to address the discontent people feel.”
Mr Clegg said: “One of the mistakes we made as a government was that we got rid of the Connexions service, for good reason, because it
Nick Clegg
simply wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. But then, candidly, there was quite a long debate, which is a polite way of putting it, in government about exactly what we’d do next.
“There were some voices in government which didn’t want to do anything next, wanted it to be left to the market so to speak, and people like myself said ‘of course government has a role in setting a direction for what quality careers advice and guidance looks like.”
It comes after the CBI used the publication of its latest report to call for colleges to be rewarded for specialism.
In its report A better off Britain: improving lives and making growth work for everyone, published on Monday, the employer body also called for more learners to complete level four apprenticeships and vocational qualifications.
John Cridland, director general of the CBI said: “We need to refocus the system and refocus the recognition and reward in the system, so that the colleges who are boldest in making sure they’re provision is specialised and is fit for purpose are the ones who are rewarded.”
See FE Week edition 118, dated Monday, November 17, for more.
