Time for Tees hits the road

Staff from across the Education Training Collective Etc. have been making it a summer that counts.

Embarking on their annual Time for Tees celebration, teams across the college group have given their time to good causes.

Education Training Collective staff taking part in the Tour de Tees, joined by Middlesbrough College CEO Zoe Lewis

From cycling between all the further education colleges across the Tees Valley to repairing and upcycling donated garments for Daisy Chain, Etc. chief executive and group principal, Grant Glendinning, said: “It’s fantastic to see colleagues embracing the challenge.”

He himself spent the day carrying out maintenance work at Fox Rush Farm Community Woodland.

In a packed schedule, college staff litter picked in Billingham and the Tees Barrage, lent a hand at Middlesbrough Rugby Club and The Chris Cave Foundation in Redcar, and organised a sponsored dog walk at Errington Wood in New Marske.

Etc. chief executive and group principal, Grant Glendinning, at Fox Rush Farm Community Woodland.

Etc. staff litter picking at the Tees Barrage.

Gardening was hot on the agenda with green fingered volunteers mucking in at St Cuthbert’s Church in Billingham and Anchor’s Millbeck care home in Norton, while others created wellbeing gardens at Stockton Riverside College and Bede Sixth Form.

Grant said: “It is testament to the charity organisations and good causes across the area that allows us to get involved in such a fun and varied mix of activities.”

New to the agenda this year was a near 60-mile sponsored bike ride, titled the “Tour de Tees”.

Staff members cycled from Darlington College to Stockton Riverside College, before heading on to Hartlepool College of Further Education, Middlesbrough College, and finally crossing the finish line at Redcar and Cleveland College.

The Education Training Collective incorporates Bede Sixth Form College, Innersummit, NETA Training, Redcar and Cleveland College and Stockton Riverside College.

Opening the invite to further education colleagues outside the group, the Tour de Tees volunteers included Middlesbrough College chief executive, Zoe Lewis. And a further team from the college tackled the same route the next day. All raised money for charities of their choice.

Stockton Riverside College beauty lecturers Laura and Hayley tackling the Tour de Tees.

Stockton Riverside College beauty lecturers Hayley Hobbs and Laura Allison took part on behalf of the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association.

Hayley said: “My friend was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease a couple of years ago and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to raise funds and awareness of this disease.

“The MND Association has been a huge source of support, providing monthly support groups connecting those living with the condition. They also provide grants to help with essential equipment.

“The Tour de Tees was challenging but I just kept reminding myself why I was doing it and the money we had raised.”

Also on the team, Etc. business development co-ordinator, Jake Rigby said: “I signed up to this one because I am into my biking and this was an excuse to spend the full day riding.”

Having previously served in the RAF, he chose to raise funds for the RAF Benevolent Fund, supporting current and former personnel and their families.

Jake said: “It was a really good day. You got to meet people from different roles that you wouldn’t necessarily speak to day-to-day, it was a day away from the office to socialise and decompress, and a way to give back.”

Etc. staff volunteering at St Cuthbert's Church.

Etc. staff litter picking in Low Grange, Billingham.

Etc. business development co-ordinator, Joanne Wallace, was among those working in the gardens at St Cuthbert’s Church. She said: “It was a very nice day but a very hot day. We helped out with gardening and clearing overgrown ivy from the gravestones.

“It all felt a bit nostalgic as it is the church where I got married and the kids got christened, so it was lovely to be able to go and give something back.”

Etc. staff were stitching and mending at Daisy Chain's Mend It Don’t Rag It and Neuthread programmes.

Etc. staff revamped the outdoor space at Millbeck care home in Norton.

Group marketing manager Sarah Spowart spent the day stitching and mending at the Daisy Chain warehouse in Portrack, as part of their Mend It Don’t Rag It and Neuthread programmes.

“It was amazing to learn about these incredible projects where they repair donated garments or upcycle unsellable items into new pieces,” she said. “We also got to meet and chat to some of the other volunteers who regularly give their time.”

Etc. staff at The Chris Cave Foundation in Redcar.

Award win for college group’s positive influence on green habits

A college group’s efforts to bolster greener habits have been recognised with a national award and green accreditation for the second year running.

The Education Training Collective (Etc.) has been named winner of the Investors in the Environment’s Sustainability Influencer Award. The title highlights not only their own commitment to change but also a drive to encourage others to do the same.

“Our commitment to sustainability and the environment has been a priority across our campuses in recent years,” said the group’s director of marketing and business engagement, Erika Marshall.

“The environment is something that we know truly matters to our learners. Our aim is to provide a platform to not only learn about sustainability but also provide opportunities to carry out those actions in a practical way.”

The iiE national sustainability awards celebrate the green achievements of small to medium-sized enterprises and larger businesses and organisations around the UK who are working to reduce their resource use, support nature, influence change and make a positive social impact.

Also achieving iiE Green accreditation for the second consecutive year, the highest possible standard, the Etc. is committed to improving sustainability across its campuses and reducing their carbon footprint.

The group incorporates Stockton Riverside College, Redcar and Cleveland College, Bede Sixth Form College, The Skills Academy, NETA Training and Innersummit.

Working with thousands of learners, together the colleges and training providers have implemented a host of green measures to promote positive change.

Projects have included the creation of a Green Initiatives Group, a team of like-minded individuals from across the organisation working together to create and deliver new ideas.

Carbon literacy workshops have been delivered to staff to help spread the word along with an increased focus on sustainability embedded into lessons.

The creation of a thrift exchange, gift swap and a staff car share scheme are just some of the ways individuals are being urged to make a change and think about their environmental impact.

The college group has also made significant improvements to the environmental performance of its central operations along with larger-scale developments such as the launch of its Clean Energy Education Hub and Retrofit Academy at Redcar and Cleveland College, focusing on skills for the low carbon energy and construction industries.

Working with Carbon Neutral Britain, Etc. has been certified carbon neutral for three years.

Etc. chief executive and group principal Grant Glendinning said: “We are incredibly proud to see the group recognised nationally for its work to make sustainability a priority and find ways to share this with our learners, staff and communities.

“The Green Initiatives Group, along with many other staff and students, have worked hard to find new and innovative ways to reduce their carbon emissions both in the classroom and at home.”

Investors in the Environment (iiE) is a national environmental accreditation scheme designed to help organisations reduce their impact on the environment and get recognition for their progress.

Antony Gough, national lead at iiE, said: “This year’s competition was tougher than ever, showcasing the extraordinary efforts of our members. Their dedication is further reflected in the record-breaking number of accreditations, award entries, and the sizeable impacts we’ve achieved together.”

Meet Etc.’s new group director of human resources, Adele

From fairground work to catering, human resource management to studying a professional doctorate, Adele Currie knows career paths often take a varied route.

Now, joining the Education Training Collective as the group director of human resources and people development, she’s ready to put her own mixed bag of professional experiences to good use and hit the ground running.

Passionate about learning and people development, her story is the epitome of what we do here. With the move into education, she is looking forward to developing further knowledge and skills, with a willingness to learn, and all the benefits fresh eyes can bring.

While new to the sector, Adele has 30 years of experience in human resources and human resource management, bringing a wealth of experience to the role, along with a drive to give the greatest “people experience” to Etc. colleagues at every stage of their career.

She said: “That starts from first attracting people to the organisation, all the way through their career, up until retirement or the decision to move on. I want every stage of the employee cycle to be a fantastic experience.”

Just weeks into the role, she explained: “I have had the most incredible welcome.

“The generosity of spirit everyone I have met has shown me is amazing. Everyone has been so generous with their time, their experience, guidance, support and friendship.”

It is something that truly matters to Adele who is a keen advocate of coaching and mentoring and is even doing a professional doctorate on the subject.

When she completes the qualification, she’ll officially have the title of Dr Currie, something she never would have expected when she started work straight from school.

“My formative years were spent in a deprived area and while I wasn’t written off, I wasn’t expected to reach doctoral level,” she said.

Early jobs included catering and bar work before moving to Brighton where she worked on the fairgrounds. Doing everything from dishing out the candyfloss to working on the dodgems, it certainly prepared her for the demands of a real day’s graft.

“It was hard work and long hours,” she said. “Plus, it was seasonal work.”

It all adds to a rich mix of skills that has brought Adele to where she is today. Moving back to Sunderland at 21, she set up her own catering business and worked in call centres. It was there she fell into training management and HR.

“I started doing some CIPD courses and then challenged myself to do an HNC,” she said. “When someone said I could top that up to a degree with one more year of study I couldn’t believe it, I had thought I had missed the boat by not going to university first time round.”

Since then, education has remained a constant in Adele’s life who achieved a degree, her master’s, she is a Chartered Fellow member of the CIPD and now is working towards that professional doctorate and the prestigious doctor title.

“My education hasn’t been a traditional route, but it just goes to show there are so many different routes you can take,” she said.

Spending the last 18 years working in human resources in social housing, Adele explained: “I feel passionately about coaching as a method of enhancing people’s capabilities, skills, confidence and strategic thinking.”

And just like working in social housing, she feels that working in further education shares a similar synergy.

She said: “For me, giving people options is fantastic, it broadens horizons and offers wonderful experiences.

“From a hearts and minds perspective it is ultimately about helping to set people up for success in life.”

It’s a great result for students at Bede Sixth Form

There’s been plenty to celebrate at Billingham’s Bede Sixth Form College this results day.

All the hard work paid off as Bede students achieved a 99% A level pass rate, with 100% success in 16 subjects, and more students achieving the highest grades.

“It is incredible to see our learners doing so well and getting the results they deserve, particularly following the challenges they have faced in recent years,” said Bede’s acting principal Patrick Jordan.

“This is the first time these students have undertaken the formal national examination process, and they have shown massive resilience and produced a strong set of results here at Bede that they should be massively proud of.”

Results day success included high grades of A* to B up almost 5% at the college compared to pre-covid results, and 7% of Bede students this summer achieved an A*, the highest possible grade.

All of this comes just weeks after Bede, a part of the Education Training Collective, achieved a ‘Good’ Ofsted result with ‘Outstanding’ features, including leadership and management, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and education programmes for young people.

The sixth form also recently announced a £2.4m construction project to expand its facilities, increasing capacity for an additional 200 students, with nine new classrooms and breakout spaces.

Bede currently delivers a wider range of A level and A level equivalent subjects, along with full-time study options in sport and public services, to more than 700 students.

For the class of 2022 many will now head off to their first-choice universities, apprenticeships, and future goals.

Patrick, a former Bede student himself, said: “Against a backdrop of disruption and uncertainty for all young people over the last few years, this is a really solid set of results that will now set our students up for their future choices. We look forward to seeing all that they now go on to achieve.”

Education Training Collective rated Ofsted ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ features

High praise from Ofsted is another great result for the colleges, students and staff, that make up the Education Training Collective (Etc.).

In its first full inspection since the merger of Stockton Riverside College and Redcar and Cleveland College, the group, which also includes Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training and The Skills Academy (Billingham), has been rated ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ features.

The report, published today, describes a college group where students are “very proud to study” and they benefit from “a strong culture of positive respect”.

Group principal and chief executive, Phil Cook, said: “As a group our aim, above all else, is to provide high quality local colleges for local people. Gaining outstanding for leadership and management is a fantastic accolade for the group, but also and importantly for those stakeholders we work with; you do not achieve outstanding without excellent partnerships that have a direct impact on our students learning.”

The college group was also rated ‘Outstanding’ for behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and education programmes for young people, and rated ‘Good’ in all other areas. Phil added: “It is reasonable for parents, stakeholders and our communities to assume our provision for young people is now outstanding, as that’s what Ofsted has said and that is brilliant news. For other aspects of our provision such as our apprenticeships and our work with adults and high needs students, Ofsted has commended us and again our communities can be assured that such services are judged as being really really good.”

It also marks a milestone for Redcar and Cleveland College. The college had previously received an inadequate rating before merger, but in the view of Ofsted has been “transformed” and is now considered “the college of first choice” for many young people living in the borough.

Preparing to hand over the reins later this year, after nine years leading the college group, Phil said: “To deliver the service our communities deserve takes hard work and determination, from our staff, leaders, governing body and, of course, our amazing students, not least as we faced the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic.

“That’s why it is fantastic to now see our incredible teams, across the group, and our partners, receive external recognition.”

Inspectors also recognised the support that learners, of all ages and abilities, receive and the enrichment programme that “helps them to develop their wider employability skills, confidence, and resilience.”

There was further praise for the curriculum, which is shaped to meet local economy and skill demands while, working with specialist providers, the group is able to offer a “niche provision” giving people access to local jobs that would normally be out of reach.

The report said: “Students and apprentices benefit from useful and relevant training in their local communities which meets the needs of employers and the priorities of the local enterprise partnership.”

This has resulted in exciting projects in the pipeline, further supporting their local communities, such as the addition of Redcar’s Clean Energy Education Hub, plans to extend facilities at NETA Training and developments at Bede.

Chairman of the Etc. governing board, Mark White OBE DL, said: “As a board of governors we welcome this Ofsted result which is testament to the commitment of all our teams and the work they do to deliver for our communities.”

Retiring in the summer after 27 years on the boards of the colleges that make up the Etc., culminating in his current role as chair, Mark added: “I am extremely proud to have been a part of this incredible group of colleges, of everything it has achieved and everything it will go on to achieve in the future.”

Bede Sixth Form announces a £2.4m construction project making space for up to 200 more students

Bede Sixth Form College will soon be able to open its doors to more school leavers as the college announces exciting plans to expand its facilities in Billingham.

The £2.4m development will incorporate a new three-storey facility on Marsh House Avenue, increasing capacity for a further 200 students, including nine classrooms and breakout spaces.

The development will be funded, in part, by the Department for Education’s Post-16 Capacity Fund, in response to an expected demographic increase in 16 to 19-year-olds.

For Bede, which is part of the Education Training Collective (Etc.) alongside NETA Training Group, Redcar and Cleveland College, Stockton Riverside College and The Skills Academy, it will also respond to the recent rise in applications from students wanting to study at the college.

“This welcome investment in our facilities will not only enable us to accommodate more students, but it will also give us the space to create new and innovative learning environments, specifically designed to meet key-sector skill demands,” said Education Training Collective group principal and chief executive, Phil Cook.

“This is not just good news for the college and our students but also for Billingham and the wider community as it will give us a bespoke state-of-the-art facility, transforming the post-16 teaching and learning experience for our young people.”

The new 700 square metre facility will be designed to complement the existing building whilst providing a self-contained learning space for 16 to 19-year-old students with a particular interest in the science and pharmaceutical sectors, as well as creative subjects such as media and art and design. To support this focus there will be a dedicated entrance for these learners.

Phil said: “We will also be able to offer more collaborative workspaces to further develop our students’ independent learning skills and a bespoke health and wellbeing space.”

With work due to start in the summer, he added: “The construction area will be self-contained and therefore should cause minimal disruption to our existing students and those joining the college this September.”

Aspirations for future developments could incorporate dedicated health science suites, industry spec laboratories designed alongside sector employers and a mini viewing cinema.

Councillor Lisa Evans, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People said: “This is brilliant news for young people in the Borough. We want them all to be educated in modern buildings designed to support their studies and the sixth form’s increased capacity will bring more opportunities for them to learn new skills in a purpose-built, inspirational space.

“It’s so important that we help young people reach their potential from early years through to further education. Their learning environment is a major part of that, so this expansion will be a real asset for local students and the wider community.”

Bede Sixth Form College has already seen a recent upsurge of applications due to what the group principal describes as the college’s unique curriculum offer and sector-led enrichment opportunities, along with an increased focus on students’ health and wellbeing through its Institute of Sport and Education (ISE) and the introduction of a 10am start time.

Phil continued: “The new facility will now enable us to continue to meet that increasing demand while offering all our students an even greater environment in which to study and learn. It’s fantastic for school leavers to have this sort of facility on their doorstep.”

With the intention to open doors to the new facility in early 2023, Bede Sixth Form College is grateful for the support of the Department for Education, the council and employer partners that continue to recognise and support the success achieved by students and staff.

Minister for Skills, Alex Burghart, said: “It is vital every young person has the opportunity to access high quality technical education.

“This investment will boost capacity so there is a place for every 16 to 19-year-old, giving them access to the cutting-edge facilities that will give them the skills they need for fantastic careers.”

Ofsted gets a virtual insight into life at Etc.

Staff and students at the Education Training Collective (Etc.) have been sharing an insight into college life with a virtual visit from Ofsted.

Phil Cook, Chief Executive and Group Principal

With routine Ofsted inspections suspended due to the pandemic, inspectors have been carrying out interim visits to help learners, parents, employers and government understand how providers are currently meeting the needs of learners and apprentices.

During the two-day Etc. visit, inspectors heard how the group, which incorporates Stockton Riverside College, Redcar and Cleveland College, Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training and The Skills Academy, has found ways to adapt to the changing circumstances, while ensuring welfare and safety remain a priority.

In a report published today, inspectors said: “Employers and other partner organisations are positive about senior leaders’ response to the challenges of the pandemic. They believe that relationships with college staff are at least as strong now as they were at the start of COVID 19 restrictions. Many partner organisations are optimistic about future collaboration to address local skills gaps.”

Inspectors met with Etc. leaders, managers, staff and learners from across the group in a series of online meetings. They heard how college leaders believed they had been able to “respond successfully to the challenges posed” and that the colleges had been “able to move swiftly into alternative ways of working, including online meetings and remote learning”.

As a result of those moves, student attendance and engagement has been positive, with staff feeding back that learners’ attendance at online sessions during the pandemic did not decline. Staff have gone on to develop their teaching practice to enable them to deliver remote learning sessions and identify when and where face-to-face learning is most essential.

Continuing to build on this new way of working, the report stated: “Teachers have adapted their timetables in response to the different demands of learners’ programmes.”

Chief Executive and Group Principal Phil Cook said: “We were happy to share with Ofsted our experiences of what has undoubtedly been an unprecedented period of challenge for all education providers.

“It is testament to the hard work and dedication of our whole team, including our students, to have inspectors recognise the enormous effort that has gone into ensuring learning has been disrupted as little as possible across the Etc. We have been amazed by the resilience and adaptability shown by all.”

Chairman of the Etc. Governing Board Mark White said: “The response of our leaders, staff and learners to the challenges COVID 19 has posed has been phenomenal. We are proud to see that the Ofsted report released today reflects this.”

Click here to read the full report