Commitment to our College learner and employers is a certainty

It feels rather surreal to be saying we are now officially in the Summer break here at Nelson and Colne College Group, having promptly had to move to remote learning earlier this year following the Covid-19 outbreak.

We marked the end of term at our tenth annual staff Health and Wellbeing Day a couple of weeks ago. The theme this year was ‘Apart but Together’, and we certainly honoured this with an array of Zoom activities, team 10K efforts (socially distanced, of course), and virtual picnics.

Looking ahead, summer is usually defined by celebrating the achievements of our A Level and vocational students who are heading off to university, employment or an Apprenticeship, and welcoming our new starters who are full of excitement about starting life at College, fresh off the back of GCSE Results Day.

Enrolment this year for our new starters is going to be different through an online portal, and we are currently communicating with all our applicants on how this is going to work.

There is one certainty that all colleges can all subscribe to, and that is a commitment that we will be there to support our 16-18-year-old applicants, as well as our adult learners and our employer partners.

Lancashire’s colleges believe that skills will play a vital part in the economic recovery, helping businesses and communities to thrive and that is why we at Nelson and Colne College Group are part of a dozen Further Education and Sixth Form colleges across Lancashire to make a joint commitment to:

• deliver a wide range of exciting education and training opportunities for adults, from foundation skills to degree-level courses, to develop new skills and further their careers;
• help young people achieve their full potential and to maximise their future opportunities as they make the transition from school to College;
• work more closely than ever with employers, ensuring the workforce has the professional and technical skills needed to help businesses bounce back.

Lancashire’s colleges provide the highest quality education and training, critical in driving social mobility and providing the skills to boost the local, regional and national economy.

I’m proud that Nelson and Colne College Group is part of sector that provides education and training to over 95,000 young and adult learners each year from entry level to postgraduate, including Apprenticeships, and work with over 10,000 businesses.

Come September, our primary aim is to support our students and Apprentices to get a good start to the year. All students will enjoy face to face learning from the start of their programme and it is essential that we help to settle them into College life as soon as possible so they are able to get the most out of their education and take the next steps towards their career aspirations.

I look forward to welcoming our new starters to College in the new academic year, and in the meantime I wish you a happy, healthy and safe summer break. Amanda.