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An exciting year ahead

Published
Thursday 13 Sep 2018

As the new academic year starts at Myerscough College and University Centre, our Assistant Principal Further Education has been outlining some of the challenges and developments that lie ahead. 

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After several years of investment, and the recent completion of a £30 million capital expenditure programme, Myerscough is preparing for another busy and exciting year, with student achievement and continuous improvement at the heart of everything the College does.

Paul Thompson said: ‘’We want to be recognised as an outstanding education and training provider that sets standards that others want to follow.

‘’We’re all part of a positive, forward thinking organisation that puts the learners at the centre of all we do. We have to accept and commit to improvement because we work in an environment of constant change, our learners change; the nature of employment and the further education programmes we offer continuously evolve, assessment methods develop and technology advances.

‘’We are a proud College offering opportunities for all to succeed as a lifelong learning provider and we need to strive every day to be the best we can.

‘’Teaching and Learning continues to be our primary focus for improvement and the inclusion of equality, diversity, inclusion, British values, Prevent, English and maths in teaching sessions is an important element of delivery and contributes to achieving an outstanding Ofsted rating.

‘’Inclusive Learning across all centres has expanded significantly in the last two years and is likely to do so again to meet the demands of high needs learners. Myerscough is now the largest provider of high needs funded places in the county and one of the biggest in the whole of the North-West. We are also at the forefront of providing places on English and maths GCSE’s for home educated students, who last year achieved excellent GCSE maths and English achievement and grades.

‘’The College has a long and proud history of supporting young people into employment. The College has very successfully worked with the Department of Education sponsored “The Challenge” organisation on a national work experience project. The “Challenge” project has now ended and produced very useful research reports and procedures as well as materials that will support high quality work placement activity; Myerscough is proud to have contributed.

‘’The College has agreed with the Department for Education to continue development of our activity in preparation for the forthcoming T Level qualifications. To support this we have appointed a Manager for Work Placements and will have a team of five Job coaches at our main Preston centre, who will also cover Witton and a further two at our Liverpool centre at Croxteth.

‘’By 2020 the first pilot roll out of the new T-Level (Technical) programmes will begin and they are expected to require a substantive amount of time for learners in a work placement.

‘’This coming year there will also be increasing emphasis on embedding digital skills in the curriculum. We have travelled a long way in FE in curriculum design, quality management systems, data accuracy and reliability, support for students and our success management strategies, but there is always more that can be done.

‘’For all of us that have the privilege of working at Myerscough College, in all its centres, we know what a unique place this is to study. We owe it to our learners, their parents and carers, who place so much trust in us, to be the best we can. We work in a noble profession, in a great College that is proud of its commitment to our core value, ‘providing opportunities for all to succeed’.’’

There are still limited last minute places available on courses starting this month, while applications are open for entry in September 2019. For more details CLICK HERE

by Dave Salmon

DSalmon@myerscough.ac.uk