Published at 15:46, Wednesday, 28 April 2010

YOU probably know that Lakes College is based at Lillyhall but you may not how much work we do out and about in the local community working with partner organisations and local companies to help improve the lives of the people who live and work in West Cumbria.

In Wigton, we are working with North Allerdale Development Trust to develop outreach training provision for the local community. We will be commencing the first of these programmes this month.

These initiatives will combine a range of employer-focused programmes plus some unemployed programmes that we are working alongside Job Centre Plus to deliver.

We are also working closely with Allerdale Borough Council to secure a venue at Maryport to allow us to extend our provision into the community there. We hope to be running activities in the town before the end of the year.

In Keswick, we have had an outreach centre at the back of the museum for the last five years. Due to the re-development of the museum we have temporarily relocated to a town centre location above the Post Office. This centre allows us to offer business training and education in the heart of the Lake District.

In Whitehaven, we have our Business and Education Centre in the town’s Market Place. This centre has been a great success and can act as a model for future outreach developments.

It allows us to deliver education and training in the heart of the community at a time and location to suit the needs of the local residents. As an example, there have been a total of 33 learners that have been trained, or are in training now, through our retail academy which has taken place at the centre and a total of 211 people so far this academic year have been involved in training and education programmes there.

Lakes College took over the running of Distington Walled Garden last year which has meant that the garden was saved from closure and now has a more secure future. This will allow the garden to develop and grow the horticulture training available in West Cumbria.

We are also working very closely with schools in both Allerdale and Copeland to develop the new diplomas aimed at young people aged between 14 and 19. These new qualifications include practical things like projects and work experience to combine the best of academic and vocational learning.

I am also a member of the Public Sector Delivery Board, which is a strategic partnership for West Cumbria, comprising of chief operating officers from the area. We are currently identifying key issues for the area, such as alcohol and young people, to draw up a multi-agency action plan to address such issues.Hopefully this gives you a little flavour of the work that the college does out in the community beyond the confines of our Lillyhall campus.

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk