Nelson and Colne College Group (NCCG) are delighted to welcome Lisa O’Loughlin to the helm, as Principal and CEO. Joining the College Group from The Manchester College and LTE Group, Lisa brings a wealth of experience across the Further Education Sector and will ensure that Nelson and Colne College Group continues to be at the forefront of high-quality education across the country.

Upon starting her new role Lisa says:

“I am delighted to be here at Nelson and Colne College Group and cannot wait to get started on ensuring that the only Outstanding College in Lancashire continues to go from strength to strength. Following on from the great work that the team have done prior to my joining I intend to work with our excellent teaching and support teams to further strengthen the high-quality academic education available to young people and adults across the region. I will also work with cross-college teams to extend the aspirational career routes available to all through further developing technical education and employer partnerships and really highlight why Nelson and Colne College, Accrington and Rossendale College and Lancashire Adult learning are truly the very best places to be to secure your future, whatever that may be.”

Lisa’s experience includes developing a college strategy and operational plan to increase learner achievement by more than 10% as well as increasing learner satisfaction. She has also guided the college to deliver an ambitious and award-winning curriculum strategy and undertaken significant campus redevelopment. The curriculum strategy, centred around employer co-creation, saw students achieve ambitious career goals, in organisations like Wilmott Dixon, Lloyds Bank and The Fox Corporation as well as ensuring students wanting to go to University secured places at Oxbridge and Russell Group Universities., Alongside her role at The Manchester College Lisa worked closely with Greater Manchester Combined Authority supporting the development of the regional skills strategy in her role as Chair of Greater Manchester College’s Group. It is expertise like this that will be at the heart of all developments that lay ahead for Nelson and Colne College Group.

Having previously worked in East Lancashire, as Deputy Principal of Blackburn College between 2007 and 2013, Lisa is no stranger to the area and is dedicated to ensuring that all learners, at all levels and all ages, are able to access only the very best skills and experience throughout their education.

One of Lisa’s immediate goals is to undertake a strategic review, which will rely upon meaningful discussions with local employers, school leaders and key partners to understand their own goals and ambitions and where NCCG can work alongside them to help achieve these, alongside student, parent and staff interactions.

Chair of Governors for Nelson and Colne College Group, Phil Wilkinson, says of Lisa’s arrival:

“I am delighted that Lisa has now joined us as Principal and CEO of Nelson and Colne College Group and am supremely confident that she is the perfect individual to help shape our outstanding organisation through our next phase, further strengthening our college group and extending the reach of our extraordinary education experience across East Lancashire and beyond.”

Nelson and Colne College Group’s plans to develop an Advanced Digital Skills Academy have been given the seal of approval from Pendle Borough Council.

The £2.29m investment proposal to help tackle Lancashire’s digital skills shortfall has now been sent to the Government to request the green light to release the funding.

The Academy is one of eight projects in the Nelson Town Deal designed to promote sustainable growth, transform the town and provide new opportunities for local people through the £25 million New Towns Fund investment.

Its aim is to integrate world-class teaching, innovation, and business acumen at Nelson and Colne College and create a new town centre learning spoke for digital skills.

Fionnuala Swann, Nelson and Colne College Campus Centre Principal, said: “This project demonstrates the strength of partnerships forged through the Nelson Town Deal and of our shared commitment to upskilling our communities and retaining talent.

“If successful throughout this next phase, the funding will be used to create a college hub for the project, refurbishing parts of the existing college building to create over 100 new teaching spaces with access to state-of-the-art equipment.

“This redevelopment will create a new learning environment to support the delivery of our digital T-Level courses, alongside our wider digital curriculum.

“It will provide access to facilities for all learners wanting to improve their digital skills and there will be 200 high-spec PCs in the Academy.”

Alongside the college hub, a town centre spoke will also be developed, focussing on digital skills for adult learners.

Upskilling and retraining opportunities will be offered at a range of levels from beginners to support improving employability chances, through to higher level courses designed to meet the specific digital skills demands of regional employers.

The spoke element will also include a business space to facilitate interaction between learners and employers as well as a business workspace for start-up businesses.

Stephen Barnes, chair of the Nelson Town Deal Board said: “As the college campus is located outside the town centre, a key objective of the hub and the town centre spoke is to work in tandem, creating a strong connection between the college and the centre of Nelson.

“The new Advanced Digital Skills Academy is also designed to establish a link between local employers and learners as well as supporting a more vibrant town centre.

 “Learners and participating businesses will get enormous benefit from this project which will also help to rejuvenate the town centre with increased footfall to support the businesses there.”

Nelson and Colne College Group’s Assistant Principal for Technical Curriculum, Morag Davis, joined a panel of local leaders for a discussion on how Lancashire can prepare for the industries and tech of tomorrow, and empower the workforce with the skills to drive them. 

Morag discussed the opportunities that exist for business and academia to come together and some of the innovative solutions being deployed to fill the ongoing skills gap.

She began by sharing Nelson & Colne College Group’s recent Ofsted inspection in which we received Outstanding across the board, in part, as a result of the deep collaboration with local employers at every level.

Adding colour to the picture, Morag explained how the level of engagement with local businesses has led to their input becoming the “backbone of the college’s curriculum,” taking multiple forms from leaders coming into to talk to students to checking on curriculum content, to ensuring training is relevant to sector needs.

On the skills gap, Morag spoke of the significant investment being provided from the UK government, partly because of the ‘Skills Whitepaper’ produced by the Commission for the College of the Future – of which Nelson & Colne College Group’s Principal and CEO, Amanda Melton, was a contributor.

She explained how the college has used this funding to strengthen ties with local employers and develop apprenticeship programs so students can enter real working environments and begin applying their skills immediately.

Giving a real-world example, Morag shared details of the college group’s new, two-year T-Level program, equivalent to three A-Levels in both size and academic rigour.

Technical in nature, she described how T-Level students are soon in the field, acquiring practical skills that simply can’t be refined in purely classroom-based environments.

Moving onto the college’s new Digital Skills Hub, Morag discussed the importance of providing learners with access to quality ICT training and the continuing need for local businesses to collaborate in bringing the venture to a wider audience.

An example she raised was the college’s new mobile VR unit that provides students and companies with immersive experiences for projects such as risk assessments and training.

In concluding her segment, Morag talked of Accrington College’s 2019 amalgamation into the Nelson & Colne College Group. She described the significant investment now going into Accrington College to complement the local skills landscape, covering disciplines as varied as mechanics, nursing, and hair and beauty.  

Moreover, she stressed how important it was to create an ecosystem of training providers, colleges and local businesses so the next generation of skilled workers can be firmly established.

To hear the full discussion, click here: https://www.insidermedia.com/event/made-in-lancashire-breakfast-2022

Nelson and Colne College Group is investing almost a quarter of a million pounds in new equipment to train motor vehicle technicians and engineers in the latest electric vehicle (EV) technologies. 

The new facilities at the Accrington and Rossendale College campus will cover the servicing and maintenance of EVs, battery fault diagnosis and repair, electric motor technologies, and the installation of charging equipment.

Once the equipment is in place (early 2022), students at Accrington and Rossendale College will get the opportunity to work on electric vehicles, from EV battery faults to the installation of charging facilities.

The funding for this initiative has been provided from a government Skills Development Fund designed to support the move to greener technologies. Led by Blackburn College, the project will create five electric and hybrid vehicle skills centres across Lancashire at Blackburn College, Nelson and Colne College Group, Blackpool and the Fylde College, Lancaster and Morecambe College and Myerscough College.

Dr Steve Wright, EV project leader, said:

“I’m delighted to see the College making such a significant investment in this field.

“The roll-out of electric vehicles is crucial to meeting our country’s climate obligations and it’s vital that the technicians working with these new vehicles and their charging systems, are up to date and ready for the challenges of the next era of motoring.

“We’ll be using the new equipment to make sure that all of our motor vehicle students have experience of working with EVs. 

“Some of the new resources are very specialist and beyond the reach of smaller businesses.  We’ll be making them available to local employers to upskill their staff if they wish to.”

The new facilities build on existing equipment already in operation at Accrington and Rossendale College and Nelson and Colne College.

Find information on Motor Vehicle Courses available at Accrington and Rossendale College here.

 

Picture shows: Vehicle Maintenance and Repair L2 students Oliver Law and Byron Carney with Motor Engineering Lecturer Martin Brunker, at Accrington and Rossendale College’s fantastic workshop facilities.

Students from Accrington and Rossendale College are celebrating an outstanding 100% Advanced Vocational pass rate this Results Day 2021.

Many are now ready to progress onto some exciting and career-focused destinations, including university, Apprenticeships and employment opportunities.

Centre Principal for Accrington and Rossendale College Morag Davis said: “I would like to congratulate the Class of 2021 at Accrington and Rossendale College on their achievements at the end of a challenging academic year.

“We are seeing students progress onto a wide range of positive destinations, including university, Apprenticeships and employment, and we wish them every success in the future.”

Level 3 Sports Student Becky Holden from Haslingden High, 18, is progressing onto Liverpool John Moores University to study Sport Psychology as she pursues a career as a Sports Psychologist.

She said: “I enjoyed my time at College as the tutors are so supportive and are always there to help if you need it, no matter what it is.

“College was definitely more independent which was perfect for me as it allowed me to work more efficiently and the standard of my work was also significantly better.

“I would recommend Accrington and Rossendale College as it provides students with a wide range of great opportunities. The support you get from the tutors is amazing and they always push you to achieve you best.”

Students looking to study at Accrington and Rossendale College this September can visit the College on its enrolment days – Thursday 12^th August, 10am-7pm, and Friday 13^th August, 10am-4pm.

Results Day may fall on a different day in 2021, but there is no change in the outstanding results and positive destinations of students who have achieved extraordinary grades at Nelson and Colne College.

The College – one of the leading colleges nationally across a range of academic measures – has recorded an A Level pass rate of 100% in 2021.

This means the College will gain an ALPs 1 score which measures progress made, the best possible outcome, and this will place it among the very highest schools and colleges in the country. Nelson and Colne College already has the status of being the number one FE College in the country for A Level progress.

The College has also recorded a fantastic 100%* Advanced Vocational pass rate.

At A Level, the overall pass rates show 35.3% achieving A*-A grades,  66.6% high A*-B grades, and 85.6% A*-C. Broken down further, this shows:

Percentage of students who received at least one A*-C = 97%
Percentage of students who received at least one A*-B = 86.5%
Percentage of students who received at least one A*-A = 55.5%

Once again, the College is seeing students progress to some of the top universities in the country, including Imperial College London, the University of Manchester, the University of Leeds, the University of Liverpool and the University of Edinburgh, while other students have successfully gained Apprenticeships and employment.

Principal of Nelson and Colne College Group Amanda Melton said: “I am absolutely delighted for our students. They have worked so hard in such challenging circumstances and it is great to see them achieve the results they deserve.

I would also like to thank our phenomenal tutors who have worked tirelessly, in an unprecedented year, to support our students to achieve their very best.

This hard work and dedication of both staff and students has paid off as we celebrate yet another year of exceptional results.”

Fionnuala Swann, Assistant Principal for Academic Studies at the College said: ‘We couldn’t be prouder of our students’ achievements. They have worked so hard, and it is wonderful to see them secure their dream places at university and other exciting destinations. We wish them all the best for their next steps – congratulations to the Class of 2021!”

Grace McWilliam, formerly of Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, achieved A, A*, A* in her A Levels in Government and Politics, Philosophy Ethics and Religion, and Sociology. Grace will now progress onto the University of York to study Social and Political Sciences.

Grace, 18, said: “I have genuinely loved completing my A Levels at Nelson and Colne College and I cannot credit the Social Sciences department enough for instilling a lifelong love of philosophy, sociology and politics within me. Their endless encouragement and support has contributed to my ever-growing reading list.

“Classes are enjoyable, staff are extremely encouraging within classroom discussion, and assignments are relevant and returned promptly with detailed feedback.

“My teachers have shown genuine passion for the content which is infectious as a student and I think the department is unmatched in its subject material, revision resources and teaching staff.”

Jiya Mahmood, 19, formerly of Ss John Fisher and Thomas More RC High School achieved Triple Distinction* in her Level 3 Extended diploma in Science. Jiya is now progressing to Keele University to study Forensic Science and Human Biology.

Jiya said: “Studying at an accepting College that supports you in every aspect of your journey has really brought out the best in me. I have made new friends, it has helped secure amazing grades, and it has enabled me to pursue my passion for Forensic Science.

“Nelson and Colne College provides students with many opportunities – I have done the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the Police Cadets, I’ve volunteered with the police and completed relevant work experience to my course. I also supported the Science department on open evenings, and would highly recommend studying here to others.”

Nelson and Colne College is one of the leading colleges nationally across a range of academic measures – 16-18 classroom learner achievement, 16-18 Advanced Apprenticeship timely achievement, A Level progress and GCSE Mathematics and English progress.

Nelson and Colne College is also the number one college in the country for student satisfaction.

Students looking to study at Nelson and Colne College this September can visit the College on its enrolment days – Thursday 12^th August, 10am-7pm, and Friday 13^th August, 10am-4pm.

The strength of Nelson and Colne College Group’s partnership with Burnley FC in the Community has been taken to another level through a new university level qualification.

A new Level 4 CertHE course in Sport Coaching and Performance is being offered to adult students in East Lancashire and beyond from September 2021 who are seeking to break into the industry.

Offered in partnership between the College Group’s University Centre and Burnley FC in the Community, the qualification is awarded by Liverpool John Moores University – a top 10 university in the country for Sports Science courses.

The qualification can be achieved as a standalone Level 4 qualification, enabling a first step into the field of Sport Coaching and Performance, but can equally lead on to the full BSc (Hons) Sport Coaching and Performance degree offered by the University Centre.

Successful partnership

Already renowned for delivery of the hugely successful Burnley FC Shadow Youth Team and Girls’ Post-16 Academy for 16-18-year-old students, as well as delivery of courses to support adults through Lancashire Adult Learning, this is the first time a university level qualification has been delivered through the College Group’s partnership with Burnley FC in the Community.

Benefits to learners include completion of the FA Level 1 Coaching Award, participation in the National Football Youth League Under-19s and 23s Football Youth League, football training session three times a week, including strength and conditioning sessions, and match analysis.

Burnley Football Club training kit and match day kit will be provided and wide-ranging active work experience with Burnley FC in the Community will be offered as part of the qualification.

This could include shadowing coaches delivering on numerous projects and community activities including disability sport, walking football, health provision, the community kitchen, school provision, and more.

Exciting development

Charlotte Scheffmann, Dean of Higher Education at Nelson and Colne College Group University Centre said: “Our new Level 4 qualification in Sport Coaching and Performance is an incredibly exciting development in our partnership with Burnley FC in the Community.

“Our partnership is already renowned for its outstanding quality and results, and a development into the world of Higher Education was a natural step for its expansion.

“The qualification we are offering is a fantastic blend of academic study with real-world experience, and this will support the progression of people into careers in a strong sector that contributes almost £24bn to the UK economy and supports almost one million jobs.”

New qualification

Dr. Sara Ward, Chief Executive Officer of Burnley FC in the Community said: “We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with the Nelson and Colne College Group by offering the new Level 4 qualification in Sport Coaching and Performance.

“The partnership is integral to our Education and Football Development offering, with the flagship Shadow Youth Team and Girls’ Post-16 Academy, engaging over 100 young people every year. Feedback from students and staff alike, has been positive and there is a real appetite for further learning.

“Through the exciting development of a university level qualification, I look forward to being able to offer more young people the opportunity to study in this area, ensuring they are equipped with the valuable skills to go on and succeed in the sport industry.”

Advice events

Adults looking to study HE flexibly, affordably and locally will have the chance to speak in-person to the University Centre’s expert teaching teams during Adult and HE Advice Events.

The first of these will take place at Accrington and Rossendale College on Wednesday 30 June, from 4pm until 7.30pm. The second, will take place on Monday 5 July at Nelson and Colne College, from 4pm until 7.30pm. These are appointment only events and can be booked on the website: universitycentre.nelsongroup.ac.uk/event/higher-education-advice-events/

The full range of new courses offered by Nelson and Colne College Group University Centre can be explored through a new University Centre website at universitycentre.nelsongroup.ac.uk/.

The site includes a new selection of downloadable sector guides, as well as student success stories and personal profiles of the University Centre’s industry expert tutors, and information about studying Higher Education with the University Centre.

To find out more about the new University Centre offer, you can contact the Higher Education team at the University Centre by emailing he@nelsongroup.ac.uk or by calling 01254 354047.