KNOWSLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE TAKES A LEAD ON NATIONAL SKILLS PLEDGE

Knowsley Community College became one of only a handful of FE Colleges nationally to sign up to the Government’s Skills Pledge at an event in the Blackpool Hilton at the end of November, 2008.  The event was organised by the TUC, and supported by the Learning and Skills Council and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

The Skills Pledge is a partnership between the Government and businesses which opens the door to services such as Train to Gain and Apprenticeships.  The purpose of the Pledge is to ensure that all the staff within a company are skilled, competent and able to make a full contribution to the success of the organisation.  According to the Learning and Skills Council: “this will contribute towards making the nation’s workforce world leaders in skills.”

Specifically the Pledge guarantees that KCC will: “further support our employees to acquire basic literacy and numeracy skills and work towards their first full Level 2 qualification”.  Frank Gill, Principal of the College, who attended the event in Blackpool and personally signed the Pledge, said, “We fully recognise the importance of committing to raising the skill level of the workforce.  Like all Colleges, we have a very large non-teaching workforce alongside our academic staff, and this Pledge is about ensuring that all of our employees are equally valued and supported in raising their level of skills and qualifications.  The Pledge fits well with our very strong existing commitment to partnership working with Trades Unions.”

MBE for Assistant Principal

Sue Lane was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours.

The award is a richly deserved recognition of Sue’s long commitment to education and particularly her work in developing and managing student support services, the longest part of which was the 18 years Sue spent at this college as Assistant Principal for Student Services.