Member Article

Teesside college scoops national award

A Teesside college has become the only North East organisation to be recognised at a national competition for its outstanding delivery of apprenticeships.

Redcar & Cleveland College scooped the Highly Commended award at the 2016 Apprenticeships 4 England Training Provider Awards, which rewards organisations for their enterprise, innovation and creativity in this form of training.

Representatives from the college attended the prestigious black tie event which was held at the Emirates Stadium in London.

Redcar & Cleveland College was commended for the breadth and quality of its apprenticeships, which take in subjects from accounting and retail to beauty therapy and construction. The judges were also impressed with several innovations designed to help apprentices with their studies, including e-learning technology that enables students to update their portfolios and engage in group discussions remotely via their smart phone or laptop.

Steven Winterburn, apprenticeships manager at Redcar & Cleveland College who accepted the award on behalf of the college, said: “We’re thrilled to receive the highly commended accolade to become the only North East college to be recognised in this prestigious national scheme. It’s an honour to be associated with awards that recognise the value that education providers place on apprenticeships.

“This is a vitally important form of training desired by students and employers and we have tailored our offering to meet this demand.

“We now spend 34% of our Skills Funding Agency (SFA) funding allocation on apprenticeships, which is more than any other Teesside college, and we’ve increased the volume and range of our training provision in this area. Despite the sharp increase in apprenticeship starts at the college, we’ve maintained our success rates and we’ll continue to work with employers to meet the skills needs of industry.”

Lindsay McCurdy, CEO of Apprenticeships 4 England, said: “As a first time entrant, we were really impressed with the range of offering and career choices for apprentices at Redcar & Cleveland College.

“The college is a prime example of how to celebrate apprentices and other colleges in the region should follow suit. The team also really got into the spirit in the run up to the awards via social media, which was great to see.”

With the Government aiming to create another three million apprenticeships by 2020, Redcar & Cleveland College has focused heavily on promoting its offering in this area and building partnerships with employers across a variety of sectors, including IT, engineering, manufacturing, green energy and sport. The organisation also offers apprenticeships and other vocational training courses at its Oil & Gas International Training Academy, which is based at the Corporation Road campus.

For further information, please contact please call 01642 473 132 or visit http://www.cleveland.ac.uk.

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