We’re excited to announce that we have partnered up with 15 other London-based colleges to work with the Department for Education (DfE) to deliver the Central London Forward Local Skills Improvement Fund. £6.7 million in funding has been provided by the DfE to help education providers respond to Business LDN’s Local Skills Improvement Plan.
Find out more about why we have partnered with London colleges and the DfE, what it means for the community and more below.
Why have we joined the initiative?
London employers are facing skill shortages across the region, ‘with almost 7 in 10 businesses reporting at least one skills shortage in Q3 2022.’ (Business LDN). We’re working with the other partners in the new initiative to address these gaps by ensuring that post-16 provision is geared more towards meeting present and future skill demands. The Local Skills Improvement Plan includes a focus on Green and Digital skills, as well as addressing a lack of diversity across most sectors.
What are we doing to support our community?
The Plan is the next stage in our efforts to support the London community, following the recent launch of our brand new, multi-million pound campus on Commercial Road in East London. We’re launching a series of projects to help administer the funding locally, starting with ‘Coding for All’. Coding for All is an outreach programme working with local community groups and schools to form partnerships and promote opportunities to help as many children and adults from all backgrounds as possible to engage with coding.
Over ten weeks, ‘Coding for All’ will cover a range of key topics including the Python code language, Boolean data and sequence, mapping and set types.
“We’re delighted to be involved in the Central London Forward project that will allow us to engage with the local community and extend the use of our state of the art campus in Whitechapel to those who live in the area. As an organisation we are committed to working in partnership with other colleges across London to ensure the community can benefit from our offer in digital, information and communication skills, including opportunities for people to gain entry into digital accredited qualifications and working directly with employers on a range of free classes.”
Matt Newbould, Chief Operations Officer, Access Creative College
Is there anything else planned?
Alongside the new programme, the college will create a new ‘immersive classroom’ to provide locals with a unique, focused space to learn new digital skills. These plans and more to come will result in trained, highly skilled professionals, ready for employers to welcome into their businesses.
For more information on the Central London Forward Local Skills Improvement Plan, visit centrallondonforward.gov.uk. Find out more about our London campus here.