Context and Place. Essex is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the xxxx, Xxxx across the River Thames estuary to the south and Greater London to the south and south-west. Currently Greater London, along with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, are devolved authorities. Proximity to London is significant, with high levels of commuting to the capital or home-based working for London-based employers. Similarly, proximity to areas such as Cambridge, Hertfordshire and Suffolk are factors for people commuting in and out of Essex. In the context of the Local Enterprise Partnerships, Essex is part of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (XXXXX). Although there are a number of high-profile large employers in Essex, the table overview illustrates the large presence of small and micro-businesses. Essex has a slightly larger proportion of micro-businesses than the regional average, with small businesses often requiring additional support to engage with the skills system and to provide opportunities such as apprenticeships. In general, the number of businesses in Essex has steadily increased, from 51,600 in 2011 to 66,800 in 2020. The Essex Skills Plan 2022-23 highlights that skills levels have improved but are still generally below the national average, although there are variations at district level. Essex County Council commissions Adult Community Learning Essex (ACL Essex) to provide learning across the county, with Southend and Thurrock unitary authorities having their own ACL provider. Essex is a large county with a population of around 1.5 million (working age 16-64 910,000) . It has a wide range of communities spanning rural, urban and coastal areas with widely varying qualification levels and areas of significant social deprivation ACL Essex is primarily a direct delivery service and has nine adult community learning centres in most of the major cities/towns in Essex. In support of the levelling up agenda, ACL Essex also offers courses at other community venues across the county including libraries, community centres, schools and care providers. ACL Essex is graded as ‘good’ by Ofsted. The diagram highlights the spread of ACL Essex’s learner’s pre-pandemic, along with the indices of multiple deprivation across the county. This effectively highlights the uneven spread of deprivation across the county. Data from Essex County Council, Strategy Insight and Enga...
Context and Place. The Adult Learning and Skills Service as part of North Yorkshire Council provides largely Education and Skills Funding Agency funded adult and community learning provision, with additional income from dedicated project work, supporting apprenticeships and the support for those learners aged 19-25 with Education Health and Care Plans. The graphic above from North Yorkshire Council: Our plan for the future of North Yorkshire Council Plan 2024-2028 provides significant context to the opportunities and challenges within the region. We are a world- renowned tourist destination, combining natural landscapes and coastal areas with vibrant market towns and active communities. The economy of the region is shaped by successful small and micro-businesses, working alongside significant public sector and large-scale industry. These opportunities provide a strong platform for growth and investment driven by a single unitary authority and now in partnership with the City of York and a Mayoral Combined authority. Our service, and its partnership with City of Yorks’ York Learning service, has a major role in enabling residents across the region to achieve the best they possibly can and benefit from our thriving economy. Our offer is delivered face to face from venues across the county, these venues include community centres, libraries and council owned buildings and increasingly other important community hubs such as foodbanks. Since the pandemic a large proportion of delivery takes place online but as a service it is a strategic aim to widen the mode of delivery, increasing face to face delivery but also expanding our blended, bite- size and on-demand provision. North Yorkshire is home to 4 General Further Education Providers in Harrogate College, Selby College, Scarborough TEC and Xxxxxx College, but due to the sparse nature of the region, large parts of the community will have to travel out of county to their nearest GFE, (provided by Darlington, Middlesbrough, East Riding, Xxxxxx Xxxxxx and Xxxxxxxx Riverside). The region is home to three universities and is served further by HE institutions outside of the region. There are 40+ Training Providers operating in the county offering apprenticeships and accredited adult learning courses. Our passion for adult learning continues to drive us to deliver effective programmes of learning to a range of adults with a particular focus on those from disadvantaged and marginalised communities. We want to offer inclusive services with...
Context and Place. We are an Adult Education Service which is embedded within Cheshire West and Xxxxxxx (CW&C) Local Authority, serving a population of approximately 350,000 people. This area shares borders with Cheshire East, Warrington, Wirral, Shropshire and North Wales. The Skills and Employment team deliver a wide range of programmes through our four geographically based Work Zones and 14 commissioned partners. Our Work Zones are in Chester, Ellesmere Port, Northwich and Winsford. In addition to the Work Zones, we have created Learning and Skills Hubs embedded within our local communities which aim to respond to local needs, offering the chance to learn new skills, progress onto further learning, find employment or improve career prospects. Hubs also work alongside local schools to help support parents and carers to develop new skills. The team are constantly reviewing how successful our Work Zones and Hubs are in engaging with our more vulnerable or disadvantaged residents. Our programme of delivery is aimed at supporting adults to develop their confidence and basic skills, all the way through to delivering vocational programmes in line with local employment needs at Level 2. We receive around £1.2m of Adult Skills Fund (ASF) (plus an additional £50,000 for our Supported Internship Programme) and support over 1,500 learners each year. Our last Ofsted report gave the service a “good” grade. We have recently been inspected and the full report will be available shortly. We provide information, advice and guidance (IAG) to all our learners. At a recent external review, we were awarded a glowing Matrix report. The report stated that the team offered “a very high level of service… supporting them (residents) into employment and skills training through rigorous and impartial information, advice and guidance” and “although there are targets within the process, it was clear that the emphasis was on delivering high quality service to the residents, which in turn has led to a learner centred culture.” The service was also praised for its strong networking and collaboration with referral partners, subcontractors, and local area partnerships. We work closely with partners such as local Further Education Colleges and independent training providers, to ensure there is no duplication of provision and to encourage progression routes for our learners into further study where relevant. We are active members of the Cheshire and Warrington provider network. As a local authority, we are res...
Context and Place. Bexhill College is a Sixth Form College which operates in the eastern side of East Sussex. Its core purpose is the provision of high-quality education for 16 – 19-year-olds. The College recruits’ students from Rother (Bexhill, Battle, Robertsbridge, Rye), Hastings and Eastbourne. We also provide a post 16 education option to students from further afield locally as well as welcoming an increasing number of international students. In total, our students come from 53 different secondary schools. The College offers a broad range of courses to meet the needs of the local community. The core focus of the College work is with the 16-19 age group offering a broad range of academic and vocational courses across foundation, intermediate and advanced level including T levels in Health Care, Early Childhood Education and Business. The College attracts approximately 2200 full time, 16–19-year-old students of which approximately 90% are studying advanced programmes and the remaining 10% at intermediate/foundation level. The broad curriculum offer reflects the needs of the young people in the area and ensures progression opportunities are available for students from the wide range of secondary schools we recruit from, each of whom, have different pre 16 curriculum and outcomes. The entry requirements aim to ensure students are on the right course for their ability and future aspirations and so enables student success and progression. The College provides Study Programmes at levels 1, 2 and 3, with flexible combinations of academic and vocational options. In addition, GCSEs in English and Maths are offered, with significant numbers of students resitting these qualifications. All funded Study Programmes are full-time. As of September 2023, our average GCSE point score on entry is 5.41. The breadth of the curriculum with the opportunity for students to take almost any combination of subjects, along with the high-quality pastoral and academic support, is the unique selling point of the College. The College has a reputation for consistently high results. The College offers over 80 different courses across A level and vocational courses at level 3, 2 and 1. The College operates on a single site. The College moved to new purpose-built accommodation in August 2004. The College has excellent facilities including a sports hall, all weather pitch, film studio, dance studio, laboratories as well as general classrooms. Since 2004, the College has continued to develop the campus and f...
Context and Place. Geography and the Communities We Serve Learner Numbers by Region Region Apprentices Adults Aged 16 to 18 All Learners All Regions 2418 1084 402 3904
Context and Place. Hampshire, the home of FCoT, is a fairly affluent county. However, the College’s two campuses are located within the Borough of Rushmoor which has three areas of multiple deprivation that are in the 20% most deprived in the country: • Cherrywood xxxx (Ranked 3,693 most deprived of 32,844) • Aldershot Park xxxx (Ranked 4,053 most deprived of 32,844) • Wellington xxxx (Ranked 5,123 most deprived of 32,844) Amongst other activities, the College hosts meetings with elected councillors where participation and outcomes from our communities, are shared and discussed. Additionally, the UCF funded by EM3 LEP and FCoT, supports place shaping, raising aspirations and improving the number of residents retained locally through the level 4 and 5 skills needed by local businesses. Section 52B of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (reinforced in the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill 2022) places a duty on governing bodies of FE institutions to review how well the education or training meets local needs. Governing bodies should also consider what action might be taken in order to meet those needs better. FCoT annually reviews its curriculum and takes steps to ensure it is responsive to local, regional and national needs. As an example, since 2016 the College has been embedding the use of LMI in annual curriculum plans, using: • Career Industry Advisory Committees (CIAC) and an annual Career Industry Advisory Board (CIAB) • Priorities for the Government, EM3 LEP, HCC, Rushmoor Borough Council, and Xxxx District Council. This approach ensures the stakeholder voice informs the College’s offer. As can be seen in the 16+ demographic trends below, 16-17 participation is expected to be broadly steady across the College’s combined catchment areas, over the next 10 years.
Context and Place. Leicester Adult Education serves the residents of Leicester and the surrounding area reaching around 3000 learners per year (6000 enrolments) in each academic year. The map below highlights the distribution of learners across the city and surrounding area.
Context and Place. Loreto is a Catholic Sixth Form College. It is a single site institution with over 3500 students and approximately 300 staff. It is located in Hulme, Manchester but consistently draws students from across Greater Manchester and beyond. The majority of students complete a level 3 qualification (96% of provision by entry), but the college is justifiably proud of the achievements of level 2 and level 1 students whose qualifications allow them to progress onto further study, apprenticeships or employment. We regularly review our curriculum offer to ensure that we meet the needs of our local community, prospective students and local, regional and national skills needs. We offer 34 A level qualifications, 7 Level 3 vocational qualifications (equivalent to one A Level), 4 BTEC Level 3 Extended Diplomas (equivalent to three A Levels), 3 BTEC Level 2 qualifications, GCSE resits in Maths and English Language and Foundation-level qualifications through our Pathways to Independence Department, which offers provision to students with learning differences and disabilities. We are committed to maintaining a diverse intake of students and ensure we offer places to students from a range of ethnic, cultural, socio-economic backgrounds. We welcome students with varied prior attainment and maintain modest entry requirements, which align with our inclusive and aspirational approach. We have students with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) in both our mainstream and our Pathways provision and we work closely with students, families and external organisations to ensure the needs and aspirations of these students are fully met. We have a significant number of students with SEND and with Exam Access Arrangements; our Additional Learning Support department works closely with curriculum, pastoral, exams and admissions teams to support these students and meet their needs. Our pastoral provision ensures that each student has twice weekly tutorial lessons and a fortnightly Hall assembly, through which a centralised and sequenced programme of high-quality tutorial resources is delivered on themes of Student Life, Safeguarding and Wellbeing, and Careers. This helps to ensure all students’ access support and opportunities to develop their employability and transferrable skills and can make informed decisions about their post- college options. It also helps to ensure that the college supports students to achieve their potential and develop into well rounded and informed young adults w...
Context and Place. Northern College for Residential Adult Education is based at Wentworth Castle, Stainborough, Barnsley. Founded in 1978, the College is a regional provider, offering a range of provision for adults on a residential and non-residential basis across South and West Yorkshire. Northern College is a relatively small College circa 3,000 enrolments per year and this creates a strong community feel. The College also holds a non-devolved AEB funding allocation. The College prepares adults to re-enter education, gain employment or to make career changes through an immersive residential learning and support experience. The College is set in acres of National Trust gardens and parkland that students can access as part of their studies at Northern College. Northern College is the only adult residential College in the region and as such has a unique role in contributing to meeting local skills needs. Through residential education Northern College can offer a transformative learning experience, we accelerate personal growth, facilitate networking, and provide opportunities for specialised and immersive learning. In March 2023, the College was inspected by Ofsted and judged Good across all areas and as making a reasonable contribution to the skills agenda. The College offers a range of courses for adults from entry to higher level programmes (in partnership with the University of Huddersfield) enabling adults to succeed in line with their goals and ambitions. The College specifically supports skills growth in the key sectors of Health and Social Care, Business and Management and Education. Enabling inclusive growth is at the heart of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) Adult Education Budget (AEB) commissioning strategies, as well as the individual Local Authority skills strategies, and is a central pillar of the Northern College curriculum. Providing adults with an opportunity to learn and raising the aspirations of some of the nation’s most disadvantaged communities is vital if the UK is to bridge the current skills and productivity gap which evidence shows is holding back the economy. The College is focused on reaching these adults. According to NOMIS data (May 2022), Yorkshire and Humber continue to lag behind national averages for working age population qualified to level 2, level 3, and level 4 and above with the gap widening at each level point, to a 5% point difference at Level 4 and above, (only 31% o...
Context and Place. Population in the West of England is expected to increase by 4.5% between 2020 and 2025, adding an additional 42,397 people to the area. Within the region, 42% of adults hold a degree equivalent or above, which is 10% above national average. 4% of residents hold no formal qualifications, compared to 7% nationally Despite high average prosperity in The City, and the region, areas of Bristol remain within the most deprived 10% in England. The 10 most deprived neighbourhoods are located in South Bristol. The College is situated in South Bristol and serves these communities. As of July 2022, according to statistics obtained from Bristol City Council, Bristol has 41 areas in the most deprived 10% in England, including 3 in the most deprived 1%. The greatest levels of deprivation are in Hartcliffe & Withywood, Xxxxxxx and Xxxxxxxx Xxxx. In Bristol, 15% of residents (70,800 people) live in the 10% most deprived areas in England, including 19,000 children and 7,800 older people.
