Say Hello to Keighley Campus

Keighley Campus

Keighley Campus lies in the heart of the town, (next to Keighley Train Station and opposite ASDA) and provides a vibrant, multicultural learning environment, delivering excellent and innovative education, which is supportive, inspiring, and life changing.

If you would like to visit the campus, take a tour around the fabulous facilities, talk to students and tutors, and receive careers information - make a date to visit an open event. The next Open Night is on 12th November between 5 - 7pm. Visitors on the night will be encouraged to take a look around the campus and explore the various demonstrations and taster sessions, including STAR Centre activities, Motor Vehicle Tyre Challenge, Beauty and Hairdressing Treatments, Games Development Demonstrations, Childcare Activities and your chance to tour Keighley Airways the Air Cabin Classroom. You will also have the opportunity to meet ‘Derek the Darlek’ and talk to tutors about the huge range of courses available at the campus.

Atrium

Courses cover almost all subject areas – Childcare, Computing and Construction (Carpentry, Joinery and Brickwork) to Engineering (Fabrication/Welding and Electrical Installation), English and Mathematics, Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy, Health and Social Care, Motor Vehicle, Plumbing, Sport, Public Services and Travel and Tourism, and include full and part-time academic, vocational and apprenticeship qualifications.

The campus, part of Leeds City College - the UK’s third largest further education college, boasts modern, state-of-the-art facilities, including salons, training rooms, IT/Mac suites plus industry standard workshops and even an air cabin. It is also home to the STAR Centre, a lively science hub.

Coming soon is an Industrial Centre of Excellence (ICE) for Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering (Creative & Digital Technologies) with a fully fitted on-site workshop providing education and training opportunities to prepare young people to progress into the growing local engineering and manufacturing economy.

Pop along to the Open Night on 12th November, 5-7pm or visit www.leedscitycollege.ac.uk to find our more.

Your Keighley Campus.

t. 01535 685 000 / 0113 386 1997

e. course.enquiry@leedscitycollege.ac.uk

w. www.leedscitycollege.ac.uk/keighley

Why young people are being tempted away from taking a university degree

At the age of 18, Memona Mohammad was all set for university. She had three good, science A levels and offers to study for a degree in biomedical sciences. But she chose to sign up for a higher apprenticeship with BT instead.

Now 21, she will complete the scheme this September. If all goes well,she will have a foundation degree, a level 4 NVQ and the chance to go onto take a master’s, paid for by BT. After three years on a salary, Mohammad has no student loan to pay off and has a job lined up as one of BT’s ethernet planners.

“The guarantee of a job definitely played a part in my decision,” she says.“But it was also the chance to join a global company and develop my career in IT while learning on the job.”

Once considered the preserve of manual trades for the less academically gifted, apprenticeships are now available at three levels, from GCSE to foundation degree, in industries ranging from accountancy to zookeeping.

The number of people starting an apprenticeship grew from 175,000 in 2005/06 to more than 510,000 in 2012/13.

Most are now offered in the service sectors, such as business administration, retail and health. Since 2010, most of those starting apprenticeships have been female.

“We’ve had significant growth over the past decade, although we have probably plateaued at about half a million,” says Karen Woodward, divisional apprenticeship director at the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS). “But while the quantity may have stabilised, we are still seeing an increase in the quality.”

Woodward believes that the growing popularity of apprenticeships is due to their mutual benefit to apprentice and employer. “An apprenticeship is not a training course,” she says. “It’s a job with a salary and an employer with a vacancy.”

Employees who have been apprentices tend to be loyal to their employer and, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, are £214 a week more productive than the average worker.

The flexibility of modern apprenticeships has encouraged employers to increase the number and scope of the schemes they offer. BT now runs 11 different schemes, for example, which will take on more than 700 apprentices this year.

Damian Brown, head of accredited learning and apprenticeships at BT, says: “In the past five years it has become possible to tailor schemes both to the needs of the apprentices and to what we need as a business.”

Apprenticeships are promoted nationally by the NAS, part of the Skills Funding Agency. It supports employers and runs an apprentice“matching service”.

At regional level, a number of local enterprise partnerships have set up“hubs” to promote apprenticeships with local industry and small to medium-sized enterprises.

In Yorkshire, for example, eight local authorities have combined to create the Leeds City Region Apprenticeship Programme, a £4.6m scheme designed to offer 2,500 new apprenticeships by autumn 2015. Similar initiatives are underway in Nottingham, Greater Manchester and the West of England.

Demand for apprenticeships continues to outstrip supply, however: the NAS receives around 12 applications for every position. And despite all efforts to escape their blue collar image, apprenticeships remain far more popular in the former industrial heartlands than in the South East. According to Demos, the think tank, London requires 30,000 more apprentices to catch up with the rest of the country.

Apprenticeship opportunities

Young people in Leeds will find out how they can become the building and construction workers of the future at a special event this month.

Youngsters from schools and colleges across the city will be at Leeds Civic Hall for the Construction Apprenticeship Fair on April 28, which has been organised by Leeds City Council’s Apprenticeship Hub.

More than 100 people aged 16-24 will get the chance to hear about apprenticeship opportunities with the firms behind some of the city’s biggest development projects.

APPRENTICE: Plasterer Kwami is urging other young people to follow him into the construction industry

Representatives from Hammersons, who are currently working on the £130m Victoria Gate retail scheme, will be attending along with staff from Keepmoat, the company working with Leeds City Council on the housing regeneration programme, will also be on hand on the day.

Both companies will be talking about vacancies and opportunities as well as offering advice about the industry.

Kwami Thompson, from Harehills, was recently taken on by Keepmoat as an apprentice plasterer on the housing regeneration project.

The 20-year-old said the apprenticeship fair would be a great opportunity for other young people to follow in his footsteps.

He said: “I’ve been on site for a few weeks now and it's great- everyone is so friendly and I’m really enjoying it.

“Doing an apprenticeship has changed my life and if anyone is thinking of going into the construction industry, I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.

“I’m learning new skills, getting more experience being part of a big project and this really is the best way forward for me.”

Also attending the fair will be a range of top training providers including Leeds College of Building and CITB.

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, Leeds City Council’s executive member for leisure and skills, said: “The Construction Apprentice-ship Fair is the perfect place for young people to get access to key knowledge and information from within the industry.

“We’ve seen the construction industry bounce back in a big way in Leeds recently and we’ve got some huge and exciting projects taking place in the city both now and in the future.

“Those types of developments create some fantastic opportunities, so now is a great time for young people to get involved in building and construction and start a career that could see them help to change the face of Leeds.”

Young people attending the fair can register and apply for opportunities on the day and schools and colleges can also book the Leeds Apprenticeship Hub to deliver workshops and information sessions.

No appointments are needed to attend the event, which takes place from 10am-12pm. Anyone finishing Year 11, 12 or 13 who want to start an apprenticeship in September needs to apply over the next month.

To find out more, please visit www.leedspathways.org.uk/work