Engage - Issue 1 - Business Bulletin

Business Bulletin Issue One

Welcome to Engage Welcome to the first edition of Engage from the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group. We’ve made great strides since Wakefield College officially merged with Selby College on 1st March 2022, and I’m excited to update you on all the fantastic things we’ve been working on across the Group in this newsletter.

One of the many positive prospects of merging our two organisations was our combined ability to offer greater, more enhanced services to our employer partners – and I’m delighted to say we are already making great progress so far.

Colleagues from our Employer Services team have been out meeting with our employer partners, both old and new, to discuss how we can now offer a wider and more comprehensive training offer to support employers like yourself and your business needs.

As we progress forward, we are also looking at ways in which we can grow our current provision with the introduction of more Apprenticeships, higher-level professional and technical education and work-related training, as well as part-time Adult and Distance Learning courses.

Since the merger, we have already introduced two new programmes which are designed to meet then demand for green energy skills at our Selby campus.

The work placements team at Wakefield have also launched some fantastic collaborations with local organisations, including Wakefield Street Kitchen.

At our Castleford campus - which was granted College status following our merger - our Motor Vehicle department is preparing to launch a range of Electric and Hybrid Vehicle courses in the new year. Our talented welding and fabrication students have also been busy taking part in the WorldSkills (SkillsWeld) semi-finals at our Castleford campus – with one of our students making it to the grand final.

I hope you will enjoy reading more about the exciting projects we’ve been working on in this newsletter and finding out more about how we can support your skills demands.

As always, if there’s anything we can support with, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team – we’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Sam Wright Principal and CEO of the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group

Local MP officiates launch of Castleford College Yvette Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, officiated the launch of Castleford College at a celebratory ceremony on Friday 18th November, 2022.

Yvette unveiled the plaque to declare Castleford College officially open after it was granted College status in March 2022, following the formation of the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group.

Staff from the Group were joined by key partners and stakeholders including Councillor David Dagger of Wakefield Council and Claire Sutherley of We are Wakefield, to celebrate the momentous occasion.

Carbon Capture & Storage pilot scheme success

Wakefield College to benefit from green skills investment Wakefield College, alongside other members of the West Yorkshire Consortium of Colleges (WYCC), are set to benefit from Government funding in a bid to boost green energy skills and increase jobs across the district.

Selby College’s Carbon Capture and Storage pilot scheme with Drax has been a huge success, with 23 employees from Drax having already completed the programme.

Following the success of the pilot, a Skills Bootcamp in the Principles of Carbon Capture and Storage has been launched in partnership with the Department for Education and the York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (Y&NY LEP), at the College.

The programme aims to provide learners with the higher-technical skills and knowledge to operate this climate-saving technology. These are acquired skills which are at the forefront of cutting edge of technology and practice, which are likely to be in high demand in the future.

The Skills Bootcamp is a five-week programme which will begin on Monday 30th January and will run every Monday at Selby College. Participants have to be over 19 and the price is £164 for an SME, £490 for a large employer.

The College is also expanding its course offering to include a brand-new programme in Heat Recovery and Transfer.

If you are interested in enrolling yourself or a number of your employees onto either of the programmes, please contact David White at d.white@wakefield.ac.uk or John Turner at j.turner@wakefield.ac.uk.

Course information Level

Level 3

Awarding body

Pearson

Duration

Three weeks

Study mode

Day release / Block release

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The Department for Education has announced that it will invest £2.6 million in West Yorkshire’s colleges through the Strategic Development Fund. As part of this, Wakefield College will receive £1.8m to invest in electric vehicle equipment to improve the student experience and offer hands-on training in the future of the mechanical industry.

This will enable the College to increase specialist equipment to deliver electric vehicle and retrofit training, grow and embed green knowledge within the curriculum and improve links with businesses to develop and enhance their green skills.

The Strategic Development Fund was launched in 2021 to help colleges and further education providers to transform their facilities and offer high quality technical training that better meet the needs of local employers and boost job opportunities for their communities.

This would mean that local businesses have access to the home-grown talent they need for the jobs of tomorrow and more people don’t need to leave their hometowns to get a good job.

Castleford College launches Electric and Hybrid Vehicle courses As the number of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles continues to rise, Castleford College is helping everyone stay ahead of the curve with its brand-new range of Electric and Hybrid Vehicle courses.

The courses, which are due to start in January 2023, are designed to provide a range of professionals and individuals with the knowledge and training needed to work with Electric and Hybrid Vehicles safely and efficiently.

Awarded by the IMI, the programmes range from Level 1 up to Level 4 and are internationally recognised qualifications.

If you are interested in putting yourself or your employees forward for these courses, please contact g.mitchell@wakefield.ac.uk

Looking to upskill your workforce to meet future demands?

Upskilling and retraining your workforce could be the answer to addressing your future challenges and demands as a business.

Whether you are interested in preparing your workforce to work with new technologies, expanding their skillset or even refreshing their existing skills, the chances are we will have something to interest you.

We have a fantastic range of Higher Education programmes and part-time courses for Adults which can be delivered at our three campuses or online. We also offer Distance Learning courses, which mean your employees can gain a new qualification online and completely free of charge!

Check out our variety of Higher Education and Adult courses by reading our 2022-2023 Course Guide.

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What are T Levels?

We’ve had a successful start to our T Level journey at Wakefield College, with a great uptake across our courses in Design, Surveying & Planning for Construction, Digital Support Services, Education & Childcare, Engineering & Manufacturing, Health and Management & Administration.

At Selby College, we have just started our T Level courses in Health and Childcare & Education this September. This will see the introduction of a fully simulated nursery and stroke ward within our Childcare and Health studies department. We’re also looking forward to launching a T Level in Digital Support Services (IT) at our Selby campus, in September 2023.

We’re looking for employers like yourselves to help provide our T Level students with industry placements.

We will support you at every stage of the industry placement including helping find you a suitable student, so that you can focus on getting the most out of your placement student. If you would like to interview the student, we can help to schedule the interviews.

If you are interested in finding out more about taking on an industry work placement student, please contact workplacements@wakefield.ac.uk (Wakefield) or Rebecca James at jamesr@selby.ac.uk.

What are T Levels are high-quality technical alternatives to A Levels and combine classroom theory, practical learning and a 45-day placement with an employer. This provides learners with the chance to build skills and knowledge highly sought after by employers like yourself, whilst gaining a qualification.

How T Level industry placements can help you:  Attract motivated young people to your business, bringing in imaginative and new ideas  Improve the recruitment pipeline for your business  Address local and national skills gaps by helping young people develop the skills your industry needs  Develop existing staff’s mentoring and management skills  Build a more diverse and creative workforce  Play an important role in the local community  Build partnerships with local training and education providers  Save recruitment costs by providing the opportunity to see what the young person can offer, on a no obligation employment basis

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Students boost skills with global employers Students at Selby College got stuck into a number of training and employability workshops with global employers Boots, National Grid and Arm®.

At the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group, we are committed to ensuring our students are able to learn firsthand the operations of businesses within their chosen sector.

We value the significant role employers like yourself play in delivering this and the positive impact you have on young people.

Work placements are a great way to meet your skills needs and business goals, while enabling you to train and recruit new talent – and potentially your next generation of employees.

A mixture of students completed the National BootsCamp programme with Boots and Speakers for Schools, which gave them the opportunity to network with members of Boots’ team and to find out more about their career paths.

Please contact our Work Placements teams at workplacements@wakefield.ac.uk

Engineering students took part in the ‘Grid for Good’ work experience programme with National Grid and charity Young Enterprise, whilst Level 3 Computer Science and Information Technology students also enjoyed a virtual technology work experience day with Arm®, which is a global semiconductor and software design company.

College launches partnership with Wakefield Street Kitchen Wakefield’s Work Placement team recently launched an inspirational collaboration with Wakefield Street Kitchen.

Adam Sattar, Level 2 Catering student, wowed the staff and service users at the street kitchen with his culinary skills. It was a real ‘ready-steady-cook’ experience challenging Adam’s skills as every meal created is dependent upon what local supermarkets donate to the charity on the day.

In addition to this, Wakefield Street Kitchen have also donated a sizable food delivery for the Student Crisis cupboard in Wakefield’s Student Central, its student support hub, and have pledged support to deliver much needed food and personal care items too.

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Apprenticeship Excellence We’re delighted to announce that Wakefield College’s Apprenticeship offer was recognised at the Educate North Awards 2022. The College scooped the Excellence in Apprenticeships Award, which celebrates outstanding work in the education sector across the North of England.

Wakefield College was praised for the work the Apprenticeships Team carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic in helping businesses navigate some of the toughest economic times in living memory.

Looking to take on an Apprentice?

Across the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group, we offer a wide range of Apprenticeships from Horticulture & Landscape to Automotive, Healthcare to Education.

The strong geographical coherence of our campuses along the M62 corridor mean that we can provide you with an Apprentice from any of our Castleford, Selby and Wakefield sites.

Apprenticeships can help employers like yourself across all sectors by offering a route to harness fresh new talent.

UK businesses consider skills shortages and recruitment difficulties the biggest threats to performance and growth, and more than a quarter of these rate this form of vocational training higher than any other qualification.

They also ensure that your workforce has the practical skills and qualifications your organisation needs now and in the future. The mixture of on and off-the-job learning ensures they learn the skills that work best for your business.

Taking on an Apprentice can also help to increase productivity, improve competitiveness and a committed and competent workforce.

If you are interested in finding out more about how taking on an Apprentice can benefit your business, please contact apprenticeships@wakefield.ac.uk at Wakefield College.

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HNC in Construction new to Castleford College Introducing our brand -new Level 4 Higher National Certificate in Construction and the Built Environment. ❋ Part-time so can be carried out whilst in employment ❋ Delivered by industry experienced delivery team ❋ Learners will study City and Guilds Implementation of Building Information ❋ Modelling to support developing skills and knowledge beneficial to the industry ❋ Four different pathways: Architectural Technology, Construction Management, Civil Engineering and Quantity Surveying ❋ The course qualifies for CITB long qualification funding, so there is no requirement to be a levy paying employer

What’s new at the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group Inspiring the nextgeneration to join the Construction industry

Selby College Lecturer presents at technical conference in Greece

Partners from industry and education gathered as part of the Give Construction a Try event at Castleford College on Wednesday November 7th, 2022.

One of our Lecturers was invited to deliver a presentation on the benefits of 360 video technology in education at the Immersive Learning conference, at the University of Thessaloniki.

Employers from across the Construction sector took part in the event, delivering a variety of interactive workshops throughout the day.

Steve Butler, a Higher Education Lecturer in Engineering at the College and Professor Kevin Burden, from the University of Hull, presented to delegates regarding 360 video and its applicability in different contexts of Higher Education.

The event aims to inform young people about the opportunities within the Construction industry, inspiring them to consider a career in the sector.

Students take part in Wakefield Chapel restoration programme Construction students from Castleford College are learning how to protect and preserve a historic building in Wakefield, as part of a Chapel restoration programme.

Yorkshire Lime Company, a specialist building contractor, is teaching the students about traditional methods for restoration. The scheme is encouraging young people to consider a future career in conserving buildings to meet the need for skilled works to work on heritage led projects.

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TV Hairstylist shares his skills

Students complete training with Aico

TV Hairstylist Andrew Barton spent the day with Hairdressing students at Castleford College, demonstrating a number of cuts and styles before overseeing the work of students.

He also presented them with certificates of achievement.

Electrical Installation and Plumbing students at Selby College recently completed expert installer training with Aico, the European leader in home life safety.

Andrew is an advocate of supporting young stylists and helping tackle the industry skills shortage. It’s great to see both our staff and students benefiting from the skills and knowledge experts like Andrew bring.

They were taught best practices to effectively install domestic Fire and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Systems. All 24 students were presented with certificates by Aico’s team of trainers.

S E AS O N ’ S G RE E T I N GS & a Very Happy New Year From students, staff and Governors at

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